And so to continue the saga of our school bus adventures.  This morning we had success at last!  Hooray!  The kids made it to school on the bus today.  I hope the rest of their day went smoothly.  Our son (13 yo) left his math book on the teacher’s desk yesterday so he couldn’t do the homework for it last night.  The plan was for him to get the book before school and then do the assignment during the morning school break (how cool is that, they get a 1/2 hour morning break).  I hope it worked out for him and that he knew how to do it.

"Sisters you have the responsibility in your homes [to fight for the family]….   Create opportunities to teach your children, both formal and informal….  The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other responsibility can take it’s place…."  – Loose quotes from Sister Julie B. Beck’s talk at BYU Women’s Conference.  I had a chance to re-listen to her talk today on "The Mormon Channel" and found it just as good the second time around as it was the first time I heard it at BYU.  It was a nice boost at a moment when I felt like I was "dangling" a little.  When we need them most, the Lord sends His tender mercies.

I made chili today with my new blender.  It chopped those veggies perfectly!  I bought some beans yesterday at the market (they look similar to Anasazi beans), soaked them overnight, then cooked them this morning and added them and the veggies to the slow cooker on low to simmer for the day.   I also added some chicken that I cooked a couple of days ago.  I needed a chance to disguise the chicken because it was a black-skinned chicken.  I never heard of black-skinned chicken before, but I assumed that under the skin it would be the same as a white/yellow-skinned chicken.  Well, it tastes the same, but it doesn’t look the same, it’s a kind of black-gray-white and I know the kids would refuse to eat it if it were easily recognizable, so into the chili it went.  All chopped up and stirred and cooked all day, I hope it will pass without too much fuss.  We won’t have sour cream with this chili – too expensive – but we’ll have some salsa!  I hope it’s yummy.

Our 17 yo daughter "The Chef", made cookies today.  When we were at the store yesterday and bought baking soda, we should have bought vanilla too. Oops.  Making cookies without the vanila has led to our learning what causes the distinctive flavor of the Chinese versions of cookies.  They don’t put vanilla in.  So the cookies turned out all right, but we definitely want to go buy some vanilla, brown sugar, and molassas (don’t know if we’ll find the last item).  Also, we need some hot pads very soon.

There is a beautiful blue sky right now.  I should get some laundry done.