I must get this from my mother

When I was young, there was a man at church who would harass my mother about taking off her shoes during the meeting.  I'm not sure if her feet hurt or she just didn't like shoes, but my mom was always taking her shoes off during sacrament.

Yep- there's my shoe.  Sitting underneath my desk at work.  They're actually Dr. Scholl's heels so they're more comfortable than my Franco's (but wow- Franco does a nice heel).  I just don't like wearing shoes.  So I took them off yesterday from about 5th period forward.  I can hear Jack Robinson now...

Ok! Sure- we'll try it out :)

Here- see what you think :)  http://famousberriesandbeans.blogspot.com/

What's in a name?

Amy. That's my name. I have friends and family with names like Rachael, Maryanne, Katie, Rebecca, Emily, Allen, Fern, Aleisha, Sun, Avonlea, Samantha.  Everyone has a name.  And while other people may have the same name as you, your name is unique to yourself.  For example, throughout my life, I've had several friends with the name of Amy.  Amy Naranjo was a dear friend of mine for many years through college.  To differentiate ourselves, we went by Amos and Amo, although many people may have told you we were one and the same.  I currently have another friend named Aimee in my life.  We just separate ourselves by calling each other "The Other Amy."  It works. Regardless of our names being the same, we are unique individuals. Where am I going with this?
This past week I was at the temple doing some work.  For those who are reading this and are not of my faith, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS).  We believe in doing work for those who have passed on without having the opportunity to receive the blessings of the temple here on earth. If you'd like to know more, visit this site.  
Anyway, I had gone to the temple and one of the names I was given was Mary.  That is all.  Simply Mary.  Usually when you receive a name, there is some information with it.  Perhaps a middle name or last name. Or even a married name.  There is a birthdate given and a location.  But in this case, all I knew about Mary was that she was born in approximately 1898 in Pennsylvania.  There wasn't anything else about her.  I've had names like this before, but for some reason it struck a chord with me.  I was suddenly overwhelmed with the thought of the number of Marys to have entered the world and moved on.  How in the world would it be possible to know which Mary I was doing the work for?  How could this Mary know on the other side that her work had been done?  Mary Jones? Mary Smith?  Mary Sorenson?  Mary was such a common name, especially in the 1800's! 
As I was contemplating this, I had several comforting thoughts come to mind. It doesn't matter how many Marys were born.  It won't matter how many Amys are born.  Our Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us by our names.  I don't need to worry about which Mary I was helping because she knew and so did He.  In the vast numbers of people to come and leave this earth, Mary is a unique individual known to our Heavenly Father simply as one of his children and He is aware of her, just as my mom is aware of me.  Or my sisters are aware of each of their children. He's just as concerned about one single woman known only to me as Mary as He is about me, named Amy and my friends named Amy and Aimee.  He knows exactly who she is.  It was such a comforting thought to have that assurance that He knows Mary and He knows me, regardless of how many of us there are.  We are unique, we are individuals, and He knows.

I am such a nerd

Many people will probably tell you that exact thing about me.  But today I realize that I'm a true nerd for all things kitchen and cooking.  Here's some background.  I sit on an educational board and one of our sponsors is Pearson Publishing.  They took over Prentice Hall some time ago.  Our rep is so awesome and she takes good care of us as a sponsor.  Since our conference was last month, she took the board out to dinner.  While at dinner we were discussing some of their latest publishings and she mentioned this series they do called "ON ________."  Fill in the blank.  She said they had two titles called On Cooking and On Baking- two books supposedly filled with endless knowledge about the very thing I love to mess around with.  She said that she'd send me some copies if I would like (umm. IF?)  So I forgot all about it.  But being the amazing rep she is, guess what came for me in the mail at school today???

Oh my goodness!  I am thrilled!  They are the most amazing resource books ever!  I'm not even kidding you.  Hundreds of pages of how to's and diagrams and recipes and information!  I'm going to have to pull a "I want to be Julia Child" moment and go through it page by page and blog it!  lol jk- but there is some seriously good stuff here!  For example- how to clean, de-bone and cook a rabbit!  Or recipes for ostrich meat!  (ok- you never know what's gonna be available come those last days so don't you all come whining to me that you don't know what to do with your rabbit?  All right?!)  Can. Not. Wait.