A Bed of Red Flowers

I had book club again on Wednesday night. There was only a few of us there, but it was a pretty good discussion. The book we read this month was A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan, written by Nelofer Pazira.
It is an auto-biography about her life in Afghanistan. She was born in 1973, when Afghanistan declares itself to be a republic. In 1979, the Soviets invade Afghanistan. At this point, Afghanistan turns into a war zone between the Soviets and some anti-government groups. That's when the United States steps in and starts funding some of the anti-government groups. Nelofer and her family escape in 1989 to Pakistan, and eventually to Canada. Eventually, the Soviets pull out, and the Taliban takes over. The Taliban somehow turns Islam into an oppressive cult that forbids women to work, attend school or even leave the house without a male escort, and of course, the women now have to be covered from head to toe, with only their eyes showing.

I was surprised at how much I liked the book. I was apprehensive about reading another biography (sometimes they can be quite dull!), but I really enjoyed this one. There are a lot of names of people and places that I could never pronounce (eventually the names all started looking the same) but once I got past that it was really a fast read.
Nelofer really personalizes this book, and it is almost possible for one to feel like they are in living her life - from the terror of living in a war zone, to the miles and miles of walking to escape Afghanistan. She uses a lot of personal stories, and includes intimate stories from the people in her life.
I would recommend reading this book - the only part I didn't like was at the end when she lets loose with a few anti-American sentiments, blaming the United States for allowing the Taliban to take over. This story does make me want to read other books about Afghanistan's tragic history and perhaps get another point of view.

The Great Deception...

Some of you may know my husband, John, who will eat anything and everything - unless it has the word healthy attached to it. He's actually a lot better than when we first got married, but still likes to put up a good fight about vegetables and fungus.

I however, grew up in a household where salt and sugar were usually left out of recipes. We were not given a choice on whether to eat the peas - you ate them whether you liked them or not. My older brother was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 3 years old (I was 1), and my mom, who takes her mom duties seriously, cut out a lot of things from our diet (and in reality, I think I have her to be grateful to for me not being seriously overweight) - no sugared cereals, no stashes of goodies; we even had sugar-free candy for Easter... everything was low-fat, low-cholesterol... it was the complete works!

And even though I rebelled to this as a youngin', time would prove that I actually enjoy eating healthy, and my body tends not to do to well when I eat stuff loaded with fat and sugar and salt. In college I found that I really enjoyed my nutrition class, and I ended up graduating with a BS in Dietetics! Is anyone seeing the irony in my marriage yet?

So, over the years (almost 9 of them) I have tried hard to get John to eat healthier...and he has rebelled almost as hard! So, I started being a little sneaky... by chopping things up really small, or telling him it was something else...anything to get some sort of nutrients into him!

I've been worried about how Braxton will see this, and worried he will decide he doesn't like to eat vegetables either...but then this cookbook came out....

And it really helped me get over the guilt of deceiving...and it has even helped me do it! I have posted the latest recipe that was successfully deceiving on my recipe blog. It is super yummy, and I feel good about getting a few good vitamins and minerals into my slightly stubborn husband! :)

My Very Own Recipe Blog!

I really love to cook and try new recipes... so, I thought since I've been taking advantage of everyone else's recipe blogs, I would create my own and share the wealth -
Laura Jean's Favorite Yummy Things!

Check it out for some of my tried and true yummiest of recipes...

Braxton is 13 months old today!

My sweet baby boy is officially 13 months old today. I think that Braxton is more than ready for me to call him my big boy, but I don't want him to be one yet! However, this week he has proved just how big he is!

On Wednesday, we spent a long day in airports and airplanes trying to get to Phoenix to visit Christi. I was nervous in the first place about him being confined in a little tiny airplane and the ear pressure issues... since he can't really chew gum with 4 1/2 teeth!

Anyway, when we got to the airport at 7:00am on Wednesday, I was told the airport was closed and that they had no idea when we would be flying out (our flight was supposed to leave at 8:10am). So, striving to be the calm mom that I want to be, I went ahead and sat down with Braxton for a wait. And we waited until after 11am to leave. And Braxton was an angel - he just munched on some yogurt and Cheerios... oh, and mauled the other people waiting for their flights. Luckily, Braxton is super cute...

So, the next hurdle was the flight. And again, Braxton pulled through wonderfully. He didn't even fuss, in fact I think he really enjoyed the take off. He also really enjoyed the passenger next to us - a very nice man named Brian who works for the Sheriff Department. Braxton practically leapt into his arms and started playing with the zipper on his coat, and chatted happily with Brian. I was slightly embarrassed, but Brian was very sweet about all of it, and talked about his own 18 month baby boy. Other than a slight emabarrassment, it was successful.

We land in SLC around 12:30pm and find out that we missed our connecting flight (which was at 11:15am), and that they have saved us a seat on the 9:15 PM flight. And that there are no available seats on any flights leaving before then. But, I am 6th on the standby list for the 2:55pm flight. So, at this point, I have to admit that calm, collected mom was starting to break down - I almost burst into tears right there. Luckily, I was able to keep my composure for Braxton's sake. I then decided that the best thing for us to do was to have some greasy airport food - which we did (I have the pimples to prove it). I also had two tall glasses of cold Coca-Cola (which I desperately needed to help ease my growing headache).

So with full tummies, a prayer in my heart, and determination to cry if necessary we went to the ticket counter and asked to see if there was any way possible to get on the 2:55pm flight. And this amazing girl just did it. She gave us a confirmed seat and she didn't even make me beg or cry for it! I was feeling pretty awesome about the whole situation - even when I found out that the flight was actually delayed until 4:25pm (it's still better than 9PM!). Braxton managed to take a nap in my arms at the airport (which, first of all, he has never fallen asleep in my arms, and secondly, he even slept in a public place, which he usually never does!) I was so glad that he did, as it gave me a little bit to watch all of the other children screaming and crying - and so I counted my many blessings and looked at my sweet baby boy in my arms.

The next great thing is that we actually got to board the plane and fly out ahead of the delayed schedule, so we got to Phoenix around 5:30pm. And again, Braxton did amazing! He charmed all the people around us with his sweet smile, and great little giggle. And everyone commented on how good of a baby he was. However, he did try to get his little paws on the alcoholic beverage the guy next to us was drinking... but luckily, was unsuccessful.

When we finally landed and got our baggage (which amazingly arrived!), Christi took us out to dinner for my 25th birthday (not my 30th, as some are determined to believe). Braxton did have a little bit of a meltdown at dinner, but still not as bad as I was expecting! I just know I have the best little boy ever and I am so grateful for him!

Tired of Telemarketers and Junk Mail?

If there is anything that I dislike more, it's telemarketers calling at all times of the day trying to sell me things I don't need, or wanting me to donate money to some cause I've never even heard of!
The National Do Not Call Registry is a great place to start in getting rid of those unwanted calls. You can register your home or mobile phone for free. And this website also allows you to file a complaint if you are still receiving calls after being on the registry for 31 days.
OptOutPrescreen.com is the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website to help get rid of those super annoying credit card and insurance offers. It allows you to either opt-in (like anyone really needs more junk mail!) or opt-out. You can opt-out through the website for a five-year term, or mail in a "Permanent Opt-Out Election" form to be done with it forever! This is also free.
Another website that is good for eliminating some of that junkmail in the form of unwanted catalogs is CatalogChoice.org. This is also a free service, and just think of how environmentally friendly you'll be! :)