Peace of Pizza

I have gone back to school.  Yes, I am almost at my mid life crisis.  I am in my third semester of a program called Pathway.  This program is offered through my church and BYU Idaho in order for old folks to get back to school for a reduced tuition rate.  This semester is my last semester in the program and I am taking English.  I have waited all year to be in this class, this is why I am going to school, to learn to write better.

I recently turned in a paper on an assignment titled "I believe..."  It was essentially an assignment in which we are to write out one of our beliefs.  So I decided to go with one of my usual jovial voices in this paper. 
I was surprised to get a 100% on this.  The teacher commented, "I love it. It is perfect and funny and I love all the puns at the end. You should really consider entering it to be published on NPR's website. So so good. Thank you."

I was happy to hear what my teacher had to say, but I am posting the paper here as well to get some feedback.  I am interested in writing, but mostly editing.  So I really do want to hear truthful criticism, even if I don't agree.

I hope you enjoy it.

Give Me a Peace of Pizza

I have many beliefs.  I often express my beliefs openly and honestly.  I believe that dogs are meant to teach people unconditional love.  I believe that my husband loves me and can’t imagine life without me.  I believe that embarrassing your children is good parenting.  Above all, I believe in Pizza Sunday.

            I don’t know when this conviction took hold, but I know why.  One night as I was having my weekly craving for pizza, I felt more irritated than usual handing over the $30 to the pizza delivery guy.  Why is pizza so dang expensive?  It only consists of a few inexpensive ingredients; flour, water, yeast, and some olive oil.  Then the worst of the irritations crept into my mind, I want to have pizza on Sunday and having delivery on Sunday did feel a little wrong, regardless of my hankering.  A few years ago, I discovered a recipe for pizza dough.  It was tucked away in a dusty baking book, and it was simple.  After watching the dough rise successfully and constructing carefully crafted creations, our family ate our pizzas with much satisfaction.  The cost of this delight is roughly $5.00.  Our pizza cost drastically dropped from the previously mentioned fortune of $30.

 This little bit of heaven became such a staple in our home we decided to make it the traditional Sunday dinner.  Our ritual has comforted on sad days and changed bad days to good.  I find this practice most soothing after tough Sunday as Primary President for my church.  I take consolation knowing that I will go home, take off pain inflicting shoes, knead all my frustrations into soft, white, sticky, elastic dough, and delve into cheesy pleasure.  This custom is so entrenched in our household, that everyone in our ward family knows that we are not to be disturbed on this day.  Pizza Sunday is sacred.

The lasting effect of having Pizza Sunday has led me to the belief that if everyone participated in Pizza Sunday, there would cease to be war.  I have a sense that if we all spent time with our families on a Sunday afternoon creating pizza dough, eating this most beloved entrée, we would have world peace.  The smell of fresh baked bread would fill our homes and envelop us in a warm comforting sensation.   Heaven on earth would become a reality.

I know that some may argue the reason for harmony would be due to the family spending time with each other.  I am proposing it is not the time with the family, but the pizza itself that causes all anarchy to dissipate.  Pizza dough is primarily made with flour.  Flour is soft and easy on the stomach.  Soft warm bread dough fills the belly and makes one feel like the world is right and full of happiness and solidarity.  Thus pizza is the reason for peace.

I love all that pizza Sunday has come to stand for.  We have togetherness, we knead our time together as a family each day and Sunday we press all that experience into doughy goodness.  The kids each spend time placing their toppings in happy face patterns on their individually sized and shaped pizzas, reminding them to see joy in life.  We wait and watch the dough rise, and the smell of hot bread, tomato sauce, and cheese fill the home.  Thus, pizza Sunday is a time for reflection, togetherness, and to eat something that just tastes delicious.  Pizza Sunday holds this family together, and I am absolutely convinced that it will save the human race.   Peace and pizza to all.

I

Test of Intelligence

Well, I did it.  I broke down and got me a smart phone.  It's the first phone I have PAID for in, well let me think.......I don't think I have ever paid for a phone.  I got the Motorola Razr.  I am so happy to be back with Motorola.  I missed it.  I have been buying LG's for the last little bit and though I have no problems with LG, I love Motorola.   UNTIL LAST NIGHT!

My phone crashed.  WHAT?!?!?!  That doesn't happen to me.  I am just trying to learn how to use this phone that they call smart.....what it really is, is a phone that makes me feel dumb.  I had NO IDEA how to shut the thing off, so that I could hard boot it.  AND of course I decide to buy a phone that you can't remove the battery, so forget that fail safe attempt to self medicate my anxiety.  I pay for a phone and it breaks.

So I called customer service, not Verizon Customer Service, but Motorola Customer Service.  I am sure that if I had called Verizon, no matter how dumb I sounded they would have been nice, even if it was because they were thinking, "Oh that poor retarded lady can't shut off her phone."  But Motorola they were flat out MEAN.  "What! You don't know how to turn your phone off? What an I D I O T!" 
Okay fine I am, but tell me Obi Wan how to turn my phone off.
Once it was restarted it was fine, PHEW!!!

But I learned my lesson, you get what you pay for.  A smart phone turns the hands of time backward and you slowly go back to a primordial state of cave mannish intelligence.  UGH!

Elizabeth's 8th Birthday!!!

Ginger's Lazy Day Video

I feel the urge to share another Ginger the Boxer Story.

I have Guilty Pleasures.....what can I say.

My Attempt at School Pictures

I am no Stacey Gooch!!!

I needed to take some school type pictures of the kids because they haven't had any done for a long while. The thing is, I hate school pictures. They don't show your child's personality. They are completely staged and posed and they are expensive to boot. So I took my cheap digital camera and took some fun pics of the kids. Threw the pictures into black and white so that their features were accentuated and told them to have fun. This was the result.

The Latest of Ginger with The Kids

Complicating Things

I love visiting with my sweet neighbors Ben and Janel.  They are beyond belief when it comes to the phrase, "Great Neighbors".  Well I recently went over to her home to "borrow" her boxer.  I wanted their sweet female boxer, Dempsey, to try out a new dog bed that William and I built. 

While over there Janel shook her head and said something that really struck me.  She said, "You're always finding another project to work on."  She really is right.  I can't believe it but I really am good at complicating my life.  What is the deal?

So here it is.  I homeschool three young children.  That in itself is a FULL TIME JOB.  Some days we can be done around lunch time, but most of the time we work well into the afternoon.  Besides that I am constantly on the lookout for some other something to make my life busier. 

How about getting a new dog for a project?  I am getting a puppy!!!!  That is like having another baby.  What am I doing?  The initial cost alone should have knocked some sense into me.  We don't have money, I can't spare any change for the homeless guy on the corner.  What the heck am I doing trying to home another being in our already very humble household?

So after we made our fun little dog bed.  Guess what I did.  I found some fabric while at Walmart yesterday and made a blanket for our new addition. 

 It only took me a couple of hours, but honestly that was a couple of hours I could have spent practicing my EXTREMELY complicated and ambitious piano piece for an upcoming recital.  Yes, I am doing that too!!!  I have to clean, and fold clothes, and don't even mention the bathroom sinks.  But yet I am constantly on the lookout for the next great project to work on while postponing the mundane normal things that I am supposed to be working on. 

Heaven help me.  Maybe I will slow down when the weather cools off......but then again, that's never slowed me down before.  I am just that good at complicating things!