It's a Matter of Spiritual Preparedness.....General Conference Quotes 2016 continued!

Hi everyone:

As stated in my previous post, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a Semi-Annual Conference for it's members....worldwide.  This is where we have the opportunity to listen to the Prophet and Apostles as well as other leaders of the Church. Spiritual messages and teaching are richly shared. Below are quotes that I personally found to be powerful. I am sharing them with you today. To read or watch the messages yourself, you can!  These are available for you to read, view, or to listen to. 

It's a Matter of Spiritual Preparedness...October General Conference 2016

Hello everyone:

Every October, I look forward to an event.  In my religion, we have a Conference for all members of our Church worldwide twice a year.  It is referred to as "General Conference".  This gives members around the world to hear from our Prophet, Thomas S Monson, the Apostles and Leaders of the Auxiliaries.  If you are fortunate, you can attend in person, however a majority of us listen or watch through many mediums.

General Conference feeds my soul.  I learn and have such Gratitude for the opportunity to feed at the feed of the Lord's anointed. I have been touched by many of the messages.  I have chosen to share some of my favorite quotes from Saturday's sessions with you. They are below:

Using Your Jelly on Your Country-Style Ribs (in the Crockpot)....

It felt like Fall this week....I even had to wear a jacket at times!  When it begins to cool off, I like to pull out my Crock pot and make slow cooked deliciousness for dinner!  Today, I used food Storage Items to make delicious Country style Ribs. Want to see how?

I pulled out a half-pint of Peach Jelly and Barbecue sauce from my Food Storage room.

I took frozen Country Ribs and placed them into my Crock pot.

I literally poured and spread the jelly on the frozen ribs....

Pour your preferred brand of Barbecue sauce on the ribs as well.

Slow cook on low for 6-8 hours.....that's it!

So, how did they turn out?  Really great!  So great in fact, that we do not have any left to show you (we were really hungry after Church today!).

Take Home Points:

• I used Peach Jelly that I canned myself.  It is so easy to do and you may want to give it a whirl. You make it from skins and pits!
• I keep a supply of Barbecue sauce in my storage.  It is convenient to make so many meals!
• I had the Ribs in my freezer
• I didn't have to go shopping for this delicious meal!
• Food Storage is not boring, it is actually delicious!

It's a Matter of making Memories

Isn't it cool?  Just like the phrase in the old commercial...."I can't believe I ate the whole thing....",  well I can truly say "I can't believe I made this thing!".

One of my family members had one of those "Landmark" Birthday's recently.  I felt that I needed to make something special and memorable for her.  About 10 years ago, I ventured out and made a memory quilt along with photo's for my In law's 50th Wedding anniversary.  At that time, I had to trust my photo's to a little Mom and Pop shop and they transferred the pictures on to fabric.  Fast Forward a few years and you now can do this yourself at home.  Want to learn more?  Let's do it!

How To Transfer Photo's onto Fabric at Home:

Before you begin, you will need to purchase 100% white cotton fabric, which needs to be pre-washed before you begin this process.  I took over a bathroom in my house to do this.  I set out a towel to protect my counter, got 2 containers that were not dear to me, and set out the supplies:

• Clothespins
• 2 Pie tins
• Cotton squares
• Latex gloves
• ....and the solutions.

This is Bubble Jet Set 2000.  I purchased mine from Amazon. 

Soak the fabric squares in the solution.

Set up a place to hang your squares to dry.  I was able to use yarn and rig this clothesline over a bathtub.

Once the squares are dry, press them flat, then press them onto Freezer Paper.  Now, here is a quick trick that I learned.  I used my paper cutter and cut several sheets of Freezer paper to an 8 x 11 inch size.  I found that I could re-use each sheet of Freezer paper over and over.  

Place your Cloth-Freezer Paper into your printer.  I learned that I needed to slightly curl the edge of the Freezer paper (that was going into the printer) slightly upward so that the printer could grab it and feed it through.  

 

If you don't do this, you get the mess on the right!  It bunches up inside of your printer, or gets stuck.  I have to say that I ruined too many pieces of fabric and freezer paper until I figured this out!  

Next, you will need the Bubble Jet Rinse.  FYI, here are the directions on the Bubble Jet set 2000 and they state the following:

"Print on treated Fabric and let sit 30 minutes.  Take a flat pan or bowl with one gallon of cold water (add 4 caps of Bubble Jet Rinse/gallon).  Wash printed fabric by hand for at least 2 minutes.  Allow fabric to drip dry or lay flat on a towel" 

See how colorful the printed fabric is?

After the squares were dry, I ironed them and made my quilting squares.  Didn't they turn out wonderfully?  "I can't believe I did the whole thing!".

Take Home Points:

• This can be easily done at home.
• It is very cost effective to do. When I took my photos to the Mom and Pop shop 10 years ago, it cost over $125.00 to do this.  Also, 10 years ago, the printed fabric was only the size of the photo.  With this system, I could re-size the photo and crop it to fit before printing on the fabric.
• Cut your Freezer Paper to an 8x11 size and reuse the sheets.
• I learned that cutting your fabric closer to the 8" width allowed you to cut the square to fit inside the quilt square in a way that looks the best.  
• Sometimes photos that are in landscape are difficult to crop or resize. In that case, I left strips of 'white' above and below the photos after cutting it for my quilting square. It really looked fine in the finished product. 
• It's just amazing!
• This project will hopefully bring joy to my family member for many years to come.

"I Don't Have Room for Food Storage" and other famous myths.....

I hate the fact that our summer is coming to a close, and pretty rapidly at that. But, I must say that we did enjoy a wonderful weekend at Bryce Canyon in Utah. This canyon has such amazing rustic beauty.  We really enjoyed it all.

While we were there, we stopped at a museum that told of the life style of the Anasazi Indians in that part of the country.  I was fascinated by so many aspects of their culture.  Outside of the museum were unearthed foundations of more than one home. They also had built a model of what the structures would have looked like.  This also fascinated me. As I learned more about how they lived, I then thought that we in our modern culture really do not have any excuses to not have enough food stores in our homes.  

Lessons in Food Storage and Life, learned from the Ansasazi Indian lifestyle....

This is the model I was speaking of.  It is an "L" shaped building made from stone, wood, and adobe.  

They used an entire wing of their structure for food storage.  Hmmm, do we really need a movie viewing room?.....

This is the view into the Food Storage area, just big enough to climb through but high enough to store food under the opening.

The Food Storage rooms were nearly as big as the living area. This is the actual foundation from an ancient structure.

Look at their vessels. They would prepare and store foods in the vessels that they made.  Contrast that with how easy it is to go to the local big box store and pick up a few needed 'vessels' for our own homes.....at a reasonable price no less.

They showed another structure that was virtually underground.  They had a belief that life came from below, or out of the earth. This Structure reportedly would reinforce and remind them of their sacred beginning.  Even in this situation, they would store food in here!

Maybe this is the first "Open Concept Kitchen".  They slept, interacted, and cooked in an area about the size of the food Storage rooms.  Each room had a small fire pit.

Summary thoughts....

So why is this history lesson so important?  The Anasazi Indians were agrarian. They planted, harvested, and stored their food.  What have we been encouraged to do time and time again?  Plant a garden, and preserve the harvest for our families.

Additionally, they dedicated a large portion of their structure to Food Storage.  I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard an excuse about not having space to store a food storage.  Our homes are significantly larger than those discussed above.  We are not being asked to dedicate nearly a half of our homes to store enough food and supplies for our family against future challenges. But, we should re-evaluate how we are dedicating our space.  Is there an opportunity to store foods in the foot of a closet, under a bed, in a Pantry, or in unused or underutilized space? Could we get more into our Freezer with a little organization?

The Anasazi's interacted, slept and ate all in the same space. Meal preparation was a large part of their daily routine where they lived and slept.  How could we integrate our family members more into the opportunity of food preparation? How can you take advantage of the opportunity to build memories and bonds that stand the test of time?  Consider decreasing the reliance on electronic gadgets and offer more interaction and bonding time. In the years to come, I can't imagine that our children will be relishing in the viral video as a fond memory of family. Rather, it should be of a time working together and spending valuable time together in the art of living. 

So, please take a moment and rethink your space, and your priorities.  Consider the words of President Gordon B Hinkley:

We have built grain storage and storehouses and stocked them with the necessities of life in the event of a disaster. But the best storehouse is the family storeroom. In words of revelation the Lord has said, “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing” (D&C 109:8).

I encourage you to prepare every needful thing.  Our family has been blessed time and time again because we had prepared in this way.  In fact, our Sunday Dinner was all from food storage.  No one seemed to know that.  We just ate our Beef Stroganoff and enjoyed each other.