Beans & Hot Rolls

Back when I was little, and maybe even on to the years when she lived in Littlefield, Mom had a schedule. Not the daytimer kind of schedule that a lot of us keep today, but a certain day of the week was set aside for specific chores. Maybe it was because that was the way she grew up (as Grandma Lofgreen talked to me about having scheduled chore days), but I know that Mom loved order in things. She liked knowing there was a plan to follow, and she was very obedient about following it. (Hmmm...this could be likened to her spirituality as well.) There was wash day, ironing & mending day, cleaning day, Primary day & Relief Society day (way before the block meetings), shopping & errand day, etc. My favorite day was wash day! That warm, moist, Tide suds & Clorox scented air that wafted off the back porch where the wringer washer was doing it's thump-swish, thump-swish. Watching her hook the clothes on a water-logged, bleached-white, sturdy stick and lift them to the wringer, catching them on the opposite side with her other work-loved hand. I enjoyed seeing the clothes on the line - where she had so neatly hung them - dancing gently in the breeze against a bright blue sky. But, mostly I loved knowing what was coming for supper that night! Early that morning before sorting the laundry, Mom (sometimes with help from one of us kids) would sort pinto beans...putting them on the counter and picking out the tiny rocks before rinsing the beans and putting them in a big pot on the stove to cook all day so they would be nice and tender for supper. But that wasn't all - there were those wonderful, yeasty, melt-in-your-mouth hot rolls with homemade butter to go on them! I can almost smell them baking, and my mouth is watering just thinking about them! Warm, simple, tasty and filling! And, because Mom had a plan and followed it, she didn't have to worry about interrupting her busy day to stop and fix supper for a hungry family!