OK, you may have noticed that I stopped that last blog rather abruptly. I didn't start the blog with any intent other than great pancakes...how it turned into a sob-fest about my mom, I'll never know. I just know that I miss her and somehow everything I do or say reminds me of her. I wasn't able to keep writing about her without seriously breaking down--and I can't break down--can't lose face :0

Food

I am constantly amazed at how good the simplest of foods can be. I was out of money and needed to make breakfast for my three grandkids (I LOVE being a grandma!) so I got online to get a good pancake recipe. I found Alton Brown's Instant Pancake Mix. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Of course, like any good cook, I changed it up a little. But not much. Here is the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/instant-pancake-mix-recipe/index.html and here are the changes I made.

1. I doubled the recipe for the mix and added 2 extra tablespoons sugar.

2. I didn't have a lidded container, so I just put it in my Kitchen-aid and mixed it dry

3. I didn't separate the eggs

4. I didn't really measure the buttermilk, just threw in what was left, it was probably 2 1/2 cups

5. I added more plain milk 'cuz I like my pancake mix a little more runny.

I know why I look the way I do. I have had a long love affair with good, simple foods! My mother and both of my grandmothers were exceptional cooks. Food has always been a big part of our lives. I remember the best breakfast I ever had. I think I was about 7 or 8 and we were spending the summer in New Mexico at my grandma and grandpa Hassell's. Grandma told us the story of Little Red Riding Hood and then made us Bear Porridge. It was sooooo good! All I can remember is that she browned flour in a frying pan, added water, and milk. I tried numerous times after that to duplicate her recipe. I even called and asked grandma for her recipe. Her response? "I don't remember doing that. I never have had a recipe for Bear Porridge. I think I may have been out of food so I told you guys it was Bear Porridge."

I realize now that it wasn't the porridge. It was the story, the love my grandma always gave us, the feeling of closeness to the woman I saw barely once a year. The porridge has come to signify my grandmother. She could take, literally, nothing and make something out of it. Food or people...she worked her magic with our souls as well as our bodies.

My mother inherited that from her mother...she inherited her feistiness from her dad. She was the perfect combination of angel and demon. I really, really, REALLY miss my mom!

Musings

I got a phone call from my OCD daughter the other day telling me that I need to stop enabling her. Funny thing is everytime she wants me to do something for her and I remind her about her phone call, she tells me she didn't mean it for this or that, I just need to stop enabling her for everything else. What? does she want me to stop enabling her or not? Then I read her Benjamin post today and I totally understand. She just wants to be in charge of when I enable her or when I don't. She is so silly!

Just a side note - Latu told me I HAVE to post today, so...here it is...he,he,he...gotcha!

Hidden Blessings

I guess I'd better start answering my phone! Yesterday during 8th period I got two phone calls from a 253 area code. I was in the middle of class, and thought it might be from Kenny or Kelly and I'd call them back. Then just as school ended, I had been on hold with the IRS for 15 minutes and they had just answered when I got 3 phone calls from another strange phone number in Utah. Again, I didn't want to give up my phone call to the IRS so I ignored the call. Soon after my classroom phone started ringing but I couldn't get to it because my homeroom team was meeting and they had moved the desks. Once again, I thought I would call back and then promptly forgot. About 1/2 hour later, I got a phone call from Talia. She informed me that Vili and Darl had been in an accident - they didn't have their phone with them - and she was on her way to pick them up and bring them home.

Vili had been in SLC for a doctor's appointment, and I had let Darl go with him at the last minute. On the way home, Vili took a drink of water and it wouldn't go down. He was choking and thought he had pulled the car to the inside emergency lane and told Darl he was in trouble. In actuality, he had blacked out. Instead of relaxing, as a normal person would, Vili became rigid with a death grip on the steering wheel and his leg pushing the gas pedal down. They hit the cement barricade in the median, then cut across the freeway hitting two cars. Then they went down the embankment towards the new theater at Thanksgiving Point, and ended up going straight for the theater. Poor Darl had been yelling at his dad and trying to turn the wheel to avoid an accident, but with Vili's death grip and the fact that he kept trying to turn against Darl's attempts, he had been unable to do anything. They were on Frontage Road at this point and a car was coming straight at them. Darl shoved Vili's hands off the steering wheel, yanked it to the left back up the embankment and was finally able to slam the gears into park. As soon as they got back to the top and the car slammed to a stop, Vili came to. He missed the entire thing! In fact, he tried to put the car into gear and drive on. Darl yelled at him that they couldn't go and took the key out of the ignition. Vili got angry and tried to put the key back in before he realized they were on the opposite side of the freeway from what he thought they should be. They had dragged 400 feet of fence with them and the tires were flat--the car is totaled, but no one is hurt! One of the cars they hit must not have stopped, because it is not on the police report, the other car was hit and the lady went to the hospital, but the policeman said she should be fine, nothing major.

Through all of this, the only thing I can think of is how grateful I am for all the little things that Heavenly Father blessed us with yesterday. I didn't go with Vili because I had missed work Monday with the flu. I figured he would be alright because he was just going for a check up. Darl asked to go with him and I told him no because he has missed too much school already - when we dropped him off at school, he called and begged to go. I relented without much opposition because for some reason I felt it would be OK for him to go. If Darl had not been there, I know Vili would be dead! Also, I had told Vili to trade and take Latu's Durango because it was bigger - he decided not to and took Pene's car instead. If he had taken the Durango, they would have rolled because it has too high center of gravity, and they would have both been hurt. I am grateful they were both wearing their seatbelts. I am grateful we had insurance, albeit only liability, but we have not always had insurance. I am grateful we had not fixed Pene's leaking radiator (or water pump) yet, because it would have been an entire waste of money. I am grateful Mason did not go with them!

Darl wouldn't go to school today - but that is OK, also. They are both alive, and no one was seriously hurt. I truly have so much to be grateful for!