Apple-cranberry Crisp

This is delicious!



1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup plus 1 T whole-wheat flour
4 cups cubed Granny Smith apples (cored but not peeled)
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 T soft margarine (I like to use butter) melted
2 T honey

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with low-fat nonstick cooking spray. In a asmall bowl, combine the cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg with 1 T of whole-wheat flour. Combine apples and cranberries in a large bowl. Add the cinnamon mixture to the fruit and toss to coat. Place the fruit in the prepared baking dish.

Combine the remaining 1/3 cup of flour with the oats and brown sugar. In antoher bowl, mix the margarin with the honey. Slwoly pour the margarine mixure ober the dru ingredients and stir with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenlyover the fruit. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve warm. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Serves 9.

Nutrition analysis per serving: Calories 220, Fat 3g, Sarurated fat 0g, Trans fat 0g, Carbohydrate 47g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 30mg, Fiber 4g

Growing season continues...

For anyone who was wondering if I have been successful in growing in the back yard here is an update on where they plants are. Nothing edible...yet, but hopefully soon.

We currently have 18 tomatoes, and over a dozen blossoms. One of the tomatoes is finally starting so show color other than green. I have contemplated trying fried green tomatoes, but I have been holding out hoping that they will turn red.





We have had a rough time with the cucumbers. There was a freeze around Thanksgiving, and I am not sure this plant every fully jumped back. We have one plant left and as of today it has 3 cucumbers on it. There have been other cucumbers before these...but they didn't make it. Hopefully these 3 will.



I went out to water today and for the first time I found a flower on the strawberry plants. Make it 3 flowers I found today, YEAH! The plants still look very healthy we just haven't had any flowers until today. Super happy about that!

Lady Moment...12th week/tip

A lady when dancing.

A lady cannot refuse to dance with any gentleman who invites her unless she has a previous engagement. Young ladies must be careful how they refuse to dance. She should give a good reason, lest the gentleman takes it as a personal dislike. Once a lady refuses, she should not accept another invitation for the same dance.

Lady Moment...11th week/tip

A lady never shouts or raises her voice.

There really isn't too much to add to this one. Just remember to keep your voice controlled.

Lady Moment...10th week/tip

Refrain from staring when observing others/the unpleasant.

A lady never points out negative observations about someones manners, the bad behaviour of someones child, the state of her house or car etc.

She makes people feel at ease, never takes it personally, is never offended if they did not do as she would have done.

She pretends to not notice at the child's bad behaviour, a person's unkempt appearance, knowing that she might have had a bad time at home before she came out.

She never stares when someone chews with their mouth open, talks with their mouth full, spills, knocks over the coffee cup, sneezes, coughs.

She does not stare or point no matter what.

Lady Moments...9th week/tip

A Lady doesn't make jokes at other's expense.

The lady who wrote this states:Even though it has been many years, I can still recollect the painful memories when I was a child, a teenager, a young woman of being laughed at. They could be due to the lack of income, of designer things, lack of sophistication, lack of knowledge of clever things etc.

I get laughed at my inability to speak fluent 'local' Mandarin, for being too skinny, for saying a wrong word etc.

I never want others to ever feel how I felt and go through extra pains to never make anyone feel terrible about themselves. Its better to encourage them.

**From personal experience I too can say that it is no fun to be on the receiving end of someones joke. Sometimes it can take years to overcome and realize that it is not the truth.

Always remember to put yourself in their shoes.

Whoopie pies!!

Last December I fist heard of whoopie pies and made some gingerbread whoopie pies (on the left in the picture, on the right is eggnog cookies).



They were so yummy and the gingerbread cookie didn't get hard and crunchy. They were soft and moist and everyone who had one said that they were great. Which means that I was not the only one who liked them.

Then this last month I got the following magazine in the mail.



Next thing I knew I had this on my counter...



And here is my finished product.





Of course, I like to bake sweets but the two of us can't eat them all, so we found homes for most of these whoopie pies.

For anyone who wants to try these...the recipe is found at www.oneida.com/entertain.

Enjoy!

Growing Season

The weather has cooled off and it is planting time. I think it is the first time I have looked forward to cooler weather. The plants aren't like me, they will shrivel up and die is the weather here most of the year. I on the other hand soak it in like a nice big sponge.

I haven't ever planted fruits or vegetables here...but there's always a first. Here are a few pictures of my "hanging" garden. If I am overwhelmingly successful we'll see what I do next time.

This year I have started with:

Tomatoes









Cucumbers





Strawberries



I also planted a few flowers



I didn't plant the citrus, but still they are growing! How many oranges do you spy?



Lemons anyone?

Movies

What has happened to the movies, and the ratings and who really knows what is good anymore. We have found a website that we like to use before viewing movies. I am not sure who started the website but it is pretty reliable. It can be found at www.kids-in-mind.com

The website basically has 3 categories that it grades the movies on with a scale of 1 to 10. There is a way that you can search all of the movies by entering search criteria, for example you only want to see movies on a 1 to 5 scale. Anyway after you pull up the movie that you are interested in seeing it will rate the movie and then give an entire listing as to why it was rated that way. We have found it to be very helpful to us as we decide what movies to enjoy at home or in the theater.

For FHE we went to see the movie Secretariat, it was rated 2-3-3. (Also we found out that if you go to AMC Monday thru Thursday it is matinee prices ($5.25) all day).

Enjoy the website if you use it, hopefully you find it as helpful as we do.

Crochet...

I love to crochet, but lately I only find time when we are traveling, I am a great passenger and usually I can get a couple of wash cloths made. In August we took a 12-14 hour road trip to visit my Grandpa's and I was able to get an entire afghan completed (for my friends baby, so it was a smaller one).

Anyway, in Laurel's we came up with the idea to crochet a hankerchief. We thought that with the upcoming temple dedications (2 years out probably) that it would be nice for the girls to make one. So a couple of weeks ago I taught them how to crochet, I think it went well and that they enjoyed it. I finished mine last night and here is what I have...

...ta da! A finished and updated kitchen

Please review the post from September about projects to remind yourself of the original state of the kitchen.

Now for the new look in our kitchen...

There are several photos, but I just can't get over looking the end results. I just want to stay in the kitchen all day.

Lady Moments...8th week/tip

A lady refrains from asking uncomfortable questions...such as

"Have you lost/gained weight?"
"Is it real?" (gold/diamond/designer goods etc)
"How much did it cost?"
"What grade/specs is your diamond?"
"What happened to your face?"
"What is that on your face?" (usually a very big pimple or a rash)
"You don't remember me do you?"
"Is that your boyfriend?"
"When is it your turn?" (to get married, have a child etc)
"Why did you get retrenched? What happened to your old job?"

If you really have to ask, please try to be indirect or be sensitive that your friend might be uncomfortable or really does not want to talk about it.

And please do not use the age-old disclaimer, "I don't mean to intrude," or "I hope you don't mind me asking..."

I did not forget

I should have posted this about a week ago...I did not forget about my kitchen project. I will not however, be posting pictures of the disaray that the house has been in for the last month. Here is where I was on the project as of last Saturday night.

Lady Moments...7th week/tip

Cell Phone etticacy

During dinner, or having a meal with someone, she does not chat on her phone.

DA lady knows when to turn off her cell phone. Depending on the formality of the situation, she turns her phone to silent and does not take calls during a formal dinner. If casual, she answers only if the call seems urgent and rings them back an hour later after the meal is over. If she does take the call, she offers immediately to call them back after her social engagement.

She certainly does not chat, resolve any issue etc.

Texting...remember no texting at the family dinner table and if you are out with friends refrain from answering phone calls and texts.

Projects...

I can't seem to go very long before I have a project on my hands. This time I was really looking forward to completing a year long project of organizing the house and getting rid of anything that doesn't have a place. When all of a sudden I was knocked off course by an idea!

I haven't ever really been in love with the color of the kitchen cabinets. They are in good condition and I really have nothing to complain about.







As you can see they are in great condition. However, in talking we decided that neither of us really loved the color...next thing I know I have this...





This an example of what the entire kitchen looked like within a week. I found this stuff called Citristrip, you paint it on and wait for it to dry, the bottle says 30 minutes, but I recommend 2 hours at least. Then with a plastic putty knife you scrape it and it takes all of the varnish and stain off right down to the bare wood. That's right, no sanding. Drawbacks...well, the only one I can come up with is that it eats through vinyl, so the gloves I used for most of the kitchen would get eaten through. On the last day of stripping we discovered that it doesn't eat though latex...but my hands are peeling pretty thoroughly right now.

Then I had this...



I love the new stained color! Now, I am to a point where I have a lovely color of cabinet but the counter tops are still lovely light pink Formica. What to do...well we are trying to do this a inexpensive as we can and my husband found this website www.gianigranite.com and we knew that we wanted to try this. We ended up finding that it was sold a paint store near our home...so after applying step one we have this...



As great as this looks we decided that it would show nicks and scratches too well so we decided to finish adding the rest of the colors. Please note that I am not a painter...but the kit did come with and instructional DVD and written instructions...now we have this...







...now we just have to finish sealing the counter tops, and staining the cupboard doors and the project will be complete. Since this much has been done in 8 days...check back in about a week and hopefully I will have more progress to post. It is really hard to live with the oven and the fridge in the middle of the floor and the table in the living room so...this project will be completed before too much longer.

Lady Moments...6th week/tip

Don't interrupt another's speech

A lady never interrupts the speech of others, nor does she discuss private matters in public.

Although, I do understand when we sometimes enter into conversation with someone who talks incessantly. I try my very best to relax and let the person continue chattering while I keep very quiet.

Sooner or later, she will realize and give you room to speak. I often notice as well, people who talk too much, do not listen as well. So take extra care to ensure you have communicated clearly.

Lady Moments...5th week/tip

She does not wear clothes that makes other blush

Too sloppy, too revealing, too high fashion or wild in expression or anything that calls negative attention to herself is something she will never do.

She also wears the right shoes for the situation, never high heeled shoes when hiking (which I have witnessed before in Hawaii). She also ensures they are not dirty or scuffed.

She does not wear clothes revealing any hint of undergarments, for instance, a dark coloured underwear with a white blouse. If it is too translucent, she either wears a nude set or a camisole.

She does not adjust her straps in public. In unfortunate event, she excuses herself to the bathroom or if that option is not possible, she does so quickly and discretely. If someone points it out to her, she keeps a straight face calmly say thank you, and excuse herself to the bathroom.

I forgot to tell them this...but as one of my old roommates used to say: Feel good about yourself so that you can forget about yourself. You don't want to constantly be worried about fixing a blouse that doesn't fit well, or be making sure that your shirt reaches the top of your pants, or something similar...

Lady Moments...4th week/tip

Chewing...

Whether it is food or gum, a lady chews like she has a secret.

Always keeping her mouth closed and not speaking when there is food in her mouth.

Take small bites and chew food thoroughly.

CupCone's...

The recipe to the lower photo's is really really easy. I just mixed up a cake mix and poured it into the cones. One cake mix filled 24 cones, filled up just about 1 inch from the top of the cone.

Pic's as promised

Before...




After...




They taste so YUMMY! Also if anyone is interested here is the recipe I found on ehow.com for the whipped cream frosting.

Whipped Cream Frosting

8 oz cream cheese (reduced fat)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cup heavy whipping cream

Beat cream cheese and powedered sugar until smooth
add vanilla & almond extract and beat on medium speed
add heavy whipping cream and continue beating until stiff peaks form

Cupcake cones...I say YES!

I remember this lady in my ward when I was a little girl, her name was Sister H. She was a typical old lady but just the other day I remembered that she made cupcakes for Halloween, however, instead of being in the cupcake papers she would put them into ice cream cones (not the sugar cone kind...the kind that can stand up on by itself).

I also remember not being to thrilled about them for Halloween...BUT, I made some today and I am so looking forward to eating them! They are so fun looking and I can hardly wait to frost them. Oh...and I googled how to make whipped cream frosting! Isn't frosting the best part anyway??? So if you are going to top it off with fluffy goodness then why not make it the whipped cream kind.

Turns out that there are so many people who I have talked to who have already tried this and looked at me like I was crazy for just now trying it...but there were also a few who thought it was a novel idea. I hope that there are some of the later out there.

I will post pictures later...but I am just so happy with the way that they turned out I thought I would share.

Lady Moments...3rd week/tip

Look Good, Smell Good

Cleanliness is the key to act like a good lady. It helps exude your vivacity. Shower regularly and groom or stylize your hair before going out. Wear a sweet smelling perfume or deodorant. Do not apply strong perfumes that may have a repulsive odor. Applying make up is not mandatory. If at all you wear make up, make sure that you apply a modest amount, just to highlight your facial features.

...Another quote that I found that I really liked. Doesn't necessarily go with smelling good, or having your hair groomed...but I liked it and couldn't wait to share it.

A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman, but loose enough to show you're a lady.

**Tip 3**

Look good (hair) & smell good (perfume)

Lady Moments...2nd week/tip

This tip and lesson comes from my personal experience, along with a lesson from the movie Miss Congeniality.

I remember when I was a young girl I have a handful of sisters and our Mom was in pageants growing up. She learned to walk very gracefully. I recall more than once that we were to walk around the house with books on our heads (I think it was punishment if I remember correctly, since we all walk gracefully feel free to draw your own conclusions). When we accomplished the task of walking around then we learned to walk up and down the stairs. The goal was to walk with out bouncing around. So...if you have seen the movie Miss Congeniality, remember when they are learning to glide...

**Tip 2**
Walk gracefully without bouncing

Lady Moments... 1st week/tip

I wrote a few posts back that I was going to be sharing lady moments each week in Young Women. I have had a couple of requests to post them here so that more than the Young Women can work on becoming ladies.

First of all I apologize that I don't have references. I did many searches on the Internet several months back and I didn't keep track of where I found all of the information because I hadn't planned on blogging about it. But...unless I state where I found the information otherwise...it was on the Internet, I searched, how to become a lady, or attributes of a lady (hopefully if you are seeking a reference you will be able to find what I found)

Week/Tip 1 of becoming a lady: (tips for what to work on - at the end)

Attitude, poise, elegance of speech, posture and self-confidence are traits that define a lady and make her a complete woman.

Let us establish what it is not before we go on to talk about what it is. If you think being a lady requires you to be coy, shy, bat your eyelids, sigh and be complacent, compliant, a doormat and all that syrupy stuff, perish those thoughts. Neither is it in being snobbish or intimidating. The quintessence of a being a lady lies in her attitude, poise, manners, and elegance of speech, posture and self-confidence.

A lady is considerate, concerned, and respectful of all the people around her. A lady has firm belief in her own abilities and talent to take her towards her goals. A lady has self-esteem and a steely strength that does not need the authentication or seal of approval from the man in her life. A lady speaks her mind assertively and not aggressively. A lady knows what her boundaries and limits are. A lady knows when to say "No" or, "That is enough". A lady is in total grace under pressure. A lady takes care of herself and has pride in her appearance. A lady is comfortable with her "real woman's" body.

A lady dresses in classic elegance and styles that are becoming to her body type and not follow latest trends just because it is "in". A lady never gossips. A lady knows when and how to apologise and also accept an apology gracefully. A lady never ridicules or hurts someone deliberately. A lady does not flaunt her wealth. A lady is comfortable with her fun, laughing side.

In short, just because one is a woman, she does not automatically become a lady. Being a "lady" is all the above-mentioned qualities and more in a woman that makes it a pleasure to be with her, makes her memorable and definitely moves one to say "how charming!" Being called a lady is perhaps, the highest compliment a woman can receive!

**Tip 1**

Cross your ankles, not your legs.

Sharing my findings

When I find something really good I like to share it with others.

We have been working on getting our home office organized, and I can’t believe how much paper one can find that needs to be thrown out…but for security purposes we wanted to shred.

With a 3 day weekend and getting out of work early on Friday we took full advantage of the time to organize the office. We have a shredder that cuts the paper into strips that are about 2 inches long and quite thin. I thought this was a wonderful shredder, however, after nearly 3 days of shredding the poor little machine sounded a bit like a sick cat as it squeaked and hummed along. Originally the shredder would take 7 pages at a time and hum along for about 20 minutes, but near the end of the weekend 3 pages was the max, and I was lucky to get it to run for a full 5 minutes. Sadly we are going to have to soon retire the shredder.

Now…on to my find…

I was talking with someone at work on Friday and they said if they could take all of their paper to someone and pay them to shred it while you watched, they would. Well…yesterday I had shred about all I could take. I decided to search the internet and see what I could find as far as a shred service for individuals. I found one and today for lunch we took our last 2 boxes full of paper to see how the service worked. It was exactly what I had hoped it would be. We walked in and they directed us to the back room. We handed our boxes over and the man dumped our paper into the shredder. Then he turned it on and we watched this very large machine turn all the paper into very small pieces in about 5 minutes. It was so worth it and very cost effective in my opinion…because I estimate I would have been shredding for at least another full week.

If any of you are interested in the service their website is www.pdshred.com

Catching up

Life has been busy but good. I love the new job and the feelings of appreciation that I get and have gotten in such a short time.

Everything is going along just nicely. We recently returned from a trip to a family reunion. We had so much fun passing around the new nieces that we hadn’t met in person before. We enjoyed a variety of activities including bowling, fishing, shooting, a lemonade party, a movie under the stars complete with a snack bar, tin foil dinners, and just time to catch up and visit with everyone. A highlight of our trip was meeting our soon to be sister-in-law. What a gem she is and we look forward to seeing her again before too long.

We both enjoyed the drive to and from the reunion and we once again listened to the words of our church leaders from the April 2010 General Conference. It was so nice to just enjoy the ride as we refreshed all that we had recently been taught. I think that on our next drive perhaps I will take an Ensign and follow along with the printed text, to further “sink” the messages into my heart and mind.

On another note I am no longer in the Primary Presidency, I was put in as a YW advisor earlier this year. I have been working in Laurels and it has been so much fun. They are at a place in life where things are so exciting. They are graduating, getting jobs, applying for entrance to college, starting to drive, starting to date and just have so much energy it has been wonderful. I took upon myself a little challenge that will be beginning soon. We were at a Stake meeting where we were taught that we are here to help the YW become ladies, like Emma Smith, who was told that she was “an elect lady”. I something struck inside of me and I started doing some research on what it means to be a lady. After 25 pages of things to read that I found on various websites I approached the YW President with a proposition. I had hoped to be able to take 5 min at the beginning of Laurels each week to review one attribute of a lady. Well…to my surprise she gave me 5 min with all of the YW each Sunday to review lady like attributes. So on our drive to the family reunion I also reviewed all of my notes of how to become a lady. Now I have organized my thoughts and will get to start teaching the attributes. Hopefully as I teach the YW I will also be able to incorporate those skills into my own life. One thought that I read that has really stuck with me on all of this is that all girls grow up to be women, but you have to practice and strive to become a lady. Hence all girls are women, but not all women are ladies.

...a few more things I will or won't miss

I won't miss the occasional dead cockroach laying on the floor, or on the kitchen counter or in the lights

I won't miss driving by the shady night clubs that are opening up as I am driving home (those patten leather thigh/hip high boots really aren't that flattering)

I will miss the bright florescent pink donut shop that I pass...I never entered but it was fun to look as since it was trimmed with other bright florescent colors

I will not miss the occasional body found in the parking lot, either the homeless person asleep or the ...well they didn't tell us what happened that day

I will miss driving past the Dairy Queen where the sign says "Temporarily Closed" but the windows are boarded up and the actual building has a "For Rent" sign on it

I will not miss wondering what is in the ceiling...mid morning to late afternoon the scratching starts...and they say there is no way for the pigeons to get in there...hhmm

And of course...I will miss all the wonderful ladies that I have worked with, even though the place we worked was well...you read about it.

Change is good

Change is on the horizon for me. After 23 months in my current position I am changing jobs to work closer to home. This is something that I have wished/hoped for ever since I had a commute, so for over 10 years.

I will not longer be subjected to a drive every morning and night that is at least 30 minutes, and that is a good day, usually it is 45

I will not have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic when there isn't anything good to listen to on the radio

I will get to eat lunch at home everyday if I so choose

I will get to leave work and be at home in the garage in uh...less than 10 minutes (more like just over 5)

I will save 2 hours of my life everyday, however, I have been told that I will lose those 2 hours pretty quickly on other things, not 2 hours of exercise or extra sleep...hopefully I can prove that wrong

I will lose 2 hours of talk time on the cell phone to catch up with friends and family

So to sum up this post...Life is Good!

Squash...

I was at the farmers market today and bought some more yummy squash...I picked up some butternut squash, spaghetti squash, grey squash, summer squash and some zucchini.

I thought I would post some fun ideas of ways to eat the squash that I like...

Butternut squash...cut in half clean out the seeds, put in 9x9 or 9x13 (whichever will fit in your microwave) put 1/4 -1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the pan (after putting the squash in cut side down). Cover with plastic wrap and cook about 10 minutes. It will be soft to the touch when done. Then you can cut into smaller pieces...this one I generally eat just plain, it comes off of the peel very easy with your spoon or fork...tastes very yummy.

Spaghetti squash...cook same as butternut squash, when this one is done I scrap it out of the peel into a bowl and serve with spaghetti sauce. Much healthier than the carb packed spaghetti noodles :-)

Grey Squash...I have only ever seen this at the farmer's market. It is very similar to zucchini and I eat it the same way, just a slightly different flavor.

Summer squash and Zucchini I cook and eat the same way, just slice about 1/4 in slices and put about 1 inch of water in the bottom of a sauce pan. Cook until tender and eat. Again, I eat it plain, but it would be great with a little basil and pepper, or salt.

I started getting the magazine "Health" and it is fabulous. I absolutely love it. I found a couple of recipes in it that I have tried and many others I want to try, but thought I would share the recipes that I found so far, so here they are:

Parmesan Pork Tenderloin

1 lb pork tenderloin
3 Tbsp fine dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 small zucchini or summer squash, thinly sliced

Cut tenderloin crosswise into 12 slices. Place each slice on its cut surface and flatten with heel of hand to 1/2" thickness. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; dredge pork slices to coat. Heat oil over medium-high heat in nonstick sauce pan. Saute pork for 2 to 3 minutes per side; remove and keep warm. Add onions, garlic, and zucchini or squash to skillet and saute 5 minutes or until tender.

I love this one, but I use some of both zucchini and summer squash. The magazine said to visit www.theotherwhitemeat.com for more pork recipes...I haven't tried that site out yet, but after this dish I can't wait to see what's out there.

Roasted Squash Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

1/4 cup chopped skinned hazelnuts (I used walnuts and it was great)
1 pound butternut squash, halved seeded and cut into 8 wedges
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
5 cups mixed winter salad greens
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese (I used grated)

preheat oven to 425
place the nuts on a baking sheet in the over, bake for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Set aside
coat a 13x9 nonstick baking pan with cooking spray. Place squash on pan, cut sides down. Cover with foil, and roast in the middle of oven about 20 minutes or until tender
whisk together the maple syrup, vinegar and mustard in a serving bowl until well blended. Add greens and toss until well combined
divide the dress greens onto each of the 4 plates, and surround with 2 squash wedges. Sprinkle evenly with nuts and Parmesan.

This one I thought looked great, but sounded different...maple syrup and mustard. After trying it though, we will be having it again.

Enjoy the squash

Contact - Who initiate's...

I would love to hear your perspective if you have the time...

This is something that I have been thinking about for some time. In relationships, friendships, family relations etc.

Do you often feel like you are:

A. always reaching out
B. never reaching out
C. meeting in the middle

Do these feelings get to you? Whose "job" is it to reach out?

In my opinion there needs to be balance. I have experienced all of the scenarios that I have listed above. It seems to work best when the relationship uses option C. Otherwise there is too much strain on one member of the relationship, which slowly generates some form of resentment. Not necessarily always noticed by the other member of the relationship depending on how strong the resentment is, or how the relationship has been built over time.

(...still my opinion) In the end the best option is to reach out to those who you truly love and who help you to grow to become better people, when this happens, I find that option C seems very natural.

Just some food for thought. I hope that in all of the relationships in my life I can work to move all of those to option C...however, there is only so much that one party can do since communication takes 2 people.

I am going to try~