A Watched Pot Never Boils Over

I'll be doggers..........it really works.  I was cooking some macaroni on the stove when the thought came to me that I had seen many, many places on the Internet that if you put a wooden spoon over a boiling pot, it won't boil over.  I cranked the stove up to "high" and left it there the entire time and guess what?..................it never even came close to boiling over.  I didn't have to scurry from another room to the kitchen when I heard water boiling over and running all over my stove.  Amazing!

Here it is boiling at it's highest point and still..............NO BOILING OVER.  I'll be sure to remember this little handy bit of information!

 

Young Women Swimming At The Reservoir

On Tuesday, August 28, 2012, we took our Young Women group up to the Mackay Reservoir to go swimming.....it was their choice....ah, to be young again.  When we got there, I decided I would put my purse in the trunk of the car for safe keeping.  Just as the trunk was shutting, I realized that I had the car keys in my purse.  It was like a slow motion NO-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, as I was grabbing for the trunk.  Too late.  No problem, I would just borrow my counselors cell phone and call my husband, who was out doing his home teaching, to bring them up when he got done. 
There were two young men that heard we were going up to the reservoir so they went up a little early and hid out under the dock waiting for the girls.  What little did they know that we were running a little late so they were hiding under the dock for at least 15-20 minutes.  When we got there, one of the girls heard a noise and when she looked over the edge of the dock, the two boys popped out.......scared the girls a bit.  When they got up on the dock, their jaws were totally quivering from the cold.

 

 The girls decided that if it was cold, there was only one way to go in.....run and jump off of the edge of the dock.  By their reactions, I think it was a rude awakening.

But once in the water, and after their bodies got used to the temperature, the really had a great time.

My counselor was sitting by me on the dock and was trying to teach/tell me to get off of auto mode on my camera and try out some different shots in manual mode.  It was actually pretty interesting and the below picture of one of the results.  The water isn't blue but I think it is a cool shot.

As you can see, the moon is shining on the water and we are still at the reservoir swimming.  One of the reasons, my husband had totally lost track of time and didn't get to the reservoir with my spare car keys until 8:35pm.  But, it all boiled down to the girls having a great time, late or not.  And, I did learn that girls must be of a stronger caliber than the male species......didn't see the girls shaking half as much as the boys that hid out under the dock.  Way to show em, girls!

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Does this look good, or what?  My daughter came home this weekend....total surprise, yes!  She brought this recipe home for homemade chicken pot pie that she got from her previous roommate.  It totally took us both 1 1/2 hours to get it ready to bake, another 40 minutes to bake it and then another 15 minutes rest time after it was baked.  It sure tasted good, though.  What took so long in the preparation was all the chopping and dicing of the veggies.  It made two full -size pie pans.  It was a keeper recipe but one that would be best prepared ahead of time.  As for the pie crust, not the prettiest but hey, does pretty really count when it comes to flavor?  We had some left-over sauce that we used in the filling so we used it today mixed in with pork chop mushroom gravy.  Mmm-m-m, it sure made great gravy.

Let's Hear It For Plumbers

What a YUCKY MESS we had this weekend.  I went to do the dishes when I noticed that my sink wasn't draining.  No warning of a slow sink previously..........nothing.  It worked as it always had.  I thought, "No Problem"...I'll just get the plunger and we're good to go.....Not The Case!  I have a double sink so first I plugged off one side and started plunging the other - Whew, what a mess.  A bunch of totally black gunk come up into the sink.

My husband checked out the pipes running to the sewer line, check.  Checked out the bathroom lines, check.  Checked the vent pipe on top of the house, check.  All things were checking out good so we knew it was located in the kitchen sink, only.  Good sign....now all my husband needed to do was get out a drain snake, twist it into the pipes and walla..........clog free drain - right? - wrong!  The smudge didn't budge so we had to call in the big guns......A Plumber.  He came with an electric drain snake that was much longer than the one we used and he had our sink draining in no time.  Let's hear it for the plumbers of the world - Woot, woot!  I asked the plumber where all the dirt could have come from and he said usually from washing off garden veggies.  That would be us, eating garden stuff all summer.  I'll surely not make that mistake again.  From now on, all veggies will be dirt free before washing them at the sink. 

Service - Young Women - Lesson #30 - Lord, I Would Follow Thee

The first Sunday in September, I will be teaching the Young Women lesson on "Service" out of the Young Women Manual 1 - Lesson #30.  I found the cutest little, silver shoe tacks on Ebay and I got 12 shoes for only $4.95, including shipping.  I knew I wanted to use these shoes for a handout but really struggled with how to incorporate them into a lesson.  I kept thinking of service and along the lines of "Walking With the Lord in Service", "Step Into Service", etc, etc, etc.  I looked in the hymn book and looked up all the hymns that dealt with service when the hymn "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" jumped out at me and thus, my handout. 

Bicycle/Motorcycle Door Decorations

Reva McConnell, a person who works at our school, made bicycles/motorcycles for all the teachers doors.  Monday, upon arriving at school, each teacher was greeted with their own surprise...Reva had a bicycle/motorcycle, made out of balloons, hanging from their door....each one a different color.  These were so blasted cute....take a look.  If you click on her name that is highlighted in red, it will take you to a Mackay blog, posted by another person, depicting the talents of Reva.

 

Also, THIS SITE will give you a glimpse at what Reva and her husband did together.  Very talented people!

Three Bull Moose

My husband and I went along Houston Road tonight to give my friend a head of cabbage and on the way home we saw our cousins standing in the road looking out in a hay field.  We stopped to talk to them and they pointed out in the field, showing us three bull moose.  It was past 7:30pm and with all the smoke haze, the late evening and having to zoom in at 56x, it was hard to get a clear photo.  All the pictures have a lot of noise in them but at least you will get the gist of what we saw.  These creatures are magnificent........but UGLY, sorta.

Red Smoked Sun

Yesterday, I made a little jaunt over to the Falls to buy some clothes for the new school year and to visit my daughter who lives in Rigby.  On the way home, across the dessert, I noticed that the sun was bright red/orange.  Depending on the situation of the clouds and smoke, it kept changing colors.  I decided to try and get some pictures of it, knowing that every time I've tried to get a picture of a "RED/ORANGE" sun, due to smoke, it has always turned out with a white center.  There wasn't a whole lot of traffic on the road so I started shooting pictures as I was driving.  I know, not a very smart thing to do, but................................(I was actually keeping my eyes on the road because I knew the general area of the sun and I was just aiming my camera in the general direction and shooting the picture.)  Every picture was taken on a different setting and zoomed differently, trying to get that red/orange glow.  Just ignore all the bug splats in each picture as most pictures were taken through the windshield

This first picture was taken from the blue tinted strip that runs along the top of your windshield.  I thought...how pretty, so I decided to take some more, experimenting with different settings and zooming in.

Ah, here we go..............finally, a "RED" sun.  I had my camera set on TV with a 1/200 setting and shooting through the blue tinted part of the windshield.  The sky is a bit dark but I think I'm starting to get this thing figured out.  Too bad I was driving at the time or I could have played a bit more and totally figured it out.  And then again, there was the other option I didn't take.............STOP the car and take some pictures.  Genius, right?

Miracle Cleaner

A homemade miracle cleaner that really works...REALLY.  I found the recipe on THIS SITE and put it to the test today, mixing 1 part Dawn (Blue) Dish Washing Soap with 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide.  I tried it on one of my skirts that had 3-4 grease spots and it took it right out.  Next, I went to work on one of my husband's shirts that he went out on a call (Lost River Electric) in and needless to say, it did not come back clean.  I've washed it over and over, used a Clorox Bleach Pen....everything.  I'd given up on the shirt until today when I decided to give this Homemade Miracle Cleaner a try.  Proofs in the pudding, so-to-say!  You've got to try this stuff out....IT REALLY WORKS!  I actually thought to take before and after photos so you can see how it worked.  The first picture is how the cuff looked before spotting it with the cleaner.

I mixed up a little cleaner in a bottle cap, dipped in a washrag and rubbed it all over the cuff.

Look how white it came out..........BIG difference.  I think I will give it another once-over, wash it in the washing machine, and call it good.  Yeah.....good enough to wear, again!

Resisting Sin.....Don't Take The Bait

Our lesson this week for Young Women's is: Lesson Manual #1 - Lesson #28 - Resisting Sin.  I found the cutest idea for a handout on the Internet and off I went creating.  I couldn't find the site again so I can't give you reference to the site but here is my version of the handout I found.  I found the Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers at Walmart and put them in snack size baggies then stapled my handout to the top of the baggie.  Below is the front and back sides to the handout. 

I found the idea for this next handout here.  I just finished making this one and I'm not sure whether I'm going to use it or not.  As in the handout on the other site, I want to also tie this handout to a can of "Orange Crush" soda pop.  If I get to town before Sunday and they have the pop, I will probably go with it.  We'll see what happens between now and Sunday but I think the idea is a really cute.  I just love getting ideas, taking those ideas, and making them into my own.  Just wished I could come up with the ideas all on my own......would be nice to be creative.

Where Are The Mountains?

Just look at our beautiful mountains.  What?  You can't see them?  It is so sad.  I took these pictures last night thinking how bad it was that we could barely see our beautiful mountains.  Well, today it was worse............not even an outline of the mountains.  The smoke from the fires are flooding our little valley.  It is so thick now that you can even see the smoke filtering in all around the trees.  I would take a picture of the mountains now and show you but guess what...........there's absolutely nothing to see.

 I took these next two pictures on Tuesday night around 7:30pm.  The pictures are deceiving because the sun is actually a bright orange but for some reason, it shows up white.  Gotta figure out how to get my sun orange like it is in reality.  Weird that it turns out white. 

Cherry Crunch

Remember the Rhubarb Crunch I made a few weeks ago.  Well, I'm here to tell you that if you use the same recipe as the rhubarb crunch but substitute pie cherries in place of the rhubarb, you get another Ahhh-mazing dessert.  I made the following Cherry Crunch 3-4 days ago and it still taste delish!  This recipe is definitely a KEEPER!

Now, just add a little swirl of whipped cream on top and you get heaven in a cloud.  I'm telling you, it's that good.