One less pasta dinner for Rychen this week

I actually cooked something that Rychen dug into with gusto last night. (This is a significant event around here; Many a night I have felt like Debra Barone. Sometimes he eats my cooking to be a good sport but most of the time he makes his own food. He NEVER eats it with gusto.) So I made the same thing again today! Veggie enchiladas with pinto beans, green bell peppers, onions, mixed up in homemade sauce. So a point for the domestic goddess, and one fewer meal he would have cooked for himself (invariably pasta).

This pan shows "his and hers" :)

Third Time Around

A couple months ago, we had a friend over and were sharing that we were gearing up for another pregnancy and she asked something about keeping secrets, or how long until I tell Rychen, etc. He laughed and told her that I cannot keep any secrets, he always knows everything right away, and it doesn't help that I leave my negative pregnancy tests in the garbage for everyone to see.

 

That moment I knew. This time would have to be different.

 

So when it was almost time to take a pregnancy test, I bought an extra one. I took it early on purpose -- to early for results -- and got the expected negative. Then I stashed it for the rest of the week. When I got my positive pregnancy test, I hid that one too but then took the negative test out of hiding and placed it nicely on the top of the bathroom garbage for all to see.

 

And accordingly, Rychen never asked me about my results.

 

I think it counts as keeping a secret even though it only lasted 3 days. I would have kept quiet longer, except that it was our anniversary so how could I not tell him that he would be having a third child?? To tell him, I made him an anniversary card and wrote a cheesy dumb poem inside about being best friends and co-parentals, except for the last lines which said

 

Three will be more difficult than two, but don't fear

for the third will be joining us in January next year!

 

I was kind of nervous to tell Rychen because I pretty much twisted his arm into "trying" and I wasn't convinced that he would accept this as good news (ha ha.. he has a great attitude, don't worry). So I was shaking a little bit when I handed him his anniversary card, outside the temple. He gave me my gift at the same time (my nicely polished, newly adjusted wedding ring) so both our attention was a bit divided. He opened his card and skimmed the poem, looked up and said "Thanks sweetie," and went to put the card away. I was like, "Did you read it?" he said yes, he did. But I said, "No, Rychen, read it."

 

Sheepishly, he realized he must have missed something important. So he read it again and grinned. His only comment was "We must be the two most fertile people on earth."

 

Yeah he wasn't quite ready.

 

Oh well, ready or not. Here we come!! Baby #3 is coming January 7-ish.

 

By the way, it only took the duration of the endowment ceremony for Rychen to get excited. We sat down in the celestial room and for the first time ever I hear him talk about something non-religious in there--he immediately lays out his vision to make an "Inception" video about our family, to make our announcement. Apparently he had a lot on his mind during the session! We gave our mothers that video for Mothers' Day, the next week. It was perfect!

 

... Now I'm not the one to wait until my fourth month to tell; like Rychen said, I can't keep secrets. Besides, I really can't hide it..  two people have already informed me that I must be pregnant because I am showing. So rather than be self-conscious for another month, I just figure I will come clean :)

 

Inception movie trailer spoof

Rychen made this, take a look :)

Staff of Life

As somebody very much interested in the subject of nutrition, I've spent a good deal of time pondering the Word of Wisdom (LDS scripture on health) and reading various viewpoints. One point which draws several opinions, you probably wouldn't realize, is the meaning to the phrase "Staff of Life." For instance, one author wrote that a staff weakens a strong person, but it can save a weak person's life (I don't know if that is true, but just to showcase one viewpoint). Personally I think grains are *not* the ideal food, but rather "Staff of Life" means we can depend of them; and during times of famine, grains are the ONE food group with a multi-generational shelf life that will sustain us nutritionally. Throughout history, civilizations have used grains stored in silos to survive famines, even for 10 years!

In my research I have been impressed to find out that grains have a balanced macronutrient ratio, providing us with 80% carbohydrate, 10% protein, and 10% fat, which research shows is ideal. Grains have small amounts of every mineral and vitamin except vitamin C, which we can obtain with wild edibles if needed.

ANYWAY the reason I am sharing this is because today was another FOOD STORAGE day in the Jones household! We have at least a full year's supply of rice, wheat, millet, and oatmeal (in addition to lentils, beans, dried fruits, canned tomato products, and frozen and freeze-dried fruits and vegetables)

Here is our messy kitchen while we did the canning as a family.






Food storage (in our ward, at least) is something that people are either gung-ho about, or scared to death of. I hope that by blogging about this I can show how easy it is. Dry-pack canning is really very simple. But I guess the overwhelming part is learning to can what you eat and actually using recipes, and obtaining all the small things to make food taste good, etc. We are pretty lucky in the fact that I'm a horrible cook, so we eat simple meals anyway (Lentils and rice with a bit of tomato sauce, onions, garlic? We're good!) and we are vegetarian for the most part, so we don't have to worry about canning meats which can be a bit more complicated.

I got into food storage to ease my worries about natural disasters, but also because I love to go shopping. One day a few years ago, it occured to me that here is something I can throw money at, and it's actually a good thing! I can "go crazy" buying cases and cases of something, and not feel guilty about it! A lot of people feel that putting your money in shelf-stable food is a better investment than putting your money in the bank!! One reason is because in a natural disaster (or extreme fuel inflation), this same food will increase in value multiple times over.

So my fun new splurge lately has been buying freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, which don't come cheap, but I am glad to round out our starches with some color, flavor, and denser nutrition.

We are talking about starting an annual tradition of living off our food storage for a month. No setting foot in a supermarket for one entire month! It would be an adventure, hard for me to limit my fresh food intake, but I think then we'd realize how blessed we truly are to have fresh foods, not to mention so much choice at the store, so many variations of dishes, etc. Just think about it - most of the world's population lives on a few staple starches plus spices their entire lives, anyway!! (...and they have better health than we do...) What we call food storage is just REALITY for most human beings. How adventurous is that? I think it would be great for kids to learn about food production, social science, and what a commodity food really is.

"Are you really a mean person?"

I won't lie, I get into my workouts. I make stuff up, and I don't care.

 

So my latest invention is "spin-boxing" where you add an upper body workout to your spinning routine. While you are cycling with your legs, you do some punches with your arms.

 

So imagine me doing that, iPod turned up loud, looking fierce at the mirror, punching and punching.

 

Next thing I know, there is this old man (who had been walking loops on the indoor track, close to the cardio area) standing a bit too close to me, staring at me. Really caught me by surprise. So I turn off my music and say "Hello" (Just like anybody would, in an awkward situation with an elderly person).

 

He says to me, "I just wanted to know if you are really a mean person. You look like you're getting ready to beat somebody up."

 

So I laugh and assure him that I am a nice person, but I do get a bit intense with my boxing and I was really focused on my workout!

Homemade Pasta: Why not?

I've never done homemade pasta before; I thought it was complicated or I needed a machine... But I was watching a lady on Foodography make pasta noodles the old fashioned way (without a machine)... she just rolled out the dough and cut strips with a knife, and put it in boiling water! It was so simple, how could I not jump up and try it myself??

So I just did exactly what I saw, with no recipe! Haha.. Turned out very rough, but still... it's just FUN to try something yourself, you know?

I made dough with flour, egg, baking powder, and water. Same consistency as pizza dough.

Then I boiled the noodles for just 4 minutes.

Mine were pretty thick so it wasn't like the fettucini I was going for; it was more like broken up lasagna noodles!! Oh well, fun experience.

We also used cookie cutters to make huge pasta shapes! haha!!

Elisabeth, Full-time Orange Peeler

Elisabeth loves peeling oranges. She doesn't usually eat them afterward, but you can sure count on her to peel them! Whenever I am eating oranges she will ask for her own to peel.

This One's for the Kitties

In honor of National Jones Kitty Day, I thought I would give you a photo tour of what our kitties do around here. Plato

Socrates

Who needs a dog?

Tutu cuddles

Monkey cuddles

Yummy! Fruity kitty