Labor Day Project

I know, some people think red can be oppressive. I crave red in green GREEN Maryland. It helps me feel balanced. We had a tomato red bedroom in our old house and I've missed it. The dining room here was red here for a year. Our bathroom is red, black and white. Now the bedroom matches!
This is painted at eye level, six feet wide words across from the foot of our bed. Big and bold.

It is possible to change a room in a day. Recovering from that one day takes awhile...

Ugly Fabric=eye of beholder

I follow a quiltnet news group, and recent discussion has been over the "new" fabric and if you like it, how that corresponds to your age. It amused me.

Yes, I am old enough that "retro" fabrics are patterns I remember, but no, I am not sick of them and I think my love for them has more to do with personality and what attracts me...

Here is a website that if you look at it today, their home page doesn't have one ugly fabric on it. Well, maybe one. Not crazy about the mermaid one at the top. But these are some of my favorite designers listed with new collections.

No, they aren't paying me to tell you about them. Just go look and see what I think is beautiful!

http://quilthome.com/

"Rooster Sadderday," wrote JohnB

My brother, the ultimate wilderness man, and his wife raise chickens for eggs. Somehow their rooster population and the crowing had reached deafening proportions, and JohnB set a date, Saturday, for slaughter. He was going to do it on his birthday a few days earlier, and invited me to come and help! He googled some videos (didn't like the anti-killing animal rude comments) and asked two other friends with experience in these matters to come and help.
Sam was really excited when he heard about it. We took pictures and said good-bye. I wanted to appreciate the realness of them alive and see how beautiful they were.

Sad nieces. These guys all have names, and have been pets...
All 4 of us Landbecks took a turn with the huge knife, practicing first to make sure the blade hit the stump flat and with enough force. I got emotional and repeated, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over, mostly talking to the rooster, but concerned and apologizing to JohnB, too, since I didn't have a perfect first chop.

If my kids chopped, I wanted them to pluck feathers, too, learn the whole process. Suzu freaked on that part, said it was too smelly and begged to get out of plucking. Plucking wasn't so hard, plunging the still bird in boiling water for ONLY 30 seconds makes the feathers pull right off very easily. We wore plastic gloves.
Learning how to gut them was probably the hardest part. I did one by myself after watching an expert friend of JohnB's (who moved here from the Ukraine and who had a real chicken foot as a toy when he was 6 year old--his grandma gave it to him after butchering day and he kept it for over a year). Then I ruined one when I accidentally nicked the spleen. Vivid green! Watched some more, and did lots of the washing of the birds and bagging.



After doing 10 roosters we were all hot and tired, and the last two roosters were inspected. Jen & John wanted to keep one, but weren't sure which one. Good things about both of them. One had a softer and lower crow. One often crowed at midnight. (BAD-rooster!) Magnificently colored feathers on both, with a nice iridescence!


And the winner! After putting them in with the hens and letting them decide.


I haven't been to their home in awhile and took pictures of some of my favorite things! It is great being related-by-marriage to another artist!



Front door thought:

Welcome friends and family, good-bye roosters...into the crockpot for Sunday dinner.

Actually, they are brine-ing in the fridge right now. Dissolve 1/4 cup of salt in water, add any meat, let sit in fridge for at least 4 hours; dump out salt water and cover meat with buttermilk. Let sit another 4+ hours and then cook. The science behind it: the salt water expands the meat cells, and then the buttermilk is absorbed into the cells and makes the chicken moister, yummier. We will see how tough these roosters are tomorrow.

Where did I come from, why am I here, & where am I going?

Emma asked about the foam-on-a-ring "Plan of Happiness" hands-on-learning handout from yesterday...I filled in a few steps, had the students write in the next stages, draw pictures, put scriptures on the back that explain more about Pre-Mortal Life, Resurrection, etc.

I love how they all turned out different. Tactile and visual learning tools are important to me. I want them to feel something, inside their hearts AND using their fingers so they have a sensory memory of the day, too.



We played a simple game: inside blown up balloons were the questions of the Soul (pg 107 Preach My Gospel). We popped the balloons all at once and went around the room reading and discussing these questions:
Is there a God? (Alma 22)
What does Jesus Christ expect of me? (2 Nephi 9)
How can a belief in Jesus Christ help me (Alma 36)
Is there life after death (Alma 40)
What is the purpose of life? (Alma 34)
Why does God allow evil and suffering to occur? (2 Nephi 2; Alma 14:9-11; 60:13)
Does an infant need to be baptized? (Moroni 8)
Does God know me? (Alma 5:38, 58)
Does God answer prayers? (Enos 1)
How can I find peace and joy? (Mosiah 2, 4)
How can my family be happier and more united? (Mosiah 2)
How can I balance my family and career? (3 Nephi 13)
How can I strengthen my relationship with my future spouse? (3 Nephi 14)
How can I avoid the evils that threaten my family? (Alma 39)
How can I avoid sin? (Helaman 5)
*What am I supposed to be doing here on earth?
*What if I feel unclean, unworthy of my blessings?
*How will I know what is true?
*Why is taking the Sacrament important?
*How am I supposed to treat people who hurt and mock me for my beliefs?
*What will happen when I am resurrected?
*Does it matter if I go on a mission or not?
*How do I honor my parents when they are not doing everything they are supposed to be doing at Church?
*What do I do when I feel hopeless and my faith and testimony weak?
*How can I do everything I am expected to do and get enough sleep?

*=questions not in the book that I made up to make enough for all my students

I told them that all these questions or others they may have can be answered using The Book of Mormon!

They also made mini-bodies, self-portraits and we clipped them on a wire running the width of the room that represents time, our existence going on forever in both directions and the brief span of time that represents mortality, where we are on that time line...



We sang "Happy Body-Day to me/you/us" with the 2nd verse, "Tis Love Brings Us Here." Love of God for us, love of our parents for each other, love of our parents for us feeding us and taking care of us so we could grow up safely and be here today.



A party needs gifts. We talked about the most precious, wonderful gift we have been given, The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and I challenged the youth to think and pray about it and by the end of the year choose someone they know to whom to give a book. They don't know I am including myself in the challenge as well.



I sent them off to school with a prayer and a party gift bag and the refrain of "Ten Little Lamanites" ear worm listing the books in order(something that sticks with you all day long, you keep hearing it, thinking about it...)

Teaching Your Own

I know they watch us. Catch us in our weaknesses (eating Friendly's Pistachio ice cream straight from the carton in front of the computer).

"Do what I say, no matter what you see me doing!"

Sometimes I have wondered why it is so hard to teach some things to your own kids, easier for someone else to get through to them, or easier for me to teach someone else's children?

Are we more forgiving of teachers or students that we don't know as well? If we don't know their faults, does that make a difference? Or are we more patient with strangers/acquaintances?

I went to college to be an art teacher, but art lessons at home always seemed to back-fire and didn't last long.

I didn't try to teach my kids piano, but paid $ for someone else to do it.

Having my own kids in a Primary/Sunday School class always seemed harder. They acted out or felt picked on, like I was harder on them than the other students.

So I've wondered how it would be with THREE of my teenagers in Daily Seminary 6 am class every school day.

Suzu told me today it is her favorite class all day long.

Wow.

She gushed on happily about how interesting it has been, even though it is mostly review and overview of things. She loved the Plan of Happiness foam map I gave them today, on a ring, that they had to fill out. I wanted something tactile and interactive, color symbolic, possibly useful in their future missionary teaching and Family Home Evenings.

I asked her some questions about seating arrangements and logistics in our classroom. She was upbeat and helpful. Good feedback.

So I am pleasantly surprised that it is going so well, 4 days into the 36 weeks!

I've already made drastic summer plans, ways to widen doorways, make our home more crowd-comfortable. Ideally the whole kitchen wall between the dinning room or even the other direction into the living room would get knocked down and a window on the driveway side of the house punched through so the kids can see their rides pull up while they are socializing in the kitchen (and WHY is that the most popular gathering room in every home?).

I love this group of kids. Love listening to them. Love spending time with them. Love sacrificing sleep to teach them, be with them, laugh with them. Love LOVE love them.

Three Tables Full

These kids are incredible! They came in cheerful and talkative. They sang! They followed directions! They didn't groan too loudly when I took their picture! I noticed some neighborhood kids walking to school do double-takes at the group of beautiful teenagers coming out of our home this morning! They are impressive, and a powerful group for good.


Pillows are allowed for the hard metal seats, yes. Young Men walking to the High School will be encouraged to be gentlemen and carry music instruments and book bags of the Young Women. I actually insist on it. (Nothing romantic or dating about it, just the proper thing to do. Encourage the YW you know to BE ladies, and encourage them to encourage the guys to act their part. If we hop out of the cars before they have a chance to physically get to our door to open it, we rob them of the chance to be gentlemen. Sit and wait for it. It is worth the respect, I think.)

Did you know they changed the name? Instead of "Early Morning Seminary" it is now known as "Daily Seminary." Suggesting, perhaps, that it become a daily habit that we take on after high school, to our missions/marriage and throughout adulthood. Daily spending time with the scriptures is a great goal for all of us!



Students chose reading charts today. One is a pretty color-in-as-you-read fun one, the other has check boxes that encourage 10 minutes a day of reading the Book of Mormon. They will finish the entire book in 36 weeks of daily seminary with no problem. Or, they can do a Parley P. Pratt and read it straight through without stopping until they finish it several hours later. Either.

Students have all "adopted" a Scripture Mastery verse. Refer to the attatched Devotional calendar for reminders. They should be able to tell you what their verse says/means. If you have ideas on how they can visually illustrate a memory trick for that verse, please make suggestions! Each student is responsible for creating a visual clue, and giving a devotional on that verse in the coming month.

Special guest speaker tomorrow morning! Please be on time. Seats are slightly shifted to pull the tables out from the wall, just look for your large/small/tiny plates and scriptures and Scripture Mastery pictures to find your spot.

And students, think of another something you are thankful for to add to your blessings list (to put in the "Tiny Plates").

24 students---so for the time being, we are going to postpone Friday "breakfasts" and do something else. There will be educational food sharing on this Friday and I will talk to the students more about new traditions.

Thanks for your support!
(I had thought of making small & large plates during the summer, and then last Saturday was shown a website selling Small and Large Plate journals, but for more than I could spend on our budget, even reimbursed...Hack your own with composition books and Ensign/New Era pictures! Every day I want them to write something in at least one of the books. Assignments will be glued in for them. Trying different teaching methods to get the students into their scriptures and WRITING down their thoughts and feelings, without calling it a "journal" or making it scary.

Family History-Samuel

Today at Church we talked about Family History.

Sometimes it is hard to talk about history when we are so wrapped up in the current-surviving day to day.

The teacher asked us if we had any interesting stories about our families.

Silence.

I first thought of Jane Patten and her sewing machine, making "jeans" for the workers. And beating a bear on the nose with her broom.

John whispered to me, "What about Samuel H no period Smith?"


Some people can point to a specific ancestor and trace their name. Our Samuel was named partly after this great great grandfather of his, Samuel H (no period) Smith, with a mysterious father. She never told.

They sailed to America, and he had to get out of the wagon and walk when he turned 7. They made it to Utah, and Pleasant Grove where there is a park named after him. That is where we go for Memorial Day to put flowers on the headstones and sit on the grass and talk to cousins...

I was reading today about Samuel the Lamanite, how many times he talks about hearts in his first talk recorded. We named our Samuel partly after this Samuel the prophet, and the Samuel in the Old Testament. And Sam in the first chapters of The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Our Sam is in middle school now. Lockers. Big kids in the hallways. Moving to different classes all day long. Uniforms for gym. School counselors.

He is getting taller, more independent. So far, with only two days of school, I have missed him in the mornings! It is just Roxie and I walking the 1/2 mile to the school.

I have to ask all my questions after school. I try really hard to not be busy in the middle of a project when the older kids walk in the door. So I can greet them. Feed them. Find out how their day went, and what work needs to be done, projects, friends they have met. And to keep track of who they are and what they are becoming, how they think, what they feel, what they need.

Day-to-day family history in the making!