Catsup Cooking at the Cannery

Today the youngest daughter and I volunteered at the Mesa Cannery. It's always exciting to try to guess what product we are canning by the smell that wafts out at you as the door opens. Our cannery only produces a few items including salsa, ketchup and syrup so it's  usually pretty easy to narrow it down. My canning sessions with salsa are always followed by an intense desire for Mexican food and the last time we did syrup I had to make pancakes for dinner.  It's sometimes nice when we do ketchup because, since I'm not a ketchup fan, it doesn't bring any food cravings with it.  (However, the hubby did take me to Culvers for a Butter Burger tonight.  I had mine ketchup-less).

As we entered and sat down by a gentleman from our ward I said, "Smells like we're doing ketchup today" and he replied, "Unless we're doing cat-sup."  Now I grew up in small town Utah and we (most people, but not me) ate ketchup.  Sometimes it was spelled ketchup and sometimes it was spelled catsup, but it was all the same thing and the names were interchangeable.  According to this gentleman there is a difference.  Of course when I got home I had to google ketchup vs. catsup and I am still pretty sure they are the same thing.

This is what I learned:
 ketchup was what it was called back when it was first introduced to the world pre-1700.
The British called it catsup somewhere along the way.
Southerners seem to prefer catsup.
Some people say catsup is spicier.
Ketchup is the most accepted name today and is what is printed on most brands.
Also, if you type catsup it shows up as a mis-spelling on the computer.

If you are interested in more info (and some ketchup/catsup pictures) you can go here.

Well, back to the cannery.  Today we canned (or bottled) catsup.  See Exhibit A below.

I got the job of putting lids on the bottles after the catsup was squirted in.  This is my most regular cannery assignment.  I must look like I have good manual dexterity or something. The bottles come out 4 at a time, pretty quickly, but there are usually 3 or 4 people in this area, so if you are at the front of the line and you miss a bottle someone else will catch it later.  If you are at the end of the line this is a REALLY BORING job and you spend most of your time spacing the bottles evenly to go through the machine that sucks the air out of them.  Today I was 2nd in line, a good spot to be.

The youngest daughter got to remove the bottles from the cooling tunnel and place them on the conveyor belt to get labeled and boxed.  I worked this area once.  I liked it because it is a loud area, I got to wear ear plugs and I could sing my entire repertoire of songs, at the top of my lungs and no one could hear me.  (The daughter says she thinks they could still hear me and that is embarrassing, but I asked the man who was standing next to me and he said no, and I trust him. He was reciting a 2 million stanza poem that he memorized and I only know that because he told me, not because I could hear him.)

We worked the afternoon shift and luckily we only had to work for about 2 hours. I got to man one of the clean up hoses when we were finished and squirt catsup off of all the equipment.  I managed to get a lot of hot, catsupy water all over me, but it was fun to spray everything.  I enjoyed spending some time giving service with my daughter, but I'm glad I don't have to work a production job everyday.

A final note concerning catsup.  Even though it is spelled catsup and the pronunciation dictionary says to say it cat- sup.  I was raised to call it all ketchup (catch up).  Cat sup sounds like something I would give my cats for dinner.  However, they might actually like some catsup on their cat food.  They have been extremely interested in the shoes that I wore to the cannery since they got marinated in catsup water.

Today I am thankful for

the opportunity to do service with my daughter.  I am enjoying having her around.
cheap and yummy wholewheat raisin bread from the Alpine Bread Bakery Outlet.
lentils.

So Worth It

At the start of the summer a new sister moved into our ward.  She is youngish and she is vocal and she has been a breath of fresh air in our classroom discussions.  She openly shares the fact that she hasn't always been a practicing member of the church and that she has made some bad decisions in her life, but her past is overshadowed by the testimony she shares at every opportunity. She has come so far. She makes me want to be less judgmental; more loving and willing to embrace and encourage those who are struggling with their testimonies.  She brings hope to my heart when it starts to feel hopeless.

A couple of weeks ago she attended our visiting teaching interviews and then asked for directions to the bishop's house.  She is getting married the start of September and had an appointment to get her temple recommend so she could go to the temple for the first time.  She was so excited!  She shared how she had almost gone to the temple a few years before, but her divorce got in the way and it didn't happen.  How hard it had been to wait, when she wanted to go so badly. When she left she told us she would be back in a while for her interview with a member of the Stake Presidency.

I was in the hall when she returned with tears running down her face. I was worried that something hadn't turned out the way she had planned.  As I walked toward her she raised her signed recommend for me to see and said, "He signed it.  I signed it.  I am going to the temple."  We embraced and joyfully cried together.  So very, very happy.  She couldn't contain her excitement as she bounced around sharing the news with everyone that would listen.

Tonight I had the opportunity of being in attendance at her temple endowment session and as we embraced again in the celestial room we shed a few more happy tears and rejoiced in her accomplishment.  She did it! and it seems that all the struggles just made the final outcome that much sweeter.  She was so happy and thankful to be there.

As I sat in the celestial room, watching her and those who had come to support her, I reflected on some of the things she has experienced in her life, the choices she has made, and  how she was finally able to worthily stand in the temple.  I pondered on why the road to the temple seems so simple for some individuals and so difficult for others. Entering the temple for the first time was pretty easy for me. Luckily my choices had helped to make it that way, but I probably looked on the event as more of a rite of passage than an accomplishment or a privilege, just one more thing I needed to do before I left on my mission.   I was happy to be there, but I think my joy at that moment was minuscule compared to hers, and to the joy I felt for her tonight.

 There were 2 other people going through the temple for the first time tonight.  A young man who looked like he was getting ready to go on a mission and another girl who was soon to be married.  I wondered if they were as amazed and appreciative of this great blessing in their lives as my friend was. Had their choices in life led to a fairly smooth path to the temple or had they too struggled to get there? What had they done and gone through to make this opportunity a reality? Did they see their temple covenants as the marvelous blessing that they are?

As most of the patrons left the celestial room the young man and his father sat talking quietly in one corner while the unknown bride-to-be sat on a couch next to her future husband, her brother and mother nestled by her side as her father stood protectively near them.  It was such a sweet experience as the spirit of the temple sunk deep into my soul.  I hope they felt that spirit too.  I hope they realize what a great blessing it is to be temple worthy.  I hope they continue to visit the temple often and come to appreciate more and more each time they come how truly blessed they are to have the temple, and all it represents, in their lives.

As I have.

Whether the climb to the temple seems fairly simple or wrought with difficulty I testify it is So Worth It!

Do what you need to do to get there and then make it a priority to go often.  It will be worth any effort it takes!

But you don't have to just take my word for it.  Here is what the living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson has to say on this topic:

"Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings."  

This quote comes from a conference talk Pres. Monson gave in April 2011 and you can read his entire message here.

Today I am thankful for

the new converts or re-converted members of my ward who help me see the gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessings that are mine through fresh eyes.  I learn so much from them.
temple promises.
the spirit that I feel in the temple.  Nothing in this world can compare to it.

Fourth of July in San Diego

Many thanks to my friend, Lucy, who taught me how to make a collage and post it on my blog!

As the Fourth of July holiday approached, the temperature in Phoenix increased and the oldest daughter kept begging for someone to come and visit so she wouldn't have to celebrate "alone", my determination to just stay home and accomplish something for a while once again wained.  The oldest son and the daughter-in-law were happy to accompany me to the cooler climes for their celebration and the hubby encouraged me to go and have fun, promising he would find something fun to do on the 4th too.  (He said he was going to climb on the roof and watch the fireworks, which was almost worth sticking around to witness, but he actually went to a barbecue with the extended family and also enjoyed a break from the heat with a morning rain storm and temperatures in the 90s.)

Those of us in San Diego had a fun-filled day

which started with a 7:57 AM ward breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, bacon, sausage, orange juice and a stirring reading of the Declaration of Independence complete with signers' names and state of residence.  I am truly grateful for the founding fathers and the many sacrifices they made so I could live in this free country and agree that they should be recognized, especially on this day, but I felt bad for the boy scout who had to cook a ton of pancakes and then got recitation duty as well.

The oldest daughter, the grandson and I, along with the young women of the ward and their leaders, gathered last night to make decorations for the breakfast.  The daughter was in charge of pin wheel production and she did a fine job.

I was in charge of potty runs with the 2-year-old and he and I excelled at our responsibilities as well.  We were also excellent cookie and cupcake tasters.

After the breakfast we went home and focused on completing the daughter's patriotic wreath for her front door.  She glued,

while I pinned,

and the oldest son tried to keep the grandson entertained, with some wild chair spinning, so he wouldn't continually steal the spool of wire and unwind it all over the backyard.

His attempts worked a small portion of the time, but eventually the wreath was finished and placed in its official home.

Good job daughter!

After lunch some of us had rest time

and some of us went shopping at the Avenue "store closing sale" where we found lots of bargains.

We had a wonderful barbecue for dinner. The oldest son grilled the hamburgers to perfection and the corn on the cob tasted just like it should on the 4th of July, and then we each made our own personal patriotic fruit tarts

and gobbled them down. YUMMY!

This was followed by some quality time spent taking Fourth of July photos of the grandson.

Which he didn't think was nearly as fun as we did.  He did enjoy having his own opportunity to take pictures though

and pretend bull fighting with his uncle.

I'm glad he did cooperate for a while, because I like to have cute pictures of him to enjoy.

The daughter also made this cute quilt that you see in all of these pictures.  Didn't she do a good job?

We discussed going into San Diego to watch the fireworks over the bay, but decided we didn't feel like fighting the crowds and waiting for hours with the 2-year-old. We voted to stay home and take our chances that we could see the local display out the daughter's bedroom window.  

There were a couple of trees that got in the way of some of the blasts,

but over-all I really enjoyed reclining on the bed and watching the fireworks as the grandson danced around exclaiming with excitement.

It was a good thing we chose not to attend the big city show because they had a computer malfunction and the fireworks all shot off at the same time resulting in a huge display that  lasted approximately 9 seconds.

The son-in-law did his celebrating in Hawaii, the youngest son worked and then shot off fireworks at the park with his friends (and possibly the police), and the youngest daughter went to the rodeo and firework show in Idaho.  Hopefully they all had as much fun as I did!

Today I am thankful for

my American citizenship.
Freedom.
and the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Delaware George Read• Caesar Rodney• Thomas McKean Pennsylvania  George Clymer• Benjamin Franklin• Robert Morris• John Morton• Benjamin Rush• George Ross• James Smith• James Wilson• George Taylor  Massachusetts John Adams• Samuel Adams• John Hancock• Robert Treat Paine• Elbridge Gerry New Hampshire Josiah Bartlett• William Whipple• Matthew Thornton Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins• William Ellery New York Lewis Morris• Philip Livingston• Francis Lewis• William Floyd Georgia Button Gwinnett• Lyman Hall• George Walton Virginia Richard Henry Lee• Francis Lightfoot Lee• Carter Braxton• Benjamin Harrison• Thomas Jefferson• George Wythe• Thomas Nelson, Jr. North Carolina William Hooper• John Penn• Joseph Hewes South Carolina Edward Rutledge• Arthur Middleton• Thomas Lynch, Jr.• Thomas Heyward, Jr. New Jersey Abraham Clark• John Hart• Francis Hopkinson• Richard Stockton• John Witherspoon Connecticut Samuel Huntington• Roger Sherman• William Williams• Oliver Wolcott Maryland Charles Carroll• Samuel Chase• Thomas Stone• William Paca

Gila Valley Temple Trip

While planning some summer activities for our Relief Society sisters to enjoy, we had the idea of taking a day trip to one of the Arizona temples that we don’t frequently visit.  We chose the Gila Valley temple and began making plans. 

It seemed like at every turn we were questioned,  “Why go all the way (a 3 hour trip each way) to the Gila Valley when there is a temple in your own back yard?”.

We started out saying things like, “It will be an adventure”, “It sounds fun”, and “It’s something we haven’t done before”.  However, after being asked numerous times, we decided perhaps we needed to really think about this activity.  Why were we considering it?  What did we want the sisters to experience and gain on this trip?  Was it worth the time commitment and expense?  Was it really something we felt that our Heavenly Father would want us to do? 

As we thought and prayed about it we felt the Lord’s approval and came up with several important goals for this trip.  First, we felt that it would be good for the sisters to really have to sacrifice an entire day to going to the temple.  We are very blessed to live only 10 minutes from the Mesa temple.  Many women in the church have to plan and save and dedicate large amounts of time and money to be able to visit the nearest temple to them.  By making this effort, we hoped that our women would be more grateful for the availability of the temple and the 3 hours total it usually takes us to go to the temple would be a little less daunting. 

We also felt that the time we would be able to spend together as sisters, traveling to and from the temple and while there, would be a good bonding experience.  Seldom do we get to really visit with one another and touch on more than the bare basics of what is happening in our lives.  With these two main goals in mind we continued to move forward.

 It seemed as though things still didn’t readily fall into place and there were setbacks and challenges along the way, but we pressed on.  When we looked at our schedule we determined that the best endowment session for us to attend would be at 1:15 PM.  As we researched this though we discovered that this session was done only in Spanish.  The majority of us were English speakers, but we determined that this too could be a positive learning experience and we could make it work if the temple had enough headsets for all of us.  The temple assured us that they could accommodate our group and that they would be happy to have us there.

We originally had 24 sisters and a few husbands sign up to attend.  We arranged drivers and had just enough seats for everyone.  The relief society president was planning on transporting 7 sisters in her vehicle.  A few days before we were to go she decided to have the tires on her car checked and rotated.  Much to her disappointment, she was informed that 2 of her tires were unsafe and that she shouldn’t even drive to Phoenix on them.  In addition, the tires she needed would have to be ordered and wouldn’t be available until the next week.  We were down a large vehicle and didn’t know what to do.  However, just the day before a sister who was not originally planning on attending had called and asked if she could go. As the relief society president pondered on whom she could ask to drive, this sister came to mind.  She had a van that she was willing to drive and we were good to go again.

Since we were going to be gone all day we had decided to provide lunch for everyone.  We were just planning to eat at the picnic pavilion located close to the temple.  We knew that it was July and it would be hot, but thought we could make it work.  One of the sisters called a couple of days before the trip and was extremely worried about the excessive heat forecast and felt that we needed to make other arrangements.  We considered finding a church building that we could have access to, but as we thought about what we should do our president was impressed to go a different route. 

There is a former ward member, in her nineties, who moved into her daughter’s home in Thatcher a few years ago.  When we first began to plan this trip we thought that it might be nice for a few of us to visit her while we were in the area, and even got a detailed map to her home from one of the other sisters who had been to visit in the past.  As the time drew closer though we realized that we didn’t really have time to fit in a visit and let the idea pass.  The relief society president felt very strongly that she should ask if we could eat lunch at this sister’s home. She was hesitant to essentially invite 20+ people to lunch, even though we would be providing the food, but the feeling persisted and she started making phone calls.  It took a few tries and a couple of days to finally connect with the daughter, but she was very willing to have us descend upon them in force the next day.   What a sweet, gracious relief society sister.   We all had such a pleasant time in her home and enjoyed renewing acquaintances.  It turned out that not only our former ward member, but her daughter as well, knew some of the sisters that came.  When we got ready to leave, the daughter pulled us aside and confided that her mom had been having a difficult time and that this visit had really perked her up.  She felt it was just what she needed and thanked us for coming. 

It was amazing to us how everything turned out the way it was supposed to in so many different ways.  We believe that we accomplished our original goals and some of Heavenly Father’s plans as well. Many of the sisters commented that it was valuable for them to see how others sacrificed to fit temple attendance into their lives and that they were grateful they lived so close to the temple.  It was wonderful to see strong friendships formed and strengthened in each vehicle during the journey.

We truly felt the Lord’s help and approval numerous times throughout this experience.  One sister felt inspired to go to the temple at the last minute and her vehicle was the one we needed to make the trip work.

Another sister felt inspired that the park wasn’t where we should eat lunch and several lives were blessed because of the change that was made.

At our gas station pit stops we attracted a lot of attention and were able to share our love for the temple and its importance and to engage in some simple missionary work. 

We used every available translating headset that the temple owned, but our one Spanish-speaking sister was touched by the opportunity to attend a session in her native language with all of her relief society sisters. 

It really was  a wonderful and fulfilling experience for all who attended and a day well spent.  

And I Helped!

I love to do family search indexing. It is one thing I can feel good about doing when I don't feel like doing anything else productive. The big indexing project right now is the 1940 United States Census.



Today I received an e-mail saying the project is halfway completed and that my help was appreciated. I have mostly been doing arbitration. This is where I review what 2 individuals have indexed from a census page and when there is a discrepancy I decide which one is correct, or if neither one looks right I fix it. Usually arbitration goes pretty quickly and so I am able to do a lot of records in a short amount of time. The e-mail provided a link to a page with badges for every state I have assisted with. It was fun to see all the different states represented. There were a lot more than I thought there would be.



If you would like to join the fun go here to get started. This would be a good activity for your older children who are looking for something interesting to do this summer.

44 on the 4th

Four years ago, 3 of us were up very early in the morning decorating our friends house in honor of her 40th birthday.  We were trying to be very quiet and not get caught.  It isn't easy for us to be quiet and it didn't help when the street cleaner decided he wanted to have a lengthy, but entertaining, discussion with us. He pulled his monster sweeper up to the curb and yelled his half of the conversation over the noise it was making and we, in turn, felt compelled to yell back.  Still, we were able to decorate and dash without being caught.

Fast forward to today and our friend is again celebrating her birthday.  This is a special one because she is turning 44 on the 4th.  I have always heard that when the date of your birth matches the age you are turning it is your golden birthday.  I turned 28 on my golden birthday and this friend turned 4 on hers.  However, there are some people who are extra lucky and get to have a double golden birthday. Like our friend today.

 I tried to take a picture where you could actually see her holding up 4 fingers on each hand,
but she wouldn't let me because she just got up and "looked gross". 

Both of my sons get to have double golden birthdays.  One had his when he was 11 and one when he turns 55.  We were trying to decide if anyone has ever had a triple golden birthday.  Do you think there was ever someone born on the 1st that turned 111?  That would be REALLY LUCKY!

Well, this morning we decided to decorate a little later and avoid a rendezvous with our friend from the city.  That wasn't a very good idea.  We ended up decorating the house, undecorating it in an attempt to go undetected when we discovered the friend was on her way outside, and then decorating it again. We were caught first by a couple of boy scouts (her son and his friend), then by a police officer (the father of the friend) and finally by our friend (when she failed to stay and visit at the church when she dropped the boys off to go to scout camp. She drove up just as we were walking home and chased us down the street).  Oh well, that way we got to give her a Happy Birthday hug!  I hope her day was GOLDEN.

Today I am thankful that

even though the 3rd member of our decorating committee didn't feel up to helping us this morning, she did let us come and help her clean her house and then shared protein pancakes with us and visited.

the youngest son arrived back safely from his whirlwind trip to San Diego.  Moms worry when their kids drive long distances by themselves.

I was up early enough to see these beautiful cactus blossoms.

These flowers are only open in the cool of the morning.  If you sleep in you miss them.

American Creme Oreos

When I went to the store last week I was excited to discover that Nabisco has taken a step to help my family's Memorial day tradition seem a little more patriotic and fitting for the occasion.  There on the shelf was a package of  limited edition American Creme Oreos.

How patriotic is that?  Of course those Oreos had to come home with me in preparation for the upcoming holiday.

Today I took my required "Oreo Day" photo.

Notice how I worked hard to get the reflection of the flag in my picture.  Double points for patriotism!

Then I ripped open the package and sampled the cookies.

While I give Nabisco a high five for a fun idea, the end result wasn't all I had hoped for.  The hubby's first question was "Where's the white stripe?" So I ask, "Why no white stripe?" I do think all 3 colors found in the flag would have added to the filling and made it look truly American.

 I also have never been a big fan of the golden Oreos.  I would have preferred the traditional "chocolate" Oreo encasing.  I wonder who decided that "American Oreos" should be light and not dark?  Probably in our overly politically correct society there should be versions of both colors and several hues in between.  

Happy Oreo Day to my kids!  I hope you managed to find some kind of Oreo to partake of today.  I also hope you took a few minutes to ponder the sacrifice of  those who paid the ultimate price so we can live in a free country where I can discuss the color of cookies without fear of being labeled a subversive and being thrown into prison or transported to a really cold place. (Perhaps I have been reading a few too many books about the Soviet Union under Stalin rule recently).

Today I am thankful

that I was born an American.
for those men and women who gave their lives so I can enjoy the freedoms I enjoy here.
for unusually moderate temperatures that made being outside today enjoyable.

Breathing Fire

This is why my youngest son shouldn't be allowed to play with matches.

According to him this is perfectly safe.

Strawberries

The grandson is a big fan of strawberries. At dinner tonight we had strawberry spinach salad. Yum! The grandson decided he preferred his strawberries straight from the package without all the embellishments.  He started saying straw-ber-ries over and over again as he ate them one by one. It was so funny the way he was saying it, with his tongue wiggling all over his face, so I decided to make a video of him. Of course, then he just started being silly, but I love the surprise ending of this little movie.

Last month when my sisters and I rendezvoused in San Diego for a week, the woman in charge of restocking our breakfast each morning at the motel was very friendly and told us she was going to Carlsbad to pick strawberries for her anniversary.  Since we were planning a trip to Carlsbad too, we decided that sounded like a fun adventure.  The daughter, the son-in-law and the grandson accompanied us to the strawberry fields.  We (read Kathy) paid a premium price for the berries and the experience, but it was fun.

Carlsbad Strawberry Fields - April 20, 2012

and we picked some very, very delicious strawberries that the grandson called pineapple about half the time.

Just One More Sleep

Almost every day I get a phone call from the grandson.  It goes something like this:

"Grandma coming home soon?"

"Not today"

"After night-night? After one sleep?"

"Nope, not for lots of sleeps."

"Youse come home after lots of sleeps?"

"Yup, I'll come to your house after lots of sleeps."

"OK.  Love you.  Bye."

Even though it doesn't seem to upset him much, it breaks my heart every time I have to say "lots of sleeps", so a couple of days ago when he called I was happy to change my reply to "After 3 sleeps."

"Youse coming to my house after 3 sleeps?" he asked for clarification and the daughter piped in "You're coming to my house after 3 sleeps?"

Apparently the e-mail informing her that her dad and I were coming to visit got lost in transit.  But she is very accommodating and decided we could still come.

At the hubby's work the culture department sends out a daily e-mail with a Pima (Piipaash) and Maricopa (O'odham) word of the day. Recently they have been focusing on words related to time. Today, when we only have one more sleep before we leave for San Diego, he forwarded the info to me.  We both thought it was rather interesting.

Prior to European arrival, the O’odham and Piipaash did not organize time into seven-day weeks. There was no concept of a week at all. Therefore, there was no specific name given to any particular day. If one wanted to plan attendance at a future event, others were told to, “Come after four night’s sleep,” or something similar.

His comment was "See, it's just the Pima coming out in our grandson."

Only 1 more sleep!