I'm Drowning in Wheat!. . . or at least I should be

I made a New Year's resolution this year to improve my food storage. I get the "preparedness bug" every few years, so I go out and buy several cases of whatever is on sale and that always seems to makes me feel better. But this time I'm going about it a little more systematically. I've been perusing various food storage calculators to determine what to buy and how much. And today I have spent quite a bit of time pouring over the Walton Feed website trying to figure out what I need and what is available.

Honestly, my findings have been a little frightening.

Did you know it is possible to buy a 25 pound bag of something called "meat substitute"?! And it's available in various flavors? I'm a big fan of protein, but that's just not right.

I also had no idea that there was such a thing as shortening powder. Imagine that, powdered fat. (I've always followed my grandmother's advice: "Never be so poor that you can't buy butter." So I'm going to splurge and get powdered butter. Yum)

And it is recommended that for my little family of five, I should store almost 1200 pounds of grains. I'm all for following wise counsel, I just have no idea where I am going to keep all of it!

I realize, however, that if I'm going to go to the trouble of buying all of this stuff, I need to learn how to use it up. So today I made whole wheat bread. I don't think I've made bread since my newlywed days. (And even then I had a bread machine.) I used a recipe that consisted entirely of food storage items so that I could figure out if I will literally be able to put my money where my mouth is. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. And even more pleased that my kids loved it.

But for the most part, I'm a little overwhelmed with this project. I know that it is often recommend to just get a little at a time, but I'm kind of anxious to make sure I at least have the basics. I figure after that I can slowly work on getting the more non-essential items like cake mixes. Although, if you were to ask my sister she would tell you that cake mixes are essential items--the reason being that if you are ever in a stressful life situation in which you need to depend on your food storage, dang it, you're going to want cake!  
(And the last time I was at her house, I counted twenty three cake mixes in her basement)

50 things that make me happy

As promised,  here is my list of things I love.  

1. my husband
2. my kids
3. my goodly parents
4. date night
5. springtime
6. homemade bread
7. sleeping in
8. scriptures
9. getting email
10. rain
11. bubble baths
12. singing
13. my iPod
14. painted toenails
15. back rubs
16. my courtship story
17. flowers
18. cooking
19. sleeping children
20. Mt Timpanogos (the mountain, although I love that temple too!)
21. watching a great movie for the first time
22. freshly laundered sheets
23. being accidentally gorgeous
24. my garden
25. Family Home Evening
26. my sisters (and I suppose my brothers too, but its just not the same)
27. m&ms
28. eating out with friends
29. fresh fruit
30. Dr. Pepper
31. General Conference
32. my piano
33. love letters
34. my daughter singing songs she has made up 
35. our soldiers
36. my soft and yummy bathrobe
37. summer nights
38. fresh cut grass
39. mild to moderate exercise
40. kids playing with cousins (they love their friends, but there is something special about cousins!)
41. Cafe Rio salads
42. my desk (my husband built it into a closet.  It is awesome!)
43. family dinner
44. my big porch
45. Bubba's curly hair
46. a clean house (Stop smirking--it happens!)
47. my oldest son's thoughtful questions
48. The 4th of July
49. memories
50. being married


So. . .what do you love?

50 things that bug me!

Several years ago I began making a list of things that bugged me. I intended to eventually turn it into a cute and clever scrapbook page but since I haven't really done much scrapbooking since like. . .oh, 2004 maybe, it probably won't ever happen. But I think the concept is still valuable. It's an interesting way to learn about someone.

So here is my list, in no particular order and updated a bit (my old list included things like "leaky diapers" and "loud BYU students in my yard" which, thankfully, are annoyances that I no longer have to deal with.)

1. clutter
2. infomercials
3. rodents
4. whining
5. being cold
6. rap "music"
7. public restrooms
8. capers (and pimento for that matter)
9. junk mail
10. inflation
11. stepping on Legos
12. humidity
13. houses built on unstable hillsides (seriously, why do people do that!)
14. Cheeto residue on my fingers
15. weeds
16. B.O.
17. lying
18. long lines
19. static cling
20. food stuck in my teeth
21. mosquitoes
22. car sickness
23. stubbly legs
24. spontaneous combustion (this is actually more of a phobia than an annoyance)
25. the media
26. smoking
27. chalk dust
28. ingratitude
29. crime
30. pimples
31. hiccups
32. children fighting
33. ridiculous SUVs
34. sticky floors
35. spam (the email variety. . .but I suppose the "meat" version as well)
36. freezer brain
37. PBS pledge week
38. cleaning out the fridge
39. nagging
40. winter weather
41. getting old
42. headaches
43. being beckoned by my kids ("No, you come here.")
44. random piles
45. illness
46. dry skin
47. split ends
48. depression
49. sleeping alone
50. my resolution to drink less soda

And lest you think that I am an overly negative person--I also have a list of things I like. I'll post that later.