False Start...

On the offense... 5 yard penalty... Repeat 2nd down.

So, funny story. I went to my appointment yesterday and the bishop come out, shook my hand and said "The situation has changed, and we no longer need to interview you." So, no calling! lol I've never had that happen before. Anyone else have? The nearest I can guess is that they were going to call me to be ward organist. I heard a rumor to the effect that they tried to release one of the current organists and they refused. But I'll never know for sure! Weird.

Thanks to everyone who posted a guess! As far as I know, Kim was the closest! I'll send you some seeds! How about okra? ;)

I'm actually kind of relieved. Any calling they could give me would be more work than RS accompanist (except maybe Primary pianist). So I guess I can settle back into my lazy ways now.

Once in a music calling, always in a music calling.
Alberta

Big brothers and win big!

Wow, it's been a while. Really my life has been mostly boring lately. But I do have two things to post about today! First, a cute story about the boys and second, a contest!

On Fridays our ward has a park day for the young mothers and their kids. It's been pretty rainy lately so we haven't gone, but today is really nice, so we went! They switch parks around often and this week's park was pretty far away. We had just pulled out onto California when my younger ds started to scream! For a second I thought he'd been stung by a bee, he screamed so loud. But no, he had dropped his 'magic wand' (a stick about 3 inches long) and couldn't get it. He was quite hysterical about it. His seat is right behind mine, so I tried to reach it while we were stopped at the stoplight, but I couldn't find it. Meanwhile, his brother, kept telling him calmly "We'll get it when we get to the park" and patting his hand. That calmed younger ds down a bit, though he was still crying. Then older ds started singing to him "don't you cry, we will go to grammie's" and the crying stopped. He continued to sing to him all the way to the park, and as soon as the car was stopped, he jumped out of his seat and retrieved the 'magic wand' for his younger brother. It was so sweet. It's nice to know that even though they sometimes don't treat each other very well, they really do love each other and are looking out for the other.

Last night, while my dh was at a meeting at the church, I got a call from the executive secretary (is that right? You know, the guy who schedules appointments with the bishop.) At any rate, he asked if I could meet with a member of the bishopric on Sunday! So we scheduled a time to meet between choir practice and sacrament meeting. This is totally unexpected! There's no other reason for me to meet with the bishopric except for them to give me a new calling. I guess it's time, I've been the Relief Society accompanist since we moved in 2 and 1/2 years ago. I'm really nervous. RS accompanist is such an easy calling, I'm afraid I've gotten lazy. I might actually have to do something now!

So here's the contest:

"Guess what my new calling will be!"

Enter your guesses in the comments. On Monday morning, I'll announce my calling and the winner! The winner will get a packet of seeds of their choice mailed to them. (This contest is for family and friends only! And maybe friends of family if they want to guess too!)

Happy guessing!
Alberta

TV

Need a reason to keep the kids away from the TV? Here it is.

Yummy Yarn

Today I went to a yarn tasting at the 'local' yarn shop, Yarn Lady. A yarn tasing is like a wine tasing, only with yarn. I've been to one once before and tried to make a scarf with the yarn I was 'tasting' but it didn't quite work. I just couldn't keep the sides even with the different weights of yarn I was using. So I decided to try something different this time. I started out trying my hand at a little freeform crochet, but I couldn't remember enough interesting stitches to make it work. I had made a circle with some yarn intending to incorporate it into something freeform, but I added another yarn around the edge and it worked so well I just kept going. It turned into a nice little hat! It's really cute, but sadly it is too small for anyone here because I didn't have a head handy to try it on. But I will definitely be ready for next yarn tasting! I'll post a pic of it here soon!

Wondering what side dish goes with yarn,
Alberta

The Spice of Life

I'm starting this post without anything in mind to blog about. Well, maybe one thing. I have discovered a new spice that I love! I bought it around Thanksgiving time because it was included in a pecan pie recipe that I was going to try. The pie was great! And this new spice, Chinese Five Spice, was the reason. It's a blend of five spices (obviously). The blend I found has cinnamon, anise seed, cloves, ginger, and fennel seed though there are different blends out there. I use it in any dish that calls for cinnamon, just in addition to the cinnamon, not to replace it; 5 spice is very powerful. The scent is quite exotic and adds that little extra kick without extra effort. Mmmmmm... (Google Search on five spice)

I finally got my grow light set up! It's a 4' shop light with 2 fluorescent bulbs (one cool and one warm to get the full light spectrum) suspended by chains from a PVC stand so I can raise and lower it. Plus I've got a seed starting warming mat to speed germination and a timer so I can be sure the seeds get 18 hours of light. Plus I have 2 miniature green house seed starter kits. So I'm set! I've started some black pearl tomato seeds. Hopefully they'll grow! It's funny how with all that preparation, I still can't be sure that the seeds with sprout or grow properly or at all. That's the mystery of creation, I guess.

Hoping to see a green tinge on my thumb,
Alberta

Potter Musings

I'm currently re-reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and I've noticed a few things that I find curiously coincidental.

First, there are only 12 members of the Order of the Phoenix (besides Dumbledore) mentioned in the book: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Bill Weasley, Snape, Sturgis, Mundungus, and McGonagall. (Now I may have missed someone, so just let me know if I'm off in left field.) Remind you of any other group of people? Maybe from the New Testament? Who's leader died? Would that make Snape Judas? Is is proof that Dumbledore is coming back? Hmmmmm.

The other thing I've noticed rereading the series is that all Trelawney's spoken prophecies come true! Not the ones related second hand, and not just the ones she gives in her wired voice. For example, in "Goblet of Fire" she says (paraphrasing) death is hanging over the school. Harry selfabsorbedly assumes she means he will die, but if you look at the actually wording of the prediction, he isn't mentioned. It's Cedric who dies. In OotP she tells Umbridge she is in 'grave danger'. It's a little far fetched, but Umbridge does get hauled off by centaurs. And in "the Half Blood Prince" she mumbles something about towers on fire and the dark mark appears over Hogwarts. I haven't done any extensive checking on this (ie. finding all the spoken predictions and comparing the results) so I could be totally wrong. Feel free to point out my mistake!

Expelliarmus!
Alberta

Tempest Tossed

Here's an article about 30-somethings in debt. This kind of hits home since I just turned 30! But thankfully, I am not in the the same situation as most 30-somthings, according to the article. I managed to graduate with my undergraduate degree and NO debt. Now a lot of that can be attributed to luck; I got a full tuition scholarship from my alma mater and my parents made enough money for me to qualify for lots of grants. (Yes, my scholarship was due more to luck than hard work. I had a friend who had the same GPA and ACT as I did who did not get a scholarship.) Oh, and I lived in my grandparents basement rent free. But graduating with no credit card debt I can attribute to parents who taught me to be thrifty and following the advice from the church to stay out of debt. How thankful I am for that. That is not to say I didn't have financial troubles. I bounced some checks and missed some credit card payments, but these mistakes amounted to under $100 since I wasn't spending much in the first place. My dh also managed to get his BA without any debt. Because of this, I can stay home with our kids while my husband goes to grad school full time. Yes, we're going into debt for it, but without undergrad debt and still no credit card debt, it is definitely an acceptable level of debt, nowhere near what was described in the article. Just another example of the blessings that come from following the prophets council.

Counting my blessings,
Alberta