COVID Hair

For many, many years, I have had my hair cut once a month. Without fail.  Every month.  Sometimes I even scheduled it for three weeks.  My hair grows fast.  So after getting it cut by Cami, my hairdresser, each month,  I would pay her and schedule the next appointment.  For years, I have done it this way.  My last haircut was on March 18th, 2020.  It was actually the last thing I did before we locked down and stayed at home.   So, my hair has been growing for over six months.  Growing and growing.  I looked through and found some pictures of myself during this time of COVID.

May:

June:

When we went to our reunion in June, my daughter, Kristen trimmed my bangs for me the morning of our family pictures.  

July:

August

These pictures were after I spent considerable time "doing" it.  Since I'm not really going anywhere these days, I usually wash it every morning and just brush it and that's good enough. I quite like it longer when I do it. I did order some left-handed hair cutting scissors and have cut my bangs a couple of times.  I'm getting better.  I have watched several videos on how to cut your own bangs and hair.  I just may give the rest of my hair a try.  I'll keep you informed.  

Ken's is also getting pretty long.  He did get it cut once by a retired barber in our ward (Lee) who did it in his home.  It's time for him to go back.  Or I need to order clippers.  We used to have clippers and I cut his hair.  I really didn't like doing it, so as soon as we could afford it, I gave the clippers away and he has gone to a barber since.  But now it would be nice to have clippers and I could brush up on how to on Pinterest.

September:

 He went back to Lee.  Lee does such a nice job.

September:

  I guess this is a post that could just keep going, month after month, for who knows how long?  But I'll post it now.  Maybe I'll keep taking monthly pictures and see how long it gets.  Or maybe I'll try cutting it myself.  Or maybe I'll go to Lee.  Or maybe I'll quit worrying about my hair and do something more important.  Stay tuned. . .

On the Basis of Sex

This movie is very well done and is very thought-provoking.  It honors the recently deceased Ruth Ginsberg. It caused me to do a lot of thinking: does culture change and laws follow or the other way around?  It is the true story of Ruth Ginsburg and her fight in court for the equality of the sexes.  I  was stunned that in this revolutionary case she actually defended a man for the right to have public funds to care for his mother- usually a women's role.  But the win created precedence for women's rights and that decisions could no longer be made on the basis of sex.  There is no question that this woman changed our world; our society.  The movie will cause you to think about that.  At least it did me.  We watched it on Netflix DVD.  

Injuries Come in Threes . . .Fours . . . Fives?

We have had a string of injuries in our family- all coming within a day or two.  It was crazy.  This was all about a month ago.

1) Michelle wasn't sure what she had done, but reported that her knee was really red and swollen and hurting.  It was difficult to walk and she was limping quite badly.   She went to an orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist.  She had an MRI and the diagnosis was that she has arthritis that is quite severe. She was given exercises to do and ice and heat therapy was recommended.  It was recommended that she avoid certain things- like treadmill running, which she had been doing a lot because it was too hot to run outside.  She is way too young to have these problems!  But she is much better now.  Michelle is so active and loves to exercise.  She is physically strong and healthy.  So this was quite a blow.  She does the prescribed exercises and heats and ices it when it flares up.

2) Kristen was making lunch for her family and using the immersible blender to blend some black beans.  She tried to unstick them and severely cut her thumb.  She almost cut the end of her thumb off.  Her husband took her to the emergency room and they put her back together by stitching her up.  Being a mother of six, it is difficult to keep an injured thumb dry.  

It also is doing much better now and healing up.  The jagged, dead thumbnail catches on things, but the feeling has come back and she is healing nicely.

3) Remember our sweet Hannah Rose?  Well, on the same day as Aunt Kristen's injury, she had another injury.  She had just been released from restrictions on her broken elbow when she broke her ankle in the growth plate.  Shonna and Blake went away overnight and hired a babysitter for the 24 hours.  Saturday afternoon, the kids were all playing on the trampoline.  Hannah landed wrong and cried out in pain.  The babysitter carried her inside and there she sat until her parents got home later that afternoon.  They went to a local doctor on Monday, but Shonna felt unsettled about his diagnosis (mother's intuition,) so took her back to Primary children's orthopedic hospital in Layton the next week where they determined she had broken her ankle in the growth plate.  Ahh!  

So Hannah had to use crutches, wheelchair, and boot for the next month at least.

The family had a trip planned to National Parks.  So Blake ordered this special kid backpack as they planned to do quite a bit of hiking.

It was the week school was to start.  So Shonna takes her to school in the morning in her wheelchair where she attends her Chinese immersion class.  Then Shonna picks her up and brings her home and teaches her  the rest of the subjects in the afternoons.  

We sent her some fun books to read during her confinement.

The backpack worked great on their trip.

 We told Blake it was a good thing it was tiny Hannah that broke her ankle and not one of the bigger kids!

Hannah and Shonna went back to Primary Children's on Monday and Hannah can now walk on her foot with the boot and soon with nothing.  She will be able to finally start going to school full time next week.  This sweet little girl has been so patient and happy through all of her troubles.  

We thought that was it.  Troubles come in threes, right?  But suddenly Ken's knee took a turn for the worse.  Twenty-eight years ago he was playing softball and went to catch fly foul ball.  With his eye on the ball, he didn't realize the fence was so close and ran into in, shattering his knee cap.  The doctor pieced it back together, but he's never been able to play basketball or softball again or run.  But he walks daily and rides a bike several days a week.  It has held up pretty well, considering.  But quite suddenly, the pain increased dramatically.  He stopped going on his daily walks, started icing and heating it alternately, and babying it more.  But the pain was intense.  He went to his doctor and good friend, Greg, who gave him a cortisone shot.  At first he wasn't sure it had helped much, but now he feels like it is much better than even before the flare up.  That flare up was on the same weekend as the above injuries.

Ken icing his knee

ON that same weekend, my heel started hurting very badly.  I could hardly walk.  It was scary. I woke up Sunday morning and could barely get into the living room. When I talked to Michelle, she suggested I had plantar fasciitis and sent me several exercises to try.  They have really helped, so I, too, am back to walking.  

So there you have it.  The Hinton Family Injury Report.  Hopefully, that is all for a good while!

Let's Go Grow

 The following posted on the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints inspiration site.  I loved it and thought it made a great mantra for my ever-increasing collection of great mantras.

Michelle D. Craig, 1st Counselor in the General Young Women Presidency

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—Inspiration

"Three words have been running through my mind since I heard them shared in a recent Sunday church meeting, where Ben Peterson was called to be our new bishop.

His wife, Natalie, was given the opportunity to share some of her feelings. She shared a conversation that she and her husband had had the night before. She said to him, “Are we ready for this?” His reply was profound in its simplicity and faith: “Let’s go grow.”

These three words reflect the discipleship, enthusiasm, and consecrated hearts of Ben and Natalie Peterson and countless others throughout the world. They reflect the attitude of faithful and imperfect people who accept callings and assignments they feel unqualified for, who square their shoulders when faced with challenges, and who move forward in faith despite uncertain outcomes.

Let’s go grow—what a great motto!"

Thank you, Sister Craig for another great mantra!

To see other mantras, please click here.

The Library of Lost and Found

 

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You might call this a “coming of age” story, though Martha Storm didn’t come of age until well in her 40’s. That’s when she finally figured out that she could choose her own path and become what she wanted to become and that she had great worth. Thomas, her father, was the villain of the story. He made her feel unlovable and inadequate her entire life. In an effort to be loved, she allows fellow workers and townspeople and even her own sister to tromp all over her and take advantage of her desire to help and serve others. I love how she learns to stand up for herself and still serve and help others. I enjoyed this book.

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The Lake House

 

The Lake House by Kate Morton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was the third book I have read by Kate Morton. They are all a bit hard to follow, especially at first. This one was especially hard to get into. But, eventually, I was fully engrossed and stayed up way too late at the end to finish it. Don’t confuse this book with a currently popular time travel movie with the same title.

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Grandpa's Stories

 

Ken’s oldest brother, Jim, is an excellent and prolific writer.  I have just finished reading a delightful collection of stories that he has put together in a book.  They are from his and his family’s life.  He said he is often asked to tell his grandchildren stories so he collected stories from his other books (he’s written many) so they would all be in one place.  Reading Jim’s collection has inspired me and I have started writing my own collection of stories.  I will post them on this blog one by one under the label “My Stories.”  Watch for them.  This will be a big project, but, as I love to write, one I will enjoy.  Thank you, Jim, for the inspiration. And thank you for your delightful stories!

Maudie

 Set in Nova Scotia, this is the mostly true story of the famous folk artist Maude Everett. Suffering from severe arthritis and betrayed by her family, Maudie makes her own way by getting hired as a housekeeper and selling her beautiful folk art.  This is a powerful, tender, and memorable movie.  Because of how everyone treats her, it is a little painful and hard to watch.  It has given me a great desire to go back to Halifax and see her paintings and home.

One of Maude's real paintings

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes!

 This time of year, we eat a lot of tomatoes.  We look forward to our garden producing lots of homegrown, delicious tomatoes.  Again this year, we didn't get as many from our garden as we wanted.  So we went to two local fruit stands at two different times and bought tomatoes to make the summer foods we love the most.

1.  Summer tomatoes.  I found this recipe on a Susan Branch calendar years ago and make it every year.  We love it.

For the recipe, click here.  It is unique in that you put the tomatoes and other ingredients in a 1/2 gallon canning jar and let it "bake" in the sun all afternoon.  Our favorite way to eat it is to dip crusty bread in it.

2. Nectar of the Gods  aka Tomato Basil Soup

One batch makes about 6 quarts without adding the milk or cream.

I wanted more in the freezer, so we went to a different fruit stand and bought a box of tomatoes.  It made about 10 more quarts.

We like to prepare the base of the soup without adding the cream.  We put it in quart jars.  We make sure they are good and cold by keeping them in the fridge overnight before freezing them (otherwise they may break.)  You can find the recipe here.  Last year, I just made the 6 quarts.  One evening, I went out for a quart of soup and found they were all gone.  I would often grab a quart on my way out to give away to people in need and I had given them all away.  We didn't get any!  So this year, we did a lot more.  We are ready for giving and eating!

Ken is always willing to help with cooking and bottling.  He does all of the hard stuff like getting the bottles from our downstairs storage room and cleaning up.

3. Restaurant-Style Salsa

I like to make salsa with fresh tomatoes, though this recipe can be made year-round with canned tomatoes just as well.  I make this as a base salsa.  I often serve it just like this, but sometimes add chopped green onion, green pepper, chopped fresh tomato, more cilantro, and finely diced cucumber as I serve it.  Either way, it's a great addition to Mexican night.

The recipe can be found here:  http://hungryhintons.blogspot.com/2020/08/mexican-restaurant-style-salsa.html  I like to freeze the base for later use.  

We have enjoyed tomatoes now, and have some stored away in the freezer for the upcoming year.

Oh, one more way we love tomatoes:

Oh, Baby Sandwiches!  http://hungryhintons.blogspot.com/2011/07/oh-baby.html

Dubbed the best sandwich in the world, this is a delicious way to eat a slice of fresh tomato!

Relative Race Season 2

Our kids have been trying to get us to watch Relative Race on BYUtv for literally years.  Our granddaughter came to stay with us for a couple of weeks, and she is a fan of this show, so we watched all of Season 2 with her.  It is a great, uplifting show!  We really liked it.  It is a race, yes, but it focuses on family and family history and brings the spirit of Elijah.  If you haven't watched it, you might want to give it a try.  I'm sure we will be watching more seasons.  There are six seasons available.  

COVID Project: The Bookshelf

 A project I have wanted to complete during the pandemic is cleaning the downstairs bookshelf.  It was a mess.  I had books stuffed in everywhere and the floor in front of the shelf had piles of books that wouldn't fit.  We simply had too many books, and I needed to purge the shelves.   The shelf is in three sections.  I finally got the left section done.  It is where most of the fiction and  a lot of the non-fiction books are, as well as all of the young adult and children's books.  The right side is full of  reference and church books.  The middle has decorations and books that didn't fit elsewhere- the overflow!

This isn't really a before shot, but a during shot.  It isn't even when it was at it's worst.  It was such a mess down there.  Well, it still is, but it's a bit better now.

This is the "After" shot of the left side.  

Notice the box of books on the left.  I have three boxes that are full of books I'm getting rid of.  I have made a word document with all of their titles.  I'm hoping to get this to my daughters and that they will want some of them. The rest will go to DI.  It is hard for me to give books away.  I love to be surrounded by books that I love. It makes me happy. If you look to the right on this blog, you will see that I have reviewed 228 books on this blog . . .and counting.  I love books.  But we just couldn't store them all. 
I am now cleaning the rest of the shelves and will post the results sometime in the future.  
Cleaning and organizing and purging is hard for me.  But I am determined.  I think I can, I think I can!

So Big

So Big by Edna Ferber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have just added a book to my top ten favorites. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1924, this most deserving book is quietly powerful. The setting is around the turn of the century in the Chicago, Illinois area. In this book, I was introduced to a new literary hero: Selina DeJong. A farmer’s wife who was widowed young, she raised her son, nicknamed “So Big,” while continuing to support herself and him by raising vegetables to sell in the city of Chicago. She tried to instill in him values of hard work, family, and not worrying about money or what others thought. As he grew, he had to choose between the allures of the world, riches, and popularity and his mother’s values. It is not a book of action and adventure, but of quiet thought. The ending left me with chills all over.

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The Poets of Room 174

My niece, Melanie Hinton Cox asked me to be a beta reader for a novel she wrote.  I felt so honored she would ask me.  It was a wonderful book.  I was blown away at how good of a writer she is (she has her doctorate in English literature, so I shouldn’t have been.)  I thoroughly enjoyed her creative novel.  A brief synopsis:  The five famous English poets are caught in a state of limbo after their deaths and attend college English literature classes where they and their works are being discussed.  But no can see or hear them. They go from college to college and have  for centuries.  This story is set while they are at U of U and they, for the first time, actually get to meet and talk with a girl, the protagonist, who is grieving the death of her parents. 

That seems too shortened as there are a lot of other characters and happenings, but that’s the crux. She brings those ancient poets to life and gives them personalities.  But I loved the story of Nellee and her life the most.   

These were my closing comments to her on the form I filled out for her after completing the book:

   "How can I express my love for your writing?   You have a gift.  Over and over again, I was mesmerized by your ability to make me feel and experience with your words.  Your dialogues sparkled with reality, your characters were alive (well, some of them half alive!) and real, the plot original and interesting, and the descriptions gave me chills.  I loved how you brought alive (quite literally) the old and made it so very pertinent today.  Thank you for allowing me the privilege of reading this great novel.  Please keep me informed on what happens.  I will be first in line to buy it when it is published." 

My favorite scene in the book is when Nellee thinks she is alone in her study carrel  and is crying and grieving the loss of her parents.  Suddenly a voice (she finds out later it is Wordsworth) speaks to her and comforts her.  He encourages her to talk about it with these words:

“Things cease from their horror when they are spoken.  Keep to yourself the sweet if you must; speak the unsweet.  The man’s counsel brought a warm coat of softness.  She had always imagined God’s words would feel that way.”

“ And she kept crying. This wall, it was her wailing wall; the voice on the other side, his silence, offered her a pocket to cry into and she filled it.”

Isn’t that beautiful writing? 

I sincerely hope Melanie’s book is published and sees great acclaim and success.

Just Mercy

 This was a very powerful movie.  It was upsetting to me, but I still recommend it.  I had a hard time sleeping after I watched it.  I was mostly upset that the evil sheriff wasn't ever prosecuted.  The acting was superb; the story powerful.   We watched it on Netflix DVD.

A Huge Storm

On Sunday, August 23, we finally had a big answer to a lot of prayers. Our land was in desperate need of moisture.  We had a small amount fall in May, but nothing since.  We  really needed rain.  Our stake president sent out an email, asking us to fast and pray for rain.  For GENTLE rain.  But  I guess the Lord wanted to answer our pleas in a BIG way.  

As we visited with Kristen (from Colorado) on the phone that Sunday evening, we watched a big storm come in:  fist the winds, then thunder and lightning, and then pouring rain, rain, rain. The thunder was loud and almost simultaneous with the lightning. We live on a cul-de-sac and the street in front of our house filled with rainwater (see picture below.)  When it used to do this we would call it Lake Vincent as the house you see on the left was owned by the Vincents.  After they moved, the city put a drain in front of their house, so we had not had a Lake Adams (new owners) until this storm.  The drain clogged, and Lake Adams formed.  As we watched the lake form, we saw a shadowy figure in the dark come and, with his bare hands, clear the drain.  A simple act of kindness.  Though we could not tell for sure, we think it was our new next-door neighbor who went out in this torrential storm to serve.

Ken and I sat on our front porch and watched the lightning show and the rain.  As we did so, we got alerts on our phones, warning of flash floods and dangers, urging residents to stay home.  

The next day, pictures of the flooding showed just how much rain came down.  Our rain guage showed we got 1.14 inches.  Amazing!I screen shot this one on my phone.

A sink hole opened up near a local motel. It swallowed a car.  I don't think they even still have retrieved the car from the bottom of the deep hole.

We are grateful our prayers for rain were answered and hope we can get more.  But maybe a bit more gently?