Couldn't have planned it better

So you know when you have so much to write about that you don't even know where to start? Yeah. That's me right now. One thing at a time. I want to write about thriftiness and how my mom is the queen of it.

Story #1: I have a favorite pair of shoes. They are gold and silver flats. They go with any outfit whether casual or formal. They're comfortable and cute. Sadly they were getting worn and even I was admitting that they needed to be retired. I got home from work a few days after that and Mom had been to Goodwill. She came home with a new pair of those exact shoes. In my size. New. From Goodwill.   

Story #2: At my house is a book from the library with descriptions of a bunch of beautiful "Portland walks". On the weekend we, the family, ventured out for one of these aforesaid Portland walks. After walking in the West Hills (and seeing GORGEOUS houses) we were all pretty thirsty. There was no water in the car and although Mom, Dad and I could have toughed it out, when an 8 year old is thirsty...there's no waiting for the 30 minute car ride home. Being in a very typical downtown Portland neighborhood, we saw an organic grocery store. "Let's go buy some lemonade from that store," said Mom. We walked through the automatic doors and what to our delight was waiting on the other side? Free lemonade samples.

First day of school, I mean, work

The Lord has given me not one, but two part time jobs. That equals one full time job but with more variety. Today was my first day of Job #1. I'm working in a vault. Yes. A vault. It's a company that owns all the washers and dryers in Oregon and southern Washington (ie laundromats, apartment complexes, etc). My job is to count the quarters. Well, I pour the quarters into a machine to get counted then I do some paperwork and stuff. You wanna know how many quarters I processed on my first day? About $25,000's worth. In quarters. That's 100,000 quarters.

"What did you learn?" you ask. I learned that (collectively) quarters are extremely heavy. I learned there is an American Samoa quarter. And I learned that working at Gringotts WOULD be ridiculously awesome. But I'm glad I'm not a goblin.

During the 12 o'clock lunch hour I got my lunch out of the fridge. There were about 6 other people in the lunch room. Some of them had Subway. Some of them had spaghetti and meatballs. Some of them had canned chili. And there I was: the new girl with her sack lunch. PBJ sandwich, carrots, apple and zucchini bread. I felt like a kid on their first day of first grade. Maybe second grade. I don't know if those people had ever even heard of a paper bag.

I listened to my favorite Pandora station while working and that made all the difference. (Sigh.) Good music just makes everything wonderful. So to sum it all up, I had a great first day in spite of feeling a little out of place when it came to lunch.

I think the moral to working at this place is going to be that every little bit counts. A quarter doesn't seem like that much. But get a bunch and you might just have thousands of dollars. On a spiritual note, it's important to do the little things everyday like pray and read scriptures because those little daily things equal unmeasurable amount of spiritual strength.

Inspiration

Yesterday, something beautiful happened. I felt inspired to made dinner. This is a big deal. Mom said we had a lot of chicken, so I cracked the cookbook to the poultry section and picked out Easy Chicken Enchiladas. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship between me and cooking. In about 30 minutes the timer will ring and out comes my homemade bread :)

"Emily? Cooking?" you might think. "From whence did this transformation occur?" I'm a huge believer in the scripture that says it is by small means that great things are brought to pass. The small means for me was that my sister (who I look up to so much and is my best friend) shared a little tidbit about cooking that made it easier for her. She said it's easier to cook when you get out all the ingredients first. Look at the recipe and set out everything you're going to need: ingredients, measuring cups/spoons and obviously the recipe. My biggest qualm with cooking before was that it was such a hassle to do a step and then look for more stuff. "Oops, I actually DON'T have any eggs. Wish I would've known that before I started." Now that that problem is solved, I feel a long standing barrier has been broken down. I actually WANT to cook. I'm excited to try new foods and explore which recipes I like best. So a big THANK YOU to Celeste for sharing a seemingly insignificant thing with me that led to being inspired.

"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass."
Alma 37:6

Food

As any blood relative of mine can attest, food is an important aspect of Mower life. Yesterday and today I have taken some time to peruse through the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. What an inspiration! The recipes are varied and exciting and not intimidating and sound amazing. So I have decided to have the dream of being a good cook someday. I have never even hoped this up to this point in my life because I didn't think it was possible. But this cookbook is just so user friendly. I'm excited about it.

In contrast with that food inspiration, let me share with you an experience I had tonight.

I went to a YSA (young single adult) activity tonight that was patterned after the Amazing Race. I was put on a team with 2 boys. The first task? Consume a HUGE bowl of Ramen. Now, when I say bowl, what I really mean is like a punch bowl. I asked the lady who made it how many packets of Ramen she used for each team. "9." N-I-N-E ridiculous, disgusting, slimy, unhealthy and retarded packets of Ramen that Bradley, David and I had to eat. UG. I am still feeling disgusting. I never ever want to eat Ramen again. Ever. I didn't want to let my teammates down and I didn't want to look like a wimp next to the boys so I definitely pulled my share. By the end I was literally gaging at least 4 times before I could swallow one bite of noodles. Yeah. Disgusting. I know.

Then I wondered, "Why does Ramen exist?"

I don't have an answer.

All I know is that someday I want to be a good cook...and never eat Ramen.