A Little Good News

Aaron and I auditioned for CVFT's melodrama, "Love on the Prairie," on Monday.  I found out tonight that we both got parts as townspeople.  Aaron has some lines, and I have some solos.  Very exciting!

The director called to ask if our kids could be in it, too.  We were hoping they would ask!  The younger five will all be participating, although Katie and Aidan will be starting out on a trial basis to see if they can handle it.  William and Dallin are extremely excited about it.  Ben wasn't so sure he wanted to be in it, but when I explained what a melodrama is, he changed his mind.  Tristin and Brandon won't be involved, as they have scout camp the 2nd week of the run, and they preferred that to being in a musical.  Maybe someday they'll change their minds, like after seeing this melodrama.  ;-)

Rehearsals will be Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for six weeks, starting next week.  The show runs July 30, 31, and August 5, 6, 7, 8.

Did I mention I'm excited?  It is so great that so many of the kids will be able to participate with us!

Show Choir

As I may have mentioned, Tristin made it into The Current, which is Waconia High School's JV show choir. They are having an awesome fundraiser for people who shop at Kwik Trip. The school was able to purchase gift cards at a 10% discount. You pay full price for the gift card, and use the entire face value of your purchase. Tristin gets 10% of your purchase deposited into his choir account. For example, you buy a $100 gift card for $100. You get to spend $100. Tristin gets $10 in his choir account. You lose nothing, and Tristin gains $10. As show choir will cost $675, this is a great deal for us, especially since we already buy gas, milk, eggs, bread and bananas at Kwik Trip.

If you would like to purchase a gift card, let me know what denomination you would like. I believe they come in $25, 50 and $100.

What I did with coupons today...

Aaron, Tristin and Brandon took off with Reo (Aaron's Dad) for the Boundary Waters this afternoon. As always happens when Aaron strands me with young children, I got fidgety and needed something to spend my mental strength on. As I was browsing through the Freebies 2 Deals website, I noticed a bunch of Walgreens deals that I could make some money on.

Don't I mean save money on?

No, I really do mean make money on.

Offer #1: The Schick Hydro 3 Blade Razor System has a $4 Register Rewards offer on it. Plus, I printed out a rebate form for a free Schick Hydro 3 Blade Razor System here: http://www.schickhydro.com/freehydro/. You'll need to send in the UPC and the original receipt with the rebate form.

So, I got a free Razor, and will get $4 toward my next purchase at Walgreens.

Offer #2: Like Grape Nuts, Shredded Wheat or Raisin Bran? It is on sale for $1.99 right now. If you go to http://www.postnatural.com/ you can get a coupon for $2 off a box of one of these cereals.

I came out with a free box of cereal and $.01.

Offer #3: Listerine Whitening Mouthwash is $5.49 at my store right now. There is a $1 off manufacturer's coupon here: http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14997&zid=iq55&nid=10&bid=alk061620065630f57109e7015. You'll have to scroll through a few pages to get to it. There are some other goodies on the way, so check-mark anything else off that you'd like to print out. They'll all print on the same page. Also, pick up a Walgreens in-store ad when you walk in, or if you don't want to trust that there will be one, you can print off a $3 off Listerine store coupon at http://www.walgreens.com/default.jsp. Just click on the Weekly Ad tab on the upper right of the screen, and look through the pages until you find it. Once you have done all of that printing, there's one more thing. Ring this through on a separate transaction than the razor. You will need the receipt. Mail the receipt, along with your name and address, to Dare to Wear Gift, P.O. Box 4938, NY, NY 10185. This rebate offer was in a magazine, and no rebate form was required. They will send you a $10 Visa gift card.

So, I got free mouthwash and made $8.51.

Wasn't that fun? Okay, I also had to pay for two postage stamps, two envelopes, and a few pieces of paper and ink, but after all of that I made over $11 in an hour, tax-free. I call that a pretty good run.

Now that it is done, I will go absorb myself in a book until I am so sleepy that I can fall asleep without Aaron next to me.

I just put a Sunday Coupon Preview widget on the bottom of my blog. I'm going to start looking at it and purchasing the Early Sunday edition on Saturday nights, when I think it will be worth it. I could get used to this whole making money at the store thing.

Stake Conference with C. Scott Grow

C. Scott Grow is an excellent teacher. He brings power with him when he speaks. He also likes putting people on the spot. For example, me. With no notice, at the Saturday evening adult session of our stake conference, he called me up to the stand to give a talk on how to be a mother of seven children when your husband is on the high council and travels a lot, and to bear my testimony.

I'm just glad I had an answer for his question. It was to rely on the Lord, and to be consistent in family scriptures and prayers and FHE, even when Dad isn't around. It was to have a husband who is constantly teaching our family, and who interviews the children individually monthly, going over their goals and talking about how things are going.

It was fun. :-) After I returned to my seat, he had the ushers bring microphones down the aisles and asked everyone to discuss the principles I had taught in my talk. He called on about 10 people.

I really enjoyed the night, despite the impromptu talk. When he finished the discussion, he spoke for a few minutes, and then turned the time over for some questions and answers. He gave inspired answers to inspired questions. It was the most spiritual experience I have ever had in a church meeting. I learned a lot from it.

The Other Plan

I have spent the evening stewing after yet another Scout Court of Honor where my children were missing multiple awards. I have been thinking that if I were the bishop, I'd replace the Scoutmaster with someone who could do it right. If it were me (which it couldn't be, seeing as how it is kind of a gender-specific role), I would make sure that all of the boys got their Scoutmaster Conferences in the month before the Court of Honor. I would make sure that all of the records were updated in Troopmaster, and that all of the awards were picked up from the Scout Shop. Then, I wouldn't have to watch Brandon be disappointed for an entire year while his Boy Scout badge was not awarded to him, and also not get the merit badge he earned over the winter. I wouldn't have to watch Tristin be disappointed when he only got two out of three of his completed merit badges.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could just fire everyone and do it the right way myself?

After stewing over it for a few hours, I realized that this situation is similar to another situation, and that this plan is probably the wrong plan. Lucifer thought that forcing everything to go right would make Heavenly Father's children happy. But Heavenly Father knew that everyone needed to be tried and tested in order to progress. Everyone needed opportunities to grow through experiences like these. While I can't excuse the behavior of leaders who can't get their act together, they have to be given the opportunity to succeed or fail. Sometimes, failures affect the innocent. Heavenly Father doesn't shield us from the effects of the mistakes others make, but herein lies a test. How do we react?

I was tempted to go to the bishop and firmly suggest that these leaders get replaced, or my kids will join the other troop in Waconia. They've been screwing up the Boy Scout program nicely for two or three years now, so couldn't they be released? Aaron suggested we just let our feet do the talking. After Brandon checked out the awards on the table, and I confirmed that his was not being awarded tonight with another leader, Aaron asked Brandon if he wanted to sit through another Court of Honor, or go home? He chose going home. He had homework to finish, and he didn't really want to waste his evening. So Aaron took him home.

I suppose that these things will eventually straighten themselves out, and that he will be able to get his awards next time. But in the meantime, we won't be forcing our children to waste their time waiting for other people to get their acts together. If a patrol meeting is worthwhile, they will go to it. If not, they won't be forced to go. We've had enough of going to every single lousy meeting our church puts out just to support the program. We've had enough of supporting mediocrity.

Oh, another funny thing - Brandon had a 10 minute patrol meeting before he left, prior to the Court of Honor. They made him patrol leader. What's funny about that? There isn't another patrol meeting before he turns 12 and moves up a patrol.

Bread

My friend Analisa came over last week, and we made bread together. She has a great recipe that is super easy to make. Here it is:

First, make a sponge out of

3 1/2c. Wheat Flour (can also substitute 1/2c. of a grain mix for 1/2c. of this flour)

2 1/2c. Water

4tsp. Yeast

by mixing together the ingredients in your mixer until everything is wet. I remove the paddle after mixing, and throw a tea towel over the bowl.

Wait at least 20 minutes, but as long as 12 HOURS!! When you have a two-hour block of time that you know you'll be around for, finish making the dough by adding

4Tbsp. Butter (softened is best)

1tsp. salt (unless you use salted butter, then you leave this out)

1/4c. Plain Yogurt

1/4c. Honey

2 1/2c. Bread Flour, more or less (start with 2c.)

to the sponge. Use a dough hook to mix it together, and add remaining 1/2c. of flour a little at a time, until the dough pulls away from the bowl and is no longer sticky. You'll probably knead it for around 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down after additions, if necessary.

Next, spray two loaf pans with cooking spray. Flour your counter. Divide your dough into two. Roll the dough out as wide as the length of the pan, and as long as you can easily get it. Roll it up tightly, and stick it in the bread pan. Let rise until you get a nice crown, which should take around an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool on a rack until you can't stand to wait any longer, and enjoy!