What to do with . . .

your old, long fluorescent light bulbs: remove and dispose of them the right way. I'm passing along this information in case you, like me, do not have experience with this. Thanks to the internet I was able to quickly find the exact information I was looking for! :)

And if you ever accidentally break one like I just did, you will need to know how to safely clean up the mess. On this page I found two sections that were helpful -- "Before Clean-Up: Vent the Room" and "Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces."

Cool things on YouTube

If you click here you can see videos from LDS Public Affairs. What I've seen so far is excellent! I love Elder Ballard.

And I saw this interesting video on someone else's blog:

The First Birthday Party

Hope you're having a Happy Valentine's Day! I don't agree with the Beatles, that "love is all you need," but I know we are nothing without it. I am so grateful for all of my loved ones.

Okay, so the title of my post . . . I keep forgetting that I have been wanting to do this for a long time. Click here to go back to my earlier post, where I have added photos; we had to find the right memory card. :)

Baby Ratatouille

The other day I made this for Shboogoo. It's supposed to be for ages 12-18 months and is from The Everything Cooking for Baby and Toddler Book (an EXCELLENT, fun book - thanks, Dad and Gayle!).

Anyway, I guess because of what it says on the copyright, I shouldn't put the recipe on my blog. But it was absolutely delicious, full of flavor! I sampled it. Then I ate some more. Then a few days later I made a grown-up version I found here (tasty even though we did not have green pepper, yellow squash or thyme). We all liked it. Another one, made to look like what you see in the Pixar movie, is here. The main ingredients usually are onions, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes. Ratatouille is my new favorite dish.

Viewing

The three of us were able to go down to the Conference Center today for President Hinckley's viewing. There were so many people that we were there for about 2 hours, 1 to 3 pm. We enjoyed chatting with others in line, and kids behind us made our daughter laugh. A teenager made these little snowmen on a wall; I had to turn on the camera!


Well, it was worth the cold and the long wait. The nice Conference Center people were good at changing things when they needed to. They wanted us inside quickly so we could be warm and sit down while we waited some more. Then as a group of us were led to an escalator going up, we were asked not to talk at all or take pictures. That silence let us think and feel. For me, the beautiful paintings and sculptures, especially of Joseph Smith, added to the Spirit. We had a few seconds to walk past the open casket, and the emotions we felt were powerful. Words cannot describe it, but "heavenly" comes close. My testimony of the gospel was strengthened. D cried; I almost did.

As we walked back to the Trax station we talked about how we hadn't been prepared for that moment when we saw President Hinckley's body (dressed in white, of course) -- that we had almost forgotten that that was the reason we were there. It was good to feel what we felt. We are so glad we took advantage of this rare opportunity to be very close to a prophet.

(going home)