A Poem for Home

A Pot of Red Lentils

by Peter Pereira

simmers on the kitchen stove.
All afternoon dense kernels
surrender to the fertile
juices, their tender bellies
swelling with delight.

In the yard we plant
rhubarb, cauliflower, and artichokes,
cupping wet earth over tubers,
our labor the germ
of later sustenance and renewal.

Across the field the sound of a baby crying
as we carry in the last carrots,
whorls of butter lettuce,
a basket of red potatoes.

I want to remember us this way—
late September sun streaming through
the window, bread loaves and golden
bunches of grapes on the table,
spoonfuls of hot soup rising
to our lips, filling us
with what endures.

"A Pot of Red Lentils" by Peter Pereira, from Saying the World. © Copper Canyon Press, 2003. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

I wanted to share this poem (I had to read it for my English class), because it reminds me of home! Also because its perfect for fall. It made me miss our fresh vegetables from the garden, and how in the spring and summer we would weed the garden as a family (okay, i hated doing that...but I miss being together.) And it made me excited for Christmas, when we eat lentil soup and spend time as a family! I guess the point is, I miss home. Love you all!

You Asked for It...

So, Mom says we don't post enough, and Ginger says we should write about little things that happen. Fortunately for you all...I have plenty of hilarious mishaps.
Most recent first:
So, I'm getting all settled into my new apartment on my day off, and I realize: Hey! I have everything to make chocolate chip cookies! And I'm working on perfecting the fluff, so I went ahead and started making some. I get all the way through and taste the dough and...it tastes really funky. So I look around the table at my ingredients, and guess who wasn't paying attention to labels? This girl. I put onion salt in place of real salt!! Being a broke college student, I tried adding spices, and sugars, all to try and save them form waste. But no matter what, after I cooked them, they had a thick, onion-y aftertaste. It was really gross. And really embarrassing.
But it was not nearly as dumb as when I was doing my laundry, and realized that I had washed my pepper spray. Now, my laundry room has only one vent, and its a tightly sealed room. (which i always thought was a bad idea.) Again, not really thinking, I wanted to make sure it still worked. So I sprayed the pepper spray right there. Away from my face, and into the corner...where it bounced right back. And, hey! The pepper spray worked. I couldn't breathe. Lol.
I also had an incident where there was a wasp on the inside of my window sill, but the window was blowing too strongly for it to fly back out. I freaked out, and put it under a cup, and was going to slide paper under it, to take it out side. However, the wasp started flying down, so I couldn't lift it up without losing the paper. I decided I was going to leave it there to die, when I suddenly felt really guilty about murdering it. (Don't ask me why.) But as I flung open the window to let it out, another wasp flies at my head! I dodged, and accidentally knocked over the cup with the trapped wasp.... I ran like the dickens! And tripped over everything in sight. Everyone there was laughing their heads off at me. :)
Well, there you have it. Stories. Because Mom thinks she's too boring.

Oh man its september!!!!! ahhhh.... Its getting hot again... ewww.

 

but so this week was really really good. really good... :)  i learned a lot and set a lot of new goals and i feel, honestlya nd truly, like the Lord has forgiven all of my errors. all of my mistakes. and i am so grateful for that. I am so grateful for the atonement and for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. I know that it is only through repentance nad change. constantly changing and growing that we can grow nad later be worthy to return and live with him. I am so thankful for that opportunity.  I hope everyone someday can realize the significance of that sacrifice and have the desire to change their lives. and be better.

 

but so this week was my companions birthday! and so we decided to surprise her. she said like 2 weeks before that she wanted a lomito (a sandwich type thing...) and so i arranged with hermana franco and hermana wills (the other hermanas we live with) so that htey would buy the stuff and then id make a giant chocolate chip cookie (because she likes those tooo...) and we would have a surprise birthday party.  :) hehe but did you know that its really hard to create a surprise birhtday party for someone you ahve to be with 24-7... luckily in the apartment we can be in different rooms. but it was sooo fun.. im not really sure why because i just made a cookie and put a candle ona sandwich that hermana franco bought and we sung happy birthday and took pictures... but it was a lot of fun.. I love my companion so much. she is amazing.  and someday i hope you guys can meet her.

 

We also taught some great people this week. one we are pretty excited about. we have a member whos husband is not a member... he doesnt even really believe in god btu we went to teach her and he came nad listened!!! it was so exciting. he doesnt have the greatest opinion about hte church but thats changing little by little. and that he listened to us is HUGE!!!!!!! im pretty excited about that.

 

So ive started to read Doctrine and covenants this week.  Ive always loved church history but d&C isnt my favorite. i love the book of mormon. but D&C has some really great stuff. I really like to look at all of the advice the Lord gave to these early saints and to us to help us.  Today i found a scripture that i just fell in love with! its D&C 6:33-34

It says:

 33 ^aFear not to do ^bgood, my sons, for whatsoever ye ^csow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow ^dgood ye shall also reap good for your ^ereward.
 34 Therefore, fear not, little ^aflock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are ^bbuilt upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
Isnt it just great?!?! i love that it tells us to "fear not to do good" and then it tells us to "fear not" and hten to "do good" this little change i just really like.  we shouldnt be afraid to do good because only good comes from good but also we shouldnt fear. we shouldnt fear anything nad hte solution for that is to do good!!! Service and love can really overcome everything. that is one of my goals this week is to serve. really really serve.  and you guys should try it too!!!
love you! i should go.. but have a great great great week!
hermana applegate

What’s happening at home?

The first week of school wrapped up and we survived that new early schedule. On Thursday, the first day that Aubri went back to school, we did the usual family routine of animals in the wee early hours, pack lunches, eat breakfast, get ready, family scriptures and family prayers then out the door before the clock strikes 6am. … The great news is that we actually did it! Yeah!

Andrew was set apart last Sunday in the Teachers Quorum as first counselor. I didn’t get to be there since I was teaching my family history class at the time… but the Bishop assured me that is was awesome and would have made me cry. (not sure if that makes me feel better or worse!)

Aubri has been asked to give a talk for the Primary program about repentance. We really need to write that darn talk sometime soon!

Today in church I was put in as the Beehive advisor. I will be teaching .. yeah! My favorite thing to do! I was pretty excited about that. I did hear afterwards that the class is so tough that the last teacher quit and was in tears every time she tried to teach. … Hopefully, I can turn that around! Andrew says that I have “the look” when I teach.

When I asked him what he was trying to say, he demonstrated me teaching… stopping mid sentence and glaring at the back of a class room as if my next step was to take out a machete and see what I could do with that! It was cute when he did it… lets hope that I am tough, but not quite that bad!

Gosh… I seriously can’t think of anything else that is happening at home!

I did make a quick trip to the temple and the kids spent the evening at Gingers house. That was fun… but seriously, other than that, it has been mostly work, laundry, cooking and getting ourselves on the early schedule.

Have a wonderful week!

Mom

Picture Blog!

HI HI!

So much is happening, just wanted to write a quick "picture" blog post!!

Some of these you may have seen on facebook already, but just look at them anyway!!!

Still on the no-sugar thing! had a hiatus this weekend cause i had to deal with a bunch of crazy people but im back on and going strong!!

Speaking of my no good, very bad, horrible weekend.. Aubri and Mom came over and cheered me up! we played, laughed and cleaned my room! all my favorite things! Aubri tried on my new extensions (clip in pieces) and so did Mom! Love my fake hair! Although i never wear it out cause im paranoid it will be obvious that its fake!! haha

Went to the Dierks Bentley Concert and was SET on spending the mula on getting some real true cowgirl boots that fit right and i would wear all the time. i comprimised on the pair i LOVED at $230.00 to these ones at $170.00.. havent bought them yet.. but i think im going to! Thoughts???

Brooke (my roommate) and I tried to recreate Texas Roadhouse at home.. it worked! sorta... hhahaha 

Continuing Pilates with my friend Melanie even though its FREAKING expensive! We do it once a week and I love it! See that machine at the bottom of  the picture? Ya.. THAT is the torture device! haha It hurts so good! 

I got a new car stereo installed! now i can play my ipod. GOODBYE burned discs!!! haha

I got some pool time in with my newly active in the church friend named Lacey....

I got my hair done and the girl dropped some bleach on my toes and since i had a spray tan it bleached REALLY bright! so we added more bleach and made it into a heart! hahahaha

I baked 24 cookies for Relief Society visits then all of them canceled.. then i had my bad weekend.. guess who ate all of those cookies in a matter of 3 days.. thats right brooke and i. wow. haha sooo yummy tho! i meant to give them to someone else who would appreciate a plate of treats but ya.. never got around to it.. oops!

I had the opportunity to go to Atlanta again with the Bridal Collection to pick out what will be in the store next year. Fashion shows from dawn till dusk and 14 hour days alongside lots of budgeting planning and walking.. lots of work but so fun! We picked out some fun Prom dresses and also picked up a new bridal designer for the store. Here are some pics!!!

 This was the weird "art" at the Atlanta airport that i had to capture.. why ants?? i still dont get it!

 This was the hotel we stayed at. Same as last year. There are 47 floors and its all open on the inside we took the glass elevator(which reminded me of willy wonka!) all the way to the top and took a picture looking down. Who wants to count how many floors we could see?? hahahah

This is all of us at the end of the trip.. we are tired and hot and ready to go home so dont judge how we look! (left to right: GayLynn(owner) MEghan (Sales manager), Lynn (Owner), ME! 

Well.. i guess thats it for now! Love you all... hope to see some more posts from some of you! xoxo!! 

Dear Family,

Well, here at home the summer is winding down. The evenings are getting cooler and from time to time I think about adding another blanket to my bed.

The tomatoes and cucumbers from the greenhouse are fantastic to have and make all the hard work we put in there well worth the effort.

With fall comes school and tomorrow morning, Andrew heads back to High School and Seminary and Aubri begins on Thursday. I think we are all ready for the schedule to start again, but have enjoyed the lazy days of summer.

Christopher is working at Sonic now, he rides into work with me and then when I get done I pick him up. It is an awesome arrangement that works out perfectly; we are very luck to have this situation. He is earning the last minute money before he heads out to the mission field. My guess is that we should have papers ready to turn in within about 3 weeks. Yipeee!!!

I am excited about all of my missionaries! Sarah called today and says that she is ready to go and will come home to prepare at Christmas, submit papers and be ready on her 21^st birthday.

For me, work is getting busy, as we are entering that season. We have inventory which takes so much work it would make your head spin and of  course, my busy season happens before the customers come shopping, so in about 3 weeks, “stuff” will begin to arrive by the truck loads and I am the lucky girl that gets to sort through all the errors, pay the bills, file the claims and make sure it all runs smoothly. Thank heavens for my iPod and all the awesome church podcasts that I have found. It keeps my mind off the drudgery and makes the time fly faster until I get to come home to my family.

Betsy and family are slowly moving into their little apartment. You would be so impressed with the kind of job that Jeff is doing on that! I have no idea where he is getting the energy… it is amazing! Very talented guy.

It is so nice to see them at church on Sunday… just so nice. I ran into Betsy at the post office the other day and it was about the coolest thing that I could think of. Such a fun surprise!

We are still milking at home… well, let me word that… I … am still milking at home. Every time I talk about giving up for the year, I get some serious milk drinkers that beg me not to and I keep on keeping on. I have to admit it is nice to always have fresh yummy milk in the fridge, no doubt. I keep thinking that if I were sleeping instead of milking I would get the much needed beauty rest that I want… but it seems like when I stop milking, something else comes up and I don’t get that sleep anyway.

Well… I suppose that is about all that is happening here at home. I will have to start thinking of something exciting to write next week because this sounds a little hum drum for sure!

Love you all!

Mom

Aug 5 2012

Today I retire to my computer as I have just been slaughtered in a game of Risk with Andrew and Christopher. Aubri was the first to go, then me. I must admit... I am considering grounding the boys tomorrow if they make a single side step out of line! Those buggers pretty much ganged up on me and took me out together! So Annoying!

Ok... back to real life. :)

For those of you who didn't get the whole story, it has been a life changing month for me. The first of July I went in for a routine MRI to just make sure that everything is still at bay. Most unfortunetly, they found a tumor in my remaining breast and were quite concerned. They had me come back the following day for yet another MRI and to take a biopsy of the area. So, me and my practically empty check book headed back up to the MRI/Radiology Clinic for a torture session. As it turned out, the session was a bit more brutal than I expected due to the fact that I take one aspirin every day as prescribed by my oncologist (it is supposed to help with cancer recurrence) Anyway, I guess this makes my blood thin and I had some bleeding issues. This created a very muddy MRI picture (and some tougher healing) but they took a bunch of samples anyway.

The doc told me that she knew it was "something" and that if my results came back with "nothing" we would need to do it again until we got something.

I wasn't very encouraged, and found myself with a bit of panic not wanting to face having cancer again. After some discussion with the doctor she pretty much convinced me to prepare for that... so I went home with a heavy heart to say the least.

I spoke with Dad told him, but decided to not stress my kids out about this and so I wanted to wait until the test result were back.

(Maybe a stupid decision, but none the less that is what I decided)

I got my results just a couple of days later... and they got "nothing" meaning... they missed the tumor.

The rotten part was that we had to get "something" before we could quit. But the first biopsy was too brutal and I needed time to heal and stop the bleeding issues... stop taking the aspirin and get things healed up. My next MRI guided biopsy was scheduled for 3 weeks later.

This was a tough 3 weeks for me. I spent time in the Temple, on my knees and pulled out some old books I had from my first bout with cancer that Neal A Maxwell wrote (not sure you know this but he passed away from cancer and fought it for a long time... I just really like him)

Anyway, I came to the understanding more completely and fully about what "faith" really means. What enduring to the end really means... and more than just what it means... but more how to really "do it".

It is hard to explain, but I realize that to truely have faith... my MUST trust the Lord. You HAVE to be willing to submit to HIS will 100% and with patience and with cheerfulness.

You can not leave this part out of the faith equation. Faith means you trust the Lord to do for you what HE knows is best... If you trust him, you know that no matter what comes your way, He knows what is best for you, and would never give you something that wasn't for the best! Even if this means death (as rough as that sounds) but seriously... if he thinks that it is time for you to go... and you trust Him 100% then you can be sure that death is what he wants for you.

That sounds so intense, but it was such a lesson for me... another test of sorts to determine if I really did trust my Father in Heaven. I say I do... but do I REALLY?

Those 3 weeks were a test to my faith. I spent long nights awake thinking about this and studying examples of faithful people of the scriptures.

Finally last Wednesday the time came to return for the next MRI guided large needle biopsy. The questions I asked myself for weeks would now be answered... did I trust the Lord?

See... just because I wanted to not have this happen... didn't have anything to do with it. What really mattered was... am I willing to submit to the will of the Lord because I trust Him.

I believe that all though I am not perfect in this regard, I did feel my faith and trust in the Lord increase.

Of course you know the end of the story. The test results came back as an internal scaring that was only "acting" like a cancer tumor. The test was over,  I had not had a cancer recurrence.

I guess I could have not understood this concept as much as I do right now, without the worry and wonder as to what would be my future and fate.

It was a lesson that I thought I would share with my family.

Love you all... and hoping you all have a wonderful week...

Lots and lots of love from home sweet home!

Mom