Angela – Page 170 – Letters from Home

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Our party was fun on Friday night. Our guests were chosen for us by someone from church, and as hosts, only we knew who was coming. Paige was our pianist while we ate. She made it feel so elegant to be eating at the Ross house. I have learned that a little help in the kitchen makes an evening so much more enjoyable. Daniel cleared our plates and loaded the dishwasher quietly so we could visit. He heard some great stories from some fun people as he worked.

This was my favorite picture of the night. Daniel took all of these photos.

Everyone brought something special. Just look at the colors of that food… and those rolls! I don’t take credit for any of the food. I just warmed things in the oven and microwave. Richard’s smoked chicken was a hit. These were gorgeous, gorgeous plates of food.

We heard so many fun stories and that was the best part. I think we were so lucky to get this mix of people.

The little boys came out in their suits to serve trifle for dessert. I made individual trifle servings in mason jars. These were so pretty. One of the couples in our group is serving a mission and the elder gave Timothy his name tag to wear for a few minutes to see how it felt.

I am thankful for my neighbors and ward members. It was so good to get to know them.

These women are two of my children’s teachers in church. How great is that?

When the evening was over, I fell into bed in my clothes and slept in the next morning. Sleep is sweet when you’ve worked hard for something.

Party tonight

I’m preparing for a dinner party for 12 adults today. I haven’t finished the table yet, but things will get crazy later and I may forget to take another picture. My sister Susan provided the lanterns and Long tablecloth. I have leftover bird nests from a Young Women activity filled with chocolate eggs and get-to-know-you questions for the guests to discuss over dinner.

The kids are helping tonight and will play background piano music, photograph the event, and the little boys will serve dessert in their suits. Mark has permission to change IMMEDIATELY after dessert. Richard is preparing some of our meal in his smoker. (I always want to type that he is smoking chicken, but that sounds like something else.) His smoked chicken is so good.

The theme for the evening is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and the guests don’t know who is invited. Our church is holding these parties in 7 or 8 members’ homes tonight. Only the hosts know who is coming. It’s a great chance to get to know people.

I finished hanging frames for a gallery wall, but I may not get all the frames filled today. All well.

Our basement flooded last night and our fence is still down in the backyard. Other than that, we’re looking good for company!

Sahuarita friends

We had a nice visit from some friends from Sahuarita, Arizona. They’ve all grown so much, but the friendships still feel comfortable. It was a fun night. It’s a sacrifice to take time to visit friends when people are on a trip to visit family. It meant a lot to us.

For Mark

I made another attempt at a St Patrick’s Day cake this year…and look! We have a rainbow! It makes me happy.

This morning I learned that Mark still believes in Leprechauns. It pretty much made me want to hold him all day long. After sending him off to school in his bright green shirt, I resolved that this sweet little boy would have a special St Patrick’s Day cake.

A New Feature

My voice is small and my influence is very narrow, but I have written some things on this blog about my Church that I hope will be helpful to someone. I have added a new page to my blog called, “Angela’s posts about our Church”. If you use a reader rather than visit my site, you will miss it, so I am telling you it’s there.

Here’s a link so you can look at it if you feel like it. It’s a collection of posts that I have already written. There’s nothing new here, but they are organized in one place for you.

Why is it important that I share this stuff? I don’t know. I just feel like doing it. That is all for today.

A kid update

Timothy finished his stint as a safety patrol volunteer at his school. He received a Twix bar which he added to his enormous stash of candy acquired at school. In the past 8 days, he has been skiing 4 times. He is reading something with a huge salamander monster illustrated on the cover. He is devastated that his friend from school will be leaving for a year. He’s good with fractions and only asked me for help with maybe one homework problem this week. He’s really sounding good on his piano pieces, but he’s not enthusiastic about practicing. He should finish earning enough money to buy the Lego set he wants this week. I ordered it and it has been sitting unopened on the shelf for a month, taunting him.

Mark has skied 2 times this week. He’s reading Harry Potter #4, Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary, Hard Luck (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), and an Ed Emberly thumb print art book. We spent an evening making thumb print animals and faces. He spent the morning in an indoor tent full of pillows, stuffed animals and books. He spent his hard earned cash on a book called Potterwookie, which has elements of Harry Potter and Star Wars in a Diary of a Wimpy Kid type format. He and Timothy can quote the The Lego Movie’s best lines even though they only saw it once. I can’t quote anything but, “Spaceship!”

Daniel made a video presentation for a group project at school. He edited and produced the movie with Richard’s software almost on his own. The middle school critics gave it 4 stars. Daniel has skied 4 times this week, too. I have no idea what he is reading, but it’s from a teacher’s classroom library. He played the cello in a concert at the high school. My favorite piece was a Brandenburg concerto. He helped Richard install a new fence post since we lost several in a recent wind storm. My favorite piece to hear him play on the piano lately is The Maple Leaf Rag, although if I am in a brooding mood, I enjoy hearing him play Chopin’s Prelude in G Minor. He spends his free time watching Piano Guys videos.

Paige finished an art project using colored pencils. It’s two portraits, one of a porcelain doll’s face and one of her own face. I haven’t seen the finished product, but she took a picture of it for me. She took a math final and stressed over DBQ essay in English. She went on a field trip to the Springville Art Museum and the BYU Art Museum on Friday. She’s playing Reverie by Debussy and Humoresque by Timothy Brown? for judges next week. She spends most of her time in her room doing homework. We went shopping for a frame for one of her pieces of artwork last Saturday and wow, I love how it looks in a frame.

This time next month they will be working on new piano pieces, no longer skiing, and on to other adventures. They are great students, talented and expressive pianists, and involved in so many things. Posts like this help me to capture some details before they are gone.

Dinnertime Conversation of the Week

Mark met a girl at school last year who took an active interest in figuring out why I don’t have a job like her mom. She has talked to me about it and scolded me for just staying home. During our conversations, I have learned that I am hearing her father’s opinions (or her interpretation of his opinions) through her. At school she tells Mark that her family is rich and that she owns 50 horses.

Last night, Mark asked us, “So how DO you get rich?”

He had been thinking… If this little girl at school was rich, it must be because both of her parents work. He gently suggested that I could get a job.

Wealth, to Mark, we discovered, would mean having more video games.

That’s so funny that he thinks I would spend my paycheck on video games. Ha! Regardless of our wealth, I will continue to be the major impediment to a life of video game ecstasy in the lives of my children, for which they will thank me someday, but not today.

I think there are things we can do to teach the value of each person’s contributions in our family. I think we do this through assigning jobs to our children and Working Beside Them. We can show appreciation verbally for jobs well done. As a homemaker, I can express the joy this brings to me and the appreciation I have for Richard who makes our comfortable life possible. And we can be kind to those who belittle our efforts.

Now, let me say unequivocally that I am thrilled with the educational and other opportunities that are available to women. I treasure the fact that the backbreaking work and domestic drudgery required of women has been reduced in much of the world because of modern conveniences and that women are making such magnificent contributions in every field of endeavor. But if we allow our culture to reduce the special relationship that children have with mothers and grandmothers and others who nurture them, we will come to regret it.

-Elder Quentin L. Cook, Ensign, November 2013

Recipe for a good day

It’s that difficult week after Daylight Savings begins. I have been dragging myself out of bed in the mornings and having difficulty adjusting to an earlier bedtime.

Add to that fatigue an early morning blizzard as I drove the kids to school. I knew that I would need to employ my happy skills because happiness wasn’t going to be automatic today.

I took a few seconds to look at the beauty of the individual branches covered in snow.

I snickered at the robin in my tree that was just as puffy as can be, trying to stay warm.

I wore a polka dot dress.

I took a picture of those deceptively delicate crocuses in the yard, covered with snow.

I checked on the seeds I planted indoors and found some sprouts!

I let drivers merge in front of me.

I sliced up gorgeous strawberries for dinner.

I ate a Girl Scout cookie or two.

The happy skills worked. It was a good day.

28 miles

I have no big projects that I am working on lately, unless you count spring cleaning. I’m not even tackling any difficult books right now.

That is okay. Sometimes I run myself thin because completing big projects means I am making progress, right?

Not really.

I think that if I were to look at the little things I try to do each day, I would see that these are the source of real progress.

For instance, I biked 28 miles last week. I didn’t do it all at once. It took 4 exercise sessions to make it. I am no athlete, but 28 miles is pretty far! I just chose to exercise 4 times.

I have a goal to read a chapter of The Book of Mormon each day. It is such a minimal amount, really, but since January 1, I have read 159 pages. At this rate, I could complete the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and be well into the Bible by the end of the year.

I have a goal to practice the violin several days a week, but I am failing. Perhaps I need this reminder that small, consistent efforts really can produce results.

The other thing I need to do is make a set time to practice. Consistency demands structure.

I guess we’re all working on a few big projects little bit each day. We become the kind of people we create with our small, consistent efforts.

Grace

Everyone is home on this Sunday afternoon enjoying individual pursuits. There is sweet piano music echoing through the house. Thoughts from church this morning rise to the surface as I take some time to rest. I am grateful for the Savior, and that His grace carries us through difficulties. I am glad to know that the gift of grace is just that: a gift, not earned by me, but it’s up to me to accept that gift.

When I obey the commandments I show that I accept the gift.

When I repent I show that the gift is appreciated.

When I help others I show that the gift has changed me.

Nothing I do will repay the gift of the Savior, but through his grace and my obedience (acceptance of His laws) I know that I can be perfected in Him.