Five-Patch Tree

I’m in a Shel Silverstein mood today. Here are three poems of his that make me smile:

Sandra’s seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll,

Laurie danced with witches once, Charlie found some goblins’ gold.

Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf,

But all the magic I have known I’ve had to make myself.

My skin is kind of sort of brownish pinkish yellowish white.

My eyes are greyish blueish green, but I'm told they look orange in the night.

My hair is reddish blondish brown, but it’s silver when it’s wet,

And all the colors I am inside have not been invented yet.

There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long,

"I feel this is right for me, I know that this is wrong."

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend or wise man can decide

What's right for you - just listen to the voice that speaks inside.

Jubilee

This block is the basis for the quilt on Auntie Em’s bed in the beginning of the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. It’s a one-block quilt with very large blocks – at least 16”. Each one uses 48 half-square triangles, and each one features a different dark print against a solid or near solid pale background. Because that part of the movie is in black and white, there’s no way to know what color the quilt was, or even if each block was a different color. L. Frank Baum’s book says: “When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also.” If Aunt Em made this quilt in her youth for her hope chest, I believe she’d have made it red.

Opposites Attract

Friends shared this with me, and I’m sharing it with you. The original is at GregTrimble.com, if you’ve time to read 18,000+ words. 

Five Things You Shouldn’t Do in Church:

Share your germs. If you're sick and have an assignment, get a substitute. No one will be glad you played the martyr and filled your calling if you made them unwell.

Make your noisy toddler sit through the worship service. You’re not teaching him to behave; you’re teaching everyone else that he won’t.

Tell us what important callings you used to hold. Consider Boyd K. Packer’s advice, “No member is esteemed by the Lord as more or less than any other.”

Make testimony meeting weird. When you share your testimony, do just that. Don’t give us a travelogue, an exposé or a “thankimony.”

Criticize or "one-up" the teacher. Show a little courtesy. He’s not getting paid for this.  Remember, the guy teaching next week might be you.

Wedding Cake

Ridiculously Easy Pumpkin Cobbler

1 box yellow cake mix divided (reserve 1 cup to use later)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 large egg

Combine cake mix, butter and egg in a large bowl; stir until well mixed. Spread in bottom of buttered 9x13 pan.

1 (1 lb. 14 oz.) can pumpkin pie mix (NOT canned pumpkin)

2 more large eggs

2/3 cup milk

Combine pumpkin, eggs and milk in a large bowl. (You can reuse the first bowl if you like.) Stir until well blended, then pour pumpkin mixture over cake mixture.

1 cup reserved dry cake mix

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

Combine these last four ingredients together in a small bowl and sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the center is nearly set. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Makes 12 servings.

Margaret's Choice

Yesterday was our ward conference, so a visitor from the stake Sunday school taught our gospel doctrine class. He spoke of the authors of the four gospels and how they approached their topic differently. Luke painted the scene of the nativity, with angels, shepherds and wise men. Matthew told of the fourteen generations between Abraham and David, between David and the Babylonians, and between Babylon and Christ. Mark and John began with John the Baptist and Christ’s early ministry. Then our teacher mentioned a fifth gospel, Third Nephi, which tells what was happening in the New World at the time of Christ’s birth. He said that each of us could (and as teachers and parents we should) write our own gospel. Because our personal histories, our testimonies and our audiences are unique, so our gospels would be unique as well. It’s an interesting concept; one I intend to spend some time considering.

Which Way Is North?

Last Saturday the Grocery Guru showed us how to feed a family of four for less than $40 a week. His first suggestion was to plan ahead, and I do. Every week I go through my fridge, my freezer and my pantry. I throw out the stuff with blue beards and make a note of what’s still good. I make a list of what I need to buy so I can use up what I have, and I add to that any staples that are running low. He recommended shopping for what’s on sale, and I do that to a point. I don’t buy strawberries in January or apples in July. But most of his savings were based on coupon clipping and buying gas at the grocer’s pumps. Gasoline accounts for only a tiny bit of my monthly expenses. And the coupons always seem to be for frozen pizza, candy bars, soda pop and potato chips; never for any actual food.