What a Girl Wants, What a Girl Needs - Jewelry!!

This is my favorite necklace - it's jasper, swarovski crystals, seed beads and silver

I've been busy making jewelry again and really getting a bit obsessed. If I had more money I'd be more obsessed. It's just addictive and makes me feel a great sense of accomplishment when I create something I like. I'm finally starting to do that - create things I like and I'm remaking some of my early attempts. I'm learning some new techniques and have a friend who's going to teach me some needle work. She makes wonderful seed bead creations with sterling beads so I'm going to give it a try. I'm worried my vision isn't good enough to do that fine of work. I'm posting a couple of pictures. Most of the pictures I've taken of my jewelry haven't come out very well so I'm only posting my three latest creations.

We had a fun RS Birthday Party last night. It was RS Around the World and we heard from sisters who've lived in other countries and we tasted food from those countries and saw their displays. I brought some dolls to decorate the tables. The countries represented were Hong Kong, Japan, Greece, Ukraine, St. Vincent, Costa Rica, Peru, New Zealand, England and Sweden. It was very interesting! One of the women lived in Ukraine until she was 16 and then moved to Greece and now lives here (and she's only in her mid-20's).

We went to another concert at The Shedd last week with our friends, the Nielson's. It was a Bluegrass/Folk group, Jay Unger and Molly Mason (their daughter and son-in-law joined them). They wrote the music for the PBS series, The Civil War. They did some really beautiful tunes and I ended up buying 2 CD's because I loved their music so much. We always enjoy these concerts but I usually don't buy their CD's, but I had to have this music.

Jeremy was in a car accident last Friday. He hit a parked car. He's fine physically and his car wasn't damaged much (just a dent) but the other car evidently suffered a fair amount of damage. Jeremy's been going through a particularly tough time anyway, and this was awful for him. He was pretty hysterical that night. I've gained a stronger testimony of the power of prayer and also a better understanding of what to pray for during the last few weeks. He was supposed to work the day after the accident and he and I both knew he was in no condition to go to work. We also knew he needed to work or his job would be in jeopardy. I prayed that night that he would be able to work the next day. Sunday he came over and was doing quite well. I asked if he had worked Saturday and he said yes. He said he'd felt horrible when he went to bed and was sure he wouldn't be able to work the next day but when he woke up on Saturday, he felt fine and was able to work. It was a direct answer to my prayer and to me was a miracle. The week before I had prayed for him to be able to find an extra key to his car that he didn't even know he had and he hadn't been looking for. He "accidentally" found it looking for some change. It was important that he find the key because he'd locked his other keys in his car and couldn't afford a locksmith. Another miracle! I've realized that praying for him to miraculously be "cured" of his illness is the wrong thing to pray for. There is a reason that he has this trial in his life. I don't know what the reason is, and I wish he didn't have it, but I have to have faith that someday we'll understand and it will all make sense. In the meantime, I will pray for the little things that will help him along the way.

I'm getting more and more excited about Joshua's and Lily's wedding. It'll be here before you know it. They have a wedding website: http://www.weddingwire.com/lilyandjosh. Check it out - it's a great idea! I'm so happy that we have so much family coming for the wedding and also some friends from California. It'll be a very happy event! You'll all love Lily too.

I made two of these necklaces, one for me and one for Lily

I learned some new techniques making this bracelet

The Mayflower

Don's model of The Mayflower

Don's model of The Mayflower

Don's model of The Mayflower

Don's model of The Mayflower

Don finally finished his model ship, The Mayflower. I'm so proud of it - he did an incredible job. I'm posting pictures but you really have to see it in person to appreciate the detail and how difficult it was. He's getting ready to start his next model, The Rattler. It's a little more difficult, although slightly smaller. He's learned a lot doing these and wants to eventually build scratch models - we'll see if he ever gets that advanced.

Our Relief Society Discovery Group went to "Dance For a Reason" at the Hult Center last Friday night. We had great "box" seats and it was a lot of fun. It's an annual event comprised of dances by all or most of the dance studios (students, choreographers, etc.) in Eugene and Springfield with the money going to a different cause each year. The dancing was quite diverse and I enjoyed most of it, although there were a couple of performances I didn't care too much for.

Joshua and Lily have hired the band for their wedding reception and we're going with them this Saturday to hear the band perform at a concert in town. They play Celtic music, which I love so I'm really looking forward to hearing them.

Our favorite missionary, Elder Leet, went home last week and we miss him, but we've had the other 2 missionaries over a couple of times since then and they're coming over for dinner tomorrow night with an investigator.

Last Sunday I gave my Relief Society lesson (Presidency Message) on the Constitution, how it was inspired of God and how our founding fathers were raised up by God for the purpose of forming our Constitution. I used Pres. Ezra Taft Benson's talk from 1987 and several scriptures from the Doctrine & Covenants and a few quotes from other prophets and general authorities. I really feel like it is important for us to understand the significance and inspired nature of our Constitution and that it's our responsibility to defend and protect it and keep our nation free until the Savior comes again. I see our liberties being taken from us little by little and I think we don't always have our eyes open to it. We're drifting (rather quickly) into a more and more socialistic form of government and that goes against the eternal principle of Agency.

I just finished reading two really good books - "The Goose Girl" and "Marley & Me" - I highly recommend them. I'm back into my jewelry making again and I'm having fun trying some new techniques and designs. I have to rein myself in, though, it's easy to get carried away buying beads, charms, findings, etc.

I've also got a great recipe to post. It's for Banana Bars and they're delicious!

Bars

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I used a bit more than that)
1/4 tsp. salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg. (3 ozs.) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
a little milk to thin, if needed

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 13X9X2" pan. In large bowl, mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Spread in pan.

2. Bake bars 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar (and add milk if necessary) until smooth and spreadable.

4. Spread cooled bars with frosting. Store covered in refrigerator.

Sorry, this posting is so disjointed but I'm not updating it enough and I'm kind of trying to "catch up" on my life - boring as it may be.