Innermost Thoughts and Cookbook Reviews!

I was really hoping the post this week would be about our adventures cutting down our tree in the woods. But it hasn't happened yet. Here's hoping Friday is meeting free so Justin can take the day off work. So allow me to share some things that are swirling in my head while my Christmas blog post is on pause.

1. My relief of only 2 hours of church is overshadowed by the responsibility of educating my children at home. Our 3rd hour just got moved to home--it wasn't removed. And then there are others that may feel the church has just added "one more thing to do" but I see it as THE THING to do.

The HOME is where it's at and where it will increasingly be.

B. Lead Kindly Light is a great hymn. I also really like this version by this lady. I've been listening to her albums on Amazon all day. Apparently there's contemporary Christian music that isn't country or the cheesy stuff played over the speaker at Seagull Book that make me want to put down my discounted goods and walk out.

3. My mom was giving away her old cookbooks and I grabbed these few gems because if there's anything I like more than cookbooks, it's old cookbooks with their funny ideas. This kind of thing just speaks to me and makes me laugh. When Justin saw my stack of books he said it looked like something my sisters and I would like.

First up, The Magic of Wheat Cookery by Lorraine Dilworth Tyler

She looks nice.

It's the cookbook from my mom's wheat grinder that I adopted last spring! I'm so excited and had no idea the wheat grinder was this old.

This most important page explains how to get all the gluten out of flour. Not to throw away you guys, but to make other stuff with it.

Like a roast or sausage. Using gluten as a substitute for actual meat was a thing. Oh the gluten pendulum sure has swung hasn't it?

But there were no pictures of the finished products. Such a shame.

This recipe does not have wheat or gluten in it so I'm not sure why it was in there but it's one I'll actually try.

And then there were some great photos of rag dolls.

There were some quotes from David O McKay scattered in the book and from other church leaders but here's the publisher information. Sis. Tyler was a little subtle in her missionary work. Nice.

Next up, the Magical Art of Cake Decorating from 1984

Here are some super helpful piping tips.

And lots of really dated decorating ideas.

 

This is a sled in case it wasn't clear. 

Charla?

 Saving this idea for father's day.

And my personal favorite cookbook:

 1986 but looks waaaaaay older.

 Doesn't this look it came from the set of Mad Men? I love that tall glass cookie jar.

Look what I found at Joann's!

This one has stackable sections so not exactly the same but I may still buy it if I think it could be any way useful.

Most of the book were recipes with no pictures and while I looooooooove cookies, crispy cookie recipes from yesteryear with nuts and stuff are not my thing

This page right here is what makes it my favorite. Randomly within the pages was a series of photos of a doll making cookies in a miniature kitchen.

 I can't even imagine the work that went into setting up each shot. Where did they get tiny eggs?

 And what the heck is the point of it?

And the creepiness isn't lost on me either.

 4. I finished reading Saints. Justin and I agreed that we pretty much didn't know anything about Church history. I paid attention in seminary and even took a church history class at BYU and even studied the Doctrine and Covenants with the student manual but man, there were some huge gaping holes in my understanding. Or maybe I forgot a lot but I think this book taught me so much because there is just so much more out there than can be covered in a class. I said outloud numerous times "How have I not known this??" Amazing.  Did you know Moroni appeared to Mary Whitmer? I didn't. These gems and more can be found in the book. 

The book is so thick and long. But the format of the book makes it easy to read and it feels like a movie as it jumps from character to character. It's all character driven.

4b. My 5 major take aways from that book are
   1. Joseph Smith was a prophet and I can't wait to thank him.

pg. 524

   2. How have I not appreciated Edward Partridge until now? And I always liked Hyrum Smith but now he's been elevated to hero status.
   3. My life is so easy. I feel a mixture of gratitude and also trepidation because it can't always be so.
   4. Women have always been in the forefront of the Restoration.
   5. It takes a special kind of faith to join a church that wasn't really all that established and was under constant persecution and required so much temporal sacrifice. A missionary holding a Book of Mormon preaching and the Holy Ghost was all they had to go off of. I've been wondering how my faith compares to theirs.

5. I get a panicky feeling in my heart sometimes that I haven't been to Europe. It comes at weird times like in the grocery store. I read and watch so much about it that it is sometimes a rude awakening to realize I haven't actually been there.

6. I was going to be passive about neighbor gifts this year and do something store-bought and just give to who gave me something. I even bought some stuff. But it just doesn't seem right to not make dozens of cookies that fill up my kitchen table and make my kids fill little bags.