Pharm Girl

What Would You Do?

2012-01-27T14:07:00.000-05:00

As I drive for work making deliveries hither & yon, I see a lot of interesting things. Believe me, I see a lot. I see nose-pickers, texters, broken down vehicles, hitchhikers, divas singing their hearts out, & truck drivers who honk & wave at every female. It can be quite a show, let me tell you!

Today I took a little 145 mile round trip & I saw several things.

I saw the bottom of my coffee cup WAY before I wanted to. I think I was only about 20 minutes into the drive. So very sad...

Then I saw this. The contents of a truck strewn all over the median. It must have been a couple pallets of copy paper. I could see the pallets, the paper, & the broken cases. This is definitely the evidence of someone's bad day.

Then I saw these two lovelies. You know the day is a stinker when your truck is twisted up or just mudded into the median. Bad day, bad day, bad day...I'm ever grateful that the vehicle I drive for work is just a Pontiac Vibe. I don't think I could handle one of these big mamas. I would end up in the median A LOT!

But the most perplexing thing I saw today I couldn't get a picture of. It happened too fast & I would have had to pick my jaw up off of the floor. I was tooling along, minding my own business when I glimpsed a black conversion van coming up on my left side to pass. I glanced up as the van drew even with me & saw an Amish woman in the passenger seat holding a baby. Yep, I said she was HOLDING a baby. She was reading the child a book. I couldn't believe my eyes. They drove right on by & I wondered if there was anything I should do? I checked my speedometer & I had my cruise control set on 71 mph. The speed limit was 65. That van passed me in a matter of seconds so I'm going to guess that he had to be going at least 10 miles per hour over the limit. I called my mom because that's what moms are for. I asked, "Should I call 911? What would the police do?" We discussed it & decided that there really wasn't anything we could do. I was afraid that if I did call the police that they would call social services or something & I don't want to be responsible for anything crazy going down. But my conscience was really troubled because that baby was definitely in a dangerous position. The van had Ohio plates so they had already covered some major ground today because they passed me in Illinois. The whole situation just left me feeling *ugh*

What would you have done? Anything or nothing?

It's Never Boring In Our Neighborhood!

2012-01-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

I love our house. I even love where our house is situated in our town. We are about two blocks from my parents & only about 5 minutes away from Mike's parents. Unless there is a train. Then it's a whole different story, but either way, I love where we live.

There are a couple of drawbacks, though. Our house is situated in a funny way on our block. We are the only house that faces the side street so we kind of don't really have next door neighbors. The front of our house faces the side of the house across the street. The houses to the east & north face the back & side of our house. It's just kind of strange & as a result we haven't gotten to know our neighbors well.

In the course of our almost three years in our little house we have had two neighbors with pit bulls. The first pit has moved away & the other pit is still a puppy (but he sure doesn't look like one!). Our neighbors got this new pit just a few months ago. Since then we have noticed a lot more barking & growling, mostly done when this pit bull plays with the other dog that the neighbor family already had. Most of the time we try not to pay any attention to the noise. However, I got home from work on Monday & the noise was hard to ignore. We looked out of the kitchen window & this is what we saw:

Ever heard the expression 'tiny but mighty'? This little chihuahua really had no fear of those bigger dogs. The pit is the brown dog in the forefront. He had been barking so much that he had gone totally hoarse. And the spit...it was disgusting. He was foaming at the mouth he was so agitated!

And little chihuahua man put these guys through their paces!

He was running back & forth...

and then back & forth again!

His little snarly barks could hardly be heard over the big dogs.

I wish I was this fearless!

And then he did the unthinkable.

Mr. Chihuahua marked his territory on that telephone pole.

He hiked his little leg & I thought that the pit bull was going to have convulsions.

That little convulsive fit was all it took for him to figure out he could do this. He climbed up the corner of that fence & was outside of his yard before he knew he'd done it. It made me laugh right out loud because he hit the ground & then looked over both shoulders really quickly almost like he was thinking, "How did I get out here? Did anyone see how I did that?" Thankfully, Mr. Chihuahua was already gone.

Mike & I ran from the kitchen window to the front door so we could see what would happen next. Mike kept saying, "That pit will have him down in one bite!" I was pretty sure I didn't want to see that happen but I couldn't help myself from peeking out the windows!

This is our view from the front door right now. Remember how I said that our house faces the side of another house? This is the little driveway area they have behind their house. I'm not sure who is living there right now (if anyone). All I know is that just about every day a man in carharts, toting Mr. Chihuahua, drives this tractor & flatbed trailer to the house. He lets Mr. Chihuahua roam around while he loads furniture onto the trailer & then they drive away. I don't think it's slow motion burglary but who knows?! It's the oddest thing, for sure.

Anyway, when we got to the front of the house to see what was happening with the dogs, we saw the tractor driver just pulling out with a fresh load. He scooped Mr. Chihuahua up, zipped him into his carharts, hollered at the pit & drove away. We were so glad that Mr. Chihuahua did not become Big Doggie Dinner!

But now we have this pit roaming around free. He didn't seem to be a runner. He kept sniffing around within a one block radius. I thought our neighbors were home & I wanted to go over & tell them their dog was out but I couldn't get out of our house without him running at me rehearsing his barking & growling routine. I ended up calling animal control (where I was sent directly to voicemail, go figure) because it was right at the time when all of the neighborhood kids were getting off of the bus & walking home. We only have one or two kids in the neighborhood that we regularly see walking home from the bus. We camped out on the porch until we could see that they got home safely & then we called it a day on dog watch detail.

Later as I was fixing dinner I looked out of the kitchen window just in time to see our neighbor lead the dog back into their yard & then on in the house. It's funny, but I saw her look over both shoulders, too...almost as if she was thinking, "How did he get out? Did anyone see how he did that?"

Like I said, it's never boring in our neighborhood!

Countdown To Christmas!

2012-01-25T12:56:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if you noticed the date, but Christmas is exactly 11 months from today! Yeehaw!

I'm not really all that excited about Christmas yet. I'm just forcing it a bit so that maybe, just maybe I'll remember that one of my 12 goals for 2012 is to have all of our Christmas gifts purchased & wrapped by December 1st. This year I really want the gift giving thing to take a backseat to what should truly be in the spotlight, the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Who knew you could buy Christmas butter sculptures?
Evidently not many grocery shoppers because I found a bunch of
them displayed at a clearance price after Christmas!

Here's what I need from you all to help me reach my Christmas shopping goal - tell me all about your favorite etsy shops, your favorite DIY gift idea blogs, suggest your favorite people for me to follow on pinterest for inspiration...I need ideas for the young & old, the ones who have everything & those who need a little bit of everything. I love to choose gifts with intention & I love to give homemade gifts (that don't necessarily need to be homemade by me, therefore the request for etsy shops).

So unleash your vast treasures of shopping knowledge! I'm ready to get started!

Wintry Weather Blessings

2012-01-24T14:07:00.000-05:00

I tend to undervalue the winter season. I get my nose all out of joint because it gets cold, snowy, & icy. I can get downright pouty about it. But this weekend was a little different. Friday afternoon they were calling for a blast of wintry mix - cold winds, freezing rain, sleet, maybe some snow. That's not the type of stuff I like to mess with. Plus, I was feeling kind of not like myself with my messed up ribs. I got home from work, shut the front door, & didn't open it again until Saturday mid morning to check the mail. Mike & I totally hibernated in the house & I actually didn't get restless. It was wonderful. I should let myself enjoy down time like that a lot more often.

Friday night I spent a lot of time working on my quilt top. I have been working on this sucker for longer than I can even remember. It's downright embarrassing how long I have been messing with it. And I say 'messing' because what usually happens is I work on it, I make a huge mistake, I stuff it back in the cabinet for a year or so. Then I drag it back out. Rip out the mistake & fix it. Stuff it back in the cabinet. Repeat cycle. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does these kinds of things...

I determined Friday night that I was going to stick with it & get the top done. I hung in there & did get the whole thing sewn together. I was on row six or so when I realized why my quilt top did not look like the quilt top in the book. You see my squares with the red blocks? It's a little hard to tell from the picture because it's at an angle, but that is a nine square block. It's exactly the opposite of how it should be. The red should be the five squares & the white/red should be the four squares. Since I have it flipped there isn't actually a chain in my Irish Chain quilt. Huh. Perhaps I should pay more attention to detail? Mike says he likes it better this way anyway. He's a sweetheart. Then he promptly said it needs a red border. I slugged him. And then I agreed with him so that's my next step.

When I had done enough sewing that my eyes were starting to cross I dragged out one of Mike's spare plywood slabs (one perk of a wood working husband - there are always odds & ends of plywood lying around!) & I laid out a jigsaw puzzle. I'm not sure why, but puzzling has been kind of fun for me lately (insert old fogey joke here). I know that my nerd status has now been confirmed, as if there was ever any doubt! Over the course of the rest of the weekend I put this 500 piece bad boy together. It was nice looking at a springy scene while we were drenched in icy wetness. And I had to have something to do while Mike watched football!

Mike was not to be outdone by my craftiness & while I was sewing he finished up this Baby Bear Puzzle. Isn't he the cutest? This puzzle is exactly like one he made for our nephew for Christmas except it is much smaller. He has made three now that are all varying sizes; I call them the Papa, Mama, & Baby Bears. All we need now is a Goldilocks!

I'm thinking that these quiet tasks are really good for us right now. Especially me. I tend to hurry through everything, not at all taking the time to savor what I am doing. Puzzling & sewing cannot be hurried through. Not unless you want to make a lot of mistakes & I am hoping to be done with the sewing mistakes! And I'm supposed to be taking it easy so my ribs can heal. It's so hard for me to sit still but right now just toting laundry & pushing a grocery cart can make me uncomfortable. I'm glad I've found a couple of things to do that will keep my hands busy, keep my pace calmed, stimulate my brain waves, & fight off cabin fever.

What kinds of things do you do to keep yourself busy during the winter hours?

Young (At Heart) Love

2012-01-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was privileged to attend a lovely wedding.

It was a little bit different that your typical wedding.

First of all, it was held at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, sandwiched tightly between the morning service, nursing home service, & evening service.

Secondly, there was no large wedding party, just one best man & one best lady.

Third, the couple getting married belong to my grandparent's generation.

Fourth, it was simple, super sweet, & absolutely lovely.

And let's not forget - there was the obligatory 'oh no!' moment. They were lighting the unity candle & it simply refused to catch. They worked & worked at it while the musical number went from verse one into verse two. Then they just blew all the candles out & gave up while the audience tried not chuckle.

Isn't it true that no matter how thoroughly you plan, there will always be something that doesn't go quite right?!

Anyway, in the end they were still married up good!

There's the bride, Norma & the groom, John. The best lady is my second momma, Janet. She's the sweetest & looked super pretty in her sparkly red suit! The best man is no other than my handsome G-pa. I told him he looked handsome up there & his response was, "I just tried to look natural, you know, just being who I am." He's adorable.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. John!

I love stories like this. Sometimes I think we get into a habit of thinking where we are at is where we will always be. When John & Norma lost their spouses in the last few years the Lord wasn't done with their love lives! The Lord is a long range planner & He is full of good ideas!

Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

2012-01-20T14:16:00.000-05:00

No, that title is not a personal testimony.

It's the title of a documentary film about this guy from Australia:

Joe Cross

I don't know if you have ever heard the term 'reboot' in relation to your health & your diet. It was a new one on me until about a week ago. One of my friends on instagram posted a pic of all this beautiful looking fruits & veggies & said that it was all for her 'reboot'. When I inquired what she meant she referred me to this documentary film.

Basically the story goes like this: Mr. Cross is overweight, has high blood pressure & an autoimmune disease of the skin that is driving him nuts. He takes scads of prescription drugs, doesn't feel good, & is mired in bad eating habits. He decides something has to change & under the direction of a doctor he undergoes 60 days of 'rebooting'. During the reboot all he has to eat is fruit & vegetable juice. Other than that all he has to drink is water. After the sixty days was up he had lost a considerable amount of weight (if I recall correctly it was in the neighborhood of 100 pounds), his health problems were resolved and his autoimmune disease was in remission as well. He no longer needed the prescription drugs & of course, his energy level was higher & he felt better. During his reboot he traveled all around the United States & Australia talking with people about health & diet. A couple of other people reboot along with him & share their experiences. I found it very interesting that whoever he talked to that was overweight took full responsibility for their weight problems - not one of them blamed their extra pounds on the stress of their job or lack of time to exercise, etc. No excuses were offered. I thought that it was really interesting that there wasn't any blame shifting going on!

I find this rebooting notion to be very interesting. So many of us struggle with weight issues & wanting to reset our eating habits. I wonder if taking time from regular eating by doing a reboot of fruit & vegetable juicing could be the extra boost some of us need to tame our sweet tooth or retrain our taste buds - you know, truly change our habits. I don't think there is any way I would participate in a sixty day reboot. But I find myself pondering a week to 10 days kind of deal. It makes sense to me that it would be a good vacation for my digestive system as well. I've done a little bit of looking around at the cost of a juicer...it seems that it would require about $150. That's a little (or let's be honest, way) out of budget right now, but it might be something to save for.

What do you think? Do you think it's a wacky idea? Do you think it's interesting? Would you ever consider a juice fast? Have you already done one?

I'm dying to know what you think! This film is on Netflix if it strikes you as interesting enough to watch.

Breathing A Sigh of Relief

2012-01-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had to go to the doctor. I had finally reached the point.

I had suffered though a really bad round of upper respiratory/sinus infection plus laryngitis plus a cough. I took my antibiotics according to the directions, used my sinus wash stuff, tried to get some extra sleep, & only worked out with Jillian once so that I could get some extra rest.

And things seemed pretty good. I felt like it was taking a long time to get back to normal (especially with my voice) but I felt like I was getting there. Until about a week ago when something completely different flared up.

I don't remember exactly when it started but I think it was shortly after the Jillian Encounter. I had the requisite soreness of trying a new workout but there was something else. I had this persistent pain in my right side at the base of my ribs. At the same time I was kind of having a stomach flare up with some massive acid reflux/heartburn issues. I was feeling a little uncomfortable & thinking maybe I had just super colossal gas (I know...I shouldn't mention it, but we all have it! so I'm not afraid to bring it up *burp*). Anyway, I dosed myself with some Gas*X, cut out the gum chewing, raw vegetables, & soda. To no avail. The pain just stayed with me & I was getting frustrated.

Yesterday morning I had a worse frog in my throat so I was doing more coughing & throat clearing. It all made my side really cranky & achy. I decided I'd had enough pain, enough screaming when Mike hugged me, & enough not being able to sleep on my right side so I called the doctor. The secretary asked me what I needed & explained that I had a pain in my right side. She asked if I still had my appendix. I do. Had I been nauseous? Yes, I had due to the reflux. Had I been running a fever? No. Did I still have my gall bladder? No, it's been gone almost two years.

It was obvious that she was worried about my appendix so I got a call back with an appointment within 15 minutes. This left me a little nervous. I hadn't even thought about my appendix!

So then the mental Olympics began. You know the drill...there's a rational voice in your mind. In this case it was saying, Seriously? You're not really sick. There's no way you have appendicitis! Then there's the crazy lady voice. She's the one who says, It's probably not appendicitis, but what if IT IS? You'll have to have surgery TONIGHT! You won't be able to go home & get your "Fear Not" book of Bible verses that you used on the day of your gall bladder surgery! You'd better check your desk & make sure you have everything caught up or you'll get in trouble at work because if you have surgery you'll be gone for at least a week. Think of all that paid time off you're going to blow through! Oh.my.goodness.

That crazy voice lady sure has a lot to say. She has major problems.

But I hope you understand what I mean...it's so easy to let the possibilities of a situation just run away with you & steal all of your joy & peace.

So I prayed & let the Lord shut her up.

And it turns out that I just have strained/sprained/possibly cracked ribs. No biggie. I just need to wait it out, take some steroids to help them heal, & lay off the exercise until the pain is gone.

*Whew* Sometimes it's just no biggie, nothing to worry about!

Getting My Soup On!

2012-01-18T13:03:00.003-05:00

You guys already know I've been itching to try my hand at some homemade soup. I'm so thankful for the comments you all left on my last soup-themed post. They helped me realize this is not rocket science; it's soup making. So, I did a little internet poking & along with the hints you gave me I spent a very productive afternoon in the kitchen yesterday.
Small confession: part of the reason I was really wanting to make some soup is that Mike got me a super nice stock pot & I was dying to use it! He is so funny; he is such a good gift giver. I mentioned to him after Christmas that I would like a stock pot & I didn't even have a super concrete reason for wanting it. I think I said something like, 'you know, I could make soup or something.' Maybe a week later a box got delivered in the mail & what did I find inside but a lovely stock pot. I guess he likes to eat so he's going to do whatever he can to keep me cooking!
We had invited our friend Autumn over for dinner last night. She purchased an antique wardrobe almost two years ago and Mike was supposed to help her rework part of it. I figured the wardrobe work called for a hearty dinner beforehand & I quickly decided that it would be the perfect night to roll out a pot of hot homemade chicken noodle soup! Autumn is a champ; she didn't mind being a guinea pig in the least.

When I got home from work I pulled out my package of chicken necks & backs (from Joyce's farm!), some carrots, celery, a big white onion, a whole head of garlic (can you ever have too much?!), thyme, rosemary, sage, & black peppercorns. I also threw in several chicken breasts. We (aka Mike) are a bit picky & won't eat dark meat or meat off of the bones. I was going to need the chicken breasts for the soup so I just threw them in here to cook. I covered it all up with water, threw the lid on, & let it simmer for just over an hour.

While the pot was simmering away I took that hour to make some noodles. If you have never tried to make homemade noodles before, you must try it as soon as possible! It's so easy. And they are so.good. My G-ma taught me to make noodles when I was like 12 years old, so believe me, you can totally learn how to do it! This was my first experience making them with white hard wheat whole wheat flour. They were a little different but we liked them.

I also took that time to whip out my other super gifts from Mike (this was kinda sorta part of my Christmas). I really wanted a glass bowl for my KitchenAid. I really wanted to be able to stick the bowl in the microwave to soften butter, etc. Also, I thought it would be really handy to have an extra bowl for the mixer on busy baking/cooking days. Mike also got me this paddle attachment that has a spatula-like scraper on one side. It's super handy! And they both worked like a champ to help me whip up a batch of granola bars.

And then we sat down to eat a bowl of soup. I was a little nervous. Truthfully, I'm not a huge chicken noodle soup fan (it has something to do with being sick in college & being fed chicken noodle soup daily for days on end). And Autumn had confessed that she didn't love it much either but most of her experience had been with canned chicken noodle soup. At least it looked pretty in the bowl! And Autumn had brought fabulous yeast rolls so we knew we wouldn't go completely hungry.

And I'm thankful to report that it was a success! Mike really liked it & Autumn & I were surprised by how much we liked it, too. I even ate some of the leftovers for lunch today; I think it was even yummier than last night. And I have three packages of leftover stock in the freezer just waiting for an opportunity to be used. Definitely cooking time well spent!

Thanks again for all of your tips & encouragement. Now I'm doing a little thinking about a beef vegetable soup...any thoughts? :-)

Reflections On Humiliation

2012-01-17T13:36:00.000-05:00

Whatcha Gonna Do?

I have been that girl. You know the one - she doesn't realize she just made an inappropriate joke, or she has a huge bright red zit on the tip of her nose, or while playing her clarinet she let out a squawk that sounded like a goose, or she ran into the doorway on her way out of the room - yep, I have been that girl. MANY times. You would think that each time such a silly screw up occurs that I would get less bothered by it. But you know what, I still get bothered. I'm pretty sure it's not something I'm going to grow out of. That's why I try to think before I speak (and think & think & think), it's why I use expensive skin care, practice my clarinet, & really try hard to watch where I'm going.

I finally figured something out. The reason why these little glitches bother me is because they leave me feeling humiliated.

hu·mil·i·a·tion

the state or feeling of being humiliated; mortification

Synonyms include degradation & dishonor.

These are not good feelings, my friend.

Except for one little thing. These feelings hit when my pride has been stomped. Huh. As a child of God I'm supposed to be laying aside my pride at every opportunity. Dying to myself & choosing to endure some discomfort if that's what it takes.

Well, let me tell you, the dear Lord finds all sorts of ways to slip these opportunities into my life. I'm extremely grateful that He lays some ground work in my heart (most of the time) so that although my pride will be stung, my heart will be drawn closer to Him.

Just such an occasion took place this past Sunday morning. My momma & I were supposed to sing a duet in the morning worship service. You all know I've been struggling with laryngitis & the vocal snack, crackle, pops lately. I was hopeful that my voice would hold together for us to be able to sing. We practiced a simple but beloved hymn, Be Still My Soul, & prayed for the best. Momma had a short solo to sing in the choir selection too so she had a lot to get right.

*Tiny disclaimer: I enjoy singing. Singing in front of the church is a bit of a stretch for me though. Most of all, I want to serve the Lord. I sing because it's a way for me to serve Him.

Choir number is over, the offering is taken & it's our cue to sing before the sermon. We get about halfway through the first verse & I've only warbled a little but Momma opens her mouth & nothing comes out. I panicked a bit. I had enough voice to sing the lower alto part but I had nothing to give in the higher registers. If I had a really good ear I suppose I could have sung the melody an octave lower but I don't have a really good ear. Suffice it to say we struggled through three verses with her voice fading in & out & some warbles & cracks from me. As we walked back to our seats the church was quiet as a tomb.

And I felt a little humiliated. And Momma was very upset. We still don't really know what happened to her voice. You know, it doesn't really matter. When we prayed about what to sing & considered the words to the hymn that's what was really important. The lyrics - they were strong words of love, encouragement, & peace. As I reflected on that truth quietly whispered to my cringing heart I felt the humiliation fade away. We had given our best, our desire was to encourage & uplift those who were listening & offer a sacrifice of praise & service to the Lord. Did we do it perfectly? Oh, no way Jose'. But I don't think that is the point, do you? And isn't there such freedom in that truth?

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;

break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Psalm 98:4

I Guess I'm Not Too Highly Principled After All

2012-01-16T14:45:00.001-05:00

My Mason Money Jars of Motivation!

I like to think of myself as one who esteems the values of honesty, trustworthiness, decency... all those good morals that our parents tried to instill in us.

But I have this problem with laziness occasionally. Sometimes I even let busyness creep in & keep me from being diligent & disciplined about things that I should be diligent & disciplined about - like some of my 12 for 2012.

We are now two weeks into the new year. I have to say that I am doing fairly well with my exercise goals. I would like to say that I doing just as well with my eating habits but I am trying to quit lying this year. It's my trade off because I now accept bribes. Yep, bribes in the form of cold hard cash have found a way into my life. Now you understand why I have no room in my life for lying. Only one vice at a time, thank you very much.

Via Pinterest, I found a little blip from www.womenshealthmag.com that suggested setting yourself up a little jar for bribery payment. You see, every time I work out for 15 minutes I get a quarter. All that moola goes into the jar on the right. After I set that jar up & saw the cash laying in there I got to thinking that maybe I need to add another jar...the jar on the left is for house cleaning. I kinda hate to spend my free time dusting, sweeping, doing dishes, mopping, etc. But it has to be done & it should be done regularly. As in at least a full go of it every two weeks (I hope you don't think we're dirty). Anyway, I decided that each house cleaning earned me $1 (my sister says I should get a lot more; I like the way she thinks!). I've also been toying with the idea of paying myself $1 into that jar every time I get eight hours of sleep. It's another area I struggle with & cash is a powerful motivator!

I'm not sure what I'll do with the money or when I'll do it...suggestions are welcome! Also, share if you have other ways of tricking yourself into doing things that should be done. After all, we're all here to help each other, right? :-)

You Wanna Know What I Think?

2012-01-12T14:07:00.000-05:00

This is what is going on right now outside my window. Yep, winter has arrived. I'm trying to comfort myself with some positive thoughts. Here's what I think about snow:
Snow is supposed to happen in January. We have enjoyed some freakishly warm days recently. But it has been a bit freakish. I do like things to be the way they are supposed to be. It helps allay my fears of a zombie apocalypse.
Snow can be pretty. In that short maybe two hour long span before it gets all muddied up by cars it's actually kind of pretty. I love how the whiteness of it steals the darkness from the night. I love how the fluffiness of it puts a muffler on the noise of the world.
But as you all know, I hate driving in it. And I just found out that I will be making a two hour run first thing in the morning. Boo.

You also wanna know what I think about Thursdays? They are the second Monday of the week. If there is a day during the week when I will oversleep & not even have time to do my hair, it's most likely a Thursday. If there is a day of the week when I feel like I've been hit by a truck, it's either Monday or his cousin, the second Monday, a.k.a. Thursday. I'm not sure if it's because it's toward the end of the week or because I'm always out late on Wednesday night for Bible Study & choir practice or what, but Thursdays can be a little rough in these parts.

Speaking of rough, I invited Jillian Michaels over to my house yesterday. I thought it might be fun to work out together. Yeah, not so much. When I wasn't looking she must have been hitting me with a stick because I am all kinds of sore today like I've been beaten up. That probably means I got a good work out, but I'm not sure that I want to be friends with her. She's mean.

And you wanna know what I think about the awful respiratory infection/sinus infection/laryngitis that I've had? It totally stinks. My body still wants about nine hours of sleep every night (ain't gonna happen), my voice still squeaks & pops like crazy, & I'm still snotty (sorry I had to say that).

But I have graduated from this mess of therapy to just using a little sinus rinse thing that is like a neti pot. Have any of you ever used one? I was so miserable with congestion that I went looking for anything that I thought might help. Yes, I know that some people in Louisiana died from a soft tissue eating bacterial infection from using this type of thing. But they were also using tap water & I use distilled water. Evidently that's a big deal, huh?

I'm praying I can over this residual yuckiness before Sunday. My mom & I are supposed to sing & it's going to be funny if I snap, crackle, pop my way through the song!

So, that's what I think...what's on your mind?

*Think you all so much for your soup making tips! I think I will have a chance to do some experimenting this weekend. If I do, I'll let you know how it goes!

Soup

2012-01-11T13:51:00.001-05:00

This was my yummy lunch today.

Winter is here. It's gray. It's wet. It's cold. It's blustery.

Perfect soup eating weather!

Can you tell I'm trying to look for the positives in this winter situation we have?!

I tried a new soup for lunch today. It's far healthier than my usual Campbell's kind of soup. I checked out the label before I bought it & was happy to see that it contained no weird things I couldn't understand, all the ingredients were organic, & there was no added sugar or salt. Win! Then as I compulsively placed it in my grocery cart I checked the price. Fail! So my pantry still holds several of those red & white cans. When I read the labels I'm just blown away by the sodium & the sugar. But the convenience is so fabulous...& their soups have the flavor my palette is accustomed to...their soup is fairly inexpensive & widely available...

But all those excuses do not really make up for the fact that these processed soups do not meet up with my intentions for this year. I need to remember my 12 for 2012! I was thinking that in pursuit of my goals regarding eating more healthful, unprocessed foods I need to try making my own soup.

I have tried soup making in the past with moderate success. I make a mean chili (with pumpkin!), creamy vegetable chowder, & beef stew. The problem is, all of these recipes make a huge batch & I know for certain that the vegetable chowder does not freeze well (you can take my word on it *shudder*). I'm mostly interested in some soups that I can make a smallish batch (hopefully in the crock pot), portion out & then take to work for my lunch.

I am also interested in making my own stock for the soups. I have a package of local free range chicken necks & backs in my freezer right now. Doesn't that just sound awful - necks & backs?! Anyway, I was assured they were great for making chicken soup. Problem is, I don't really know what to do with it & what to add to it & how to do it...

And to take things even one step further into unknown territory for me, I would like to start using dried beans instead of canned beans. Once again, I'm just not sure how to approach it.

I know that I can probably find all the answers I'm looking for plus a whole lot more if I just did a big swagbucks search & waded through the plethora of information out there on the internet.

But before I do that, I kinda just want to ask you guys instead *grin*
So hit me! Tell me all that you know about soup making!

Wrapping It Up!

2012-01-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I know I'm bad about not giving you the rest of the story...wrapping up all the loose ends. A long time ago I signed up for an international craft swap. I told you all about how you could sign up, too. Then I asked you what I should make & then I told you what I made & then I sent it off without showing you a single pic because Mike had it all packaged up & ready to go before I could blink. He's handy like that.
Anyway, I never showed you what I received. And it was such an exciting package - all the way from Australia!

Zoe was the organizer of the swap & she ended up sending a package to me because my original swapper had to drop out of the swap due to some extenuating circumstances. Zoe did not disappoint me! She made me a wonderful colorful zipper pouch & an adorable, delicate cross stitch heart brooch. The pouch happily resides in the new purse I got for Christmas & the brooch is on the collar of my coat.

I love the color on my gray coat. I think it really pops. And since Valentine's Day is coming right up, the hearts are in perfect season!

*Here's a link to Zoe's Etsy shop. In case you have any shopping to do :-)

2012-01-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, everybody!

I know, I'm a little late getting this greeting out. You know, I just struggle with New Year's every year. It's a little weird, I suppose.

The holidays this year were rough. I had laryngitis, a sinus infection, a chest cold, & a generally cranky disposition which stubbornly refused to allow me to go to the doctor until January 1st when our health insurance benefits renewed. One course of antibiotics later I'm feeling better but I'm still having a lot of trouble with my voice. On Christmas Eve all I could do was whisper & even that wasn't comfortable (my brother kept saying, "It's a Christmas miracle!" ha.ha.). I've come a long way since then but I still squeak, squawk, & cannot sing a note. On nights when I don't get 8-9 hours of sleep I feel like a Mack truck has hit me. Thankfully we were on vacation the week between Christmas & New Year's & didn't really have big plans. We went to bed when we wanted, got up without an alarm & just enjoyed the time off as best as we could with me hicking, hacking, squeaking, & squawking!

On New Year's Eve I didn't even stay up until midnight. I feel asleep & then was awoken by neighbors shooting off fireworks at about five til midnight. I woke up long enough to give Mike a squeeze, a Happy New Year! & then I went right back to sleep.

I've never been a big fan of New Year's. I'm not usually a pessimistic person, but even when I was a kid I struggled with New Year's being a time to reflect on all the things that were NOT accomplished, the goals NOT reached, the time LOST. I was a real Debbie Downer. And if I'm not careful, I fall into that trap year after year. This year I did fairly well, not really fussing over resolutions or being overly sensitive about the time going by...after all January 1st is just another day on the calendar. But I did have a small panic attack on Monday, January 2nd. Mike & I were trying to make the most of our last vacay day. I was picking up the house since I had neglected most chores over our time off & my illness. I just had this cold wave come over me while I was sorting laundry...2012 could be the year that my job goes away, that my precious G's move on from this world, that other major health issues in my family could flare, that Mike & I somehow fall apart...it's a whole new year of whatever bad could happen.
I know this is NOT how I'm supposed to be thinking. I am so grateful Mike was there & that he had all the wise, godly things to say to me - the Lord is in control, He always works for our good, He always strengthens us for the circumstances He gives us, God can be trusted - even with those that we love.
And so since my little meltdown I've been trying to refocus my mind on some of the positive, wonderful things that 2012 can bring. And I've been praying for the Lord to direct my goal setting. After all, it's so not about me & what I want to accomplish.

I'm so clever I've come up with 12 for 2012!
*I've been praying about a focus word. A word that will help me in my spiritual growth. This year for me the Lord has made it clear that I need to focus on obedience. I more than a little bit addicted to my own comfort & I have been more than willing to allow my fears to keep from from obeying. It's going to be an interesting year.
*Last year I started reading my Bible through following the chronological schedule. It's been interesting & given me a different perspective on Bible history. I'm loving it & this year I want to finish it - get the whole thing read!
*This year's holiday scene was a little hectic & harried. Last minute shopping, gift wrapping, illness, the whole gamut of little stresses. So Mike & I decided that we wanted to have Christmas all wrapped up by December 1st. Every gift selected, purchased, & wrapped. I think we can do it. We also want to incorporate more handmade gifts & more etsy purchased gifts.
*Last Friday night we had my sister's family & a couple of friends over for dinner & fun. It had been a very long time since we had opened our home up for hospitality. It.was.so.fun. I feel like we need to do this on a regular basis. My little brain is already spinning with ideas for who to invite, menus to fix, & activities to take part in. I'm hoping that we can do this at least monthly.
*Since we so enjoyed our accidental tomato plants this past summer, I really want to put in a small garden this year. It's going to take some sweet talking on my part to get Mike fully on board but I think we can handle tomatoes, green beans, & zucchini at least.
*I need to strengthen my sewing skills. Years ago I started this quilt. I work on it little by little & yet I still don't have the top pieced. And it's a pattern from a book of 'weekend quilts' HA! Anyway, I want to finish that bad boy this year.
*I want to expand my reading horizons. I'm a big reader; I don't think there is any better way to fall asleep than to drift off while reading a book. So I usually read a little bit every day. But I get in ruts of fiction. I do love a good story. But I'm thinking it could be very beneficial for me to take some time reading some nonfiction. I am curious about many things & you're never too old to learn something new, right?
*I would like to continue making changes in our diet so that we are consuming fewer processed foods. I need to get back into the habit of making more things myself - like granola bars for example. Also, I would like to learn more about soaking grains. Any of my readers know about the process? Any of you do it on a regular basis? It's one of those things I'm curious about...
*Of course we have financial goals. We are almost out of the debt black hole. Once we are in the clear there we need to make some concrete goals for saving. We also need to be intentional with our spending & track the money as it flies out of our account.
*And of course there are some fitness goals I'd like to reach. I've found some extra weight since we got married (it's a normal thing to do but I am not sure I like being so normal!). Also, I'm not training for the Indy Mini this year so I'm going to have to be very dedicated to working out. I am thinking over several tactics to keep my hiney in gear. I'm thinking that will be another post where you all can leave me tips for how you keep yourself in gear! And it's not just going to be accomplished with exercise. I seriously need to tame my sweet tooth & my inner snacker. They have become vicious monsters.
*I would like to have a little less tv/computer/iphone time. All that screen time tends to make me a bit inattentive to the people around me. Mike & I are not big tv watchers but the computer & definitely the iphones get a little too much love. Instead of the screen time I'd like to have more play time, more sleep, more conversation...doesn't that sound great?
*And of course I'd like to blog more regularly. It seems that most of the time I have something I want to say or something I want to post so that I can remember it. This is a wonderful life the Lord has given me & I so want to document His goodness to me. And the funny stuff. Because there always seems to be some funny stuff :-)

So there you have it! My short, concise list of 12 goals for 2012!

If you made it all the way through this long, pictureless, rambling post - bless.your.heart.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T12:56:00.002-05:00

I've decided that I don't like getting old

(right now you're thinking, 'what does that have to do with Christmas? she should be writing a post about Christmas...after all it IS Christmas Eve Eve & she has a pic of their Christmas tree at the beginning of the post...' Hang on, I'll get there).

Several things with me have changed over the last couple of years & I'm sure that's it is completely related to the aging process. Which is inevitable, stinky, & way too quick to happen.

First of all, I have so much to do & I never seem to get it all done. Back when my world was school, family activities & a few church activities I had all the extra time in the world. I could read, play, watch an entire movie in one sitting without falling asleep...I had no idea how good I had it.

Secondly, I just plain old felt better. I think it might have to do with the amount of sleep I used to get as a kid. As a grown up with that never ending to do list I get less & less sleep. And that makes me feel tired, old, & occasionally cranky. I know, that cranky part is hard to believe!

Thirdly, I feel too much. As in, I cry at the drop of a hat. It's actually kind of pathetic. I'm not sure what has happened to my emotions but they have definitely gone into hyper sensitive mode. And no, this is not a pregnancy announcement. Here's an example of what I'm talking about: I was thoroughly excited about our church's children's Christmas program. I just love to see them singing their songs & doing their thing. Then I sat in the pew & fought tears the entire time. *sigh* It just does something to my heart to see those kids singing & talking about Jesus's birth.

And then there's the Christmas music. "O Holy Night" is my all time absolute favorite. The second verse says:

The king of kings lay thus in lowly manger

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our needs

To our weakness He's no stranger...

It gets me every time. If I even try to sing along my voice goes all warble-y. The almighty Creator born of a woman in order to be my friend...to become akin to my frail weakness...to understand my needs - especially my need of a Savior. I am overwhelmed. I am humbled. And I am filled with such gratitude. Where would I be without my Jesus?

And let's not forget to mention the Christmas gatherings with the family. Mike & I will be running all over town to visit family here & there. My crazy, fabulous family. Mike's incredibly loving family. Can a heart burst? Seriously, I think I might be going nuts. I just want to wrap them all up in a big hug & keep them with me all.the.time. When I contemplate families separated by geographical distance or broken relationships, guess what? I get teary. I could literally bawl at the thought. And those commercials of soldiers sending greetings home? I'm a goner...get me a tissue...or a whole box.

So, I'm fixing to blubber my way through Christmas. I'm going to be carrying around a heart full of raw emotion - love, gratitude, joy...it's going to be great!

I wish God's best blessing on your Christmas! And as always, thank you so much for meeting with me here in this little blog spot. It means a lot to me...*sniff, sob*

Gotcha :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T22:14:00.001-05:00

I've been in hiding for a while. No good reason...just didn't have much to say (for once!) & very little time to say it in (which means I'd get my post all goofed up anyway).

But it's Thanksgiving. And that means I have a lot to say. And a lot to show you. Fasten your seat belt - I'm going to blow your socks off! I have never uploaded this many pics to a post before ever in my little bloggy life. Thanksgiving deserves a little wow factor, don't you think?

I haven't been posting daily what I am thankful for, not even on facebook where it is so easy to jot down a little blurb. I have so enjoyed reading all the other thankful statuses, though. I've just been ruminating on all my blessings, enjoying them in my head & trying to order them up so that I can share them in a way that makes sense *grin* Here we go!

I thank God for saving my soul.
I don't know where I'd be without Him.
I have a sneaking suspicion it would be
somewhere with locked doors & white jackets.
For reals.

I am thankful for God's Word. It is a treasure.
And I am thankful for the many good books that help me to study my Bible.
This year I read two books,
"Choosing Forgiveness" & "Choosing Gratitude"
Life.Changing.

I thank God for Michael.
I didn't know what this kind of love would be like,
but it's very, very good.

My family.
What a beautiful, crazy, wonderful mess we are.
I wouldn't trade any of them for all the riches in this world.

Every once in a while I get a little panicked.
The world is a disaster zone -
economic crisis, revolution, war, orphans, terrorists...
Then I witness moments like this -
four little girls singing their hearts out with love for Jesus.
And I have hope.
Thank God for hope.

Thank God for home.
A place for the sunlight to stream in.
A place to create - ornaments, sewing projects, what-have-yous...
A stocked pantry with more food than we should eat.
Blessed.

Thank God for our truck.
It was a desire of Mike's heart to have a truck.
It was a need.
Here is our answer to prayer.
Thank God for meeting our needs & satisfying our desires.

Thank God for my job.
This is my little lab office - the laminar flow hood where I draw doses.
I'm grateful I have a place to work & a reasonable amount of skill to do the job.

Thank God for technology.
I love my iphone.
I love my ipod.
My iphone helps me stay connected & entertained.
My ipod keeps me company on the many road trips I take for work.

Thank God for friends.
And we are talking the good kinds of friends -
the kind that will tell you when you look pretty but also
tell you when you act ugly.
Iron sharpening iron...

I thank God for my health.
There are days when I feel 'off' but I am a healthy girl.
I thank God that I can get out & run & get this happy glow.

Thank God for flowers.
Their beauty is beyond comparison, and such variety!

Thank God for dogs.
Especially Coco.
Where else can you get such unabashed adoration?

Thank God for my G's.
These two are cute, wise, fabulous, & they love God.
Thank God for a heritage in my family that honors Him.
T

Thank God for a quiet place of refuge - our cozy bed.
It's an excellent place to escape to.

Speaking of escape, thank God for good stories.
There's nothing quite letting the words of a story
create an entire universe in your mind.

Thank God for coffee & the gift of a coffee grinder.
I love me some hot brew; it always hits the spot!

Thank God for functional plumbing & hopefully the end of our disastrous sewer saga.
I hope I have learned to be thankful for clean water & properly flowing pipes.
It's not a small thing.
Thank God for air conditioning. This old window unit isn't pretty, but it came
with the house & it works like a champ.

Thank God for the seasons.
I like to gripe about winter.
But the truth is, it if were gone for good & never came back,
I would feel like my world was missing something.
So I'm grateful for the changing of the seasons.
I am grateful for the full color illustration it presents of the Lord's faithfulness.

It probably seems goofy, but I thank the Lord for this file box.
It wasn't expensive.
It isn't fancy.
But it allows me to keep my sanity in a clutter challenged home.
And for that I am grateful.

This is a pic of my migraine eyes.
This summer I looked like this A LOT.
It was hard for me to deal with.
And yet I thank God for it because that crazy cluster of awful headaches
caused me to learn many things about my God.
He is good all the time.
He will not leave me alone in my suffering.
He has a purpose for all that He does & allows.
He will provide what I need in every situation.
And.So.Much.More.

As I was drawing up my list of gratitude, I had to include many more things...
*my church & faithful pastor
*my country - what a blessing to be free!
*opportunities to grow & be stretched - October Unprocessed & the Indy Mini come to mind
*music...it colors my every day, filling my mind with happy thoughts & drawing my heart to God's
*imagination, the ability to dream, pretend, make believe
*opportunities to serve, to give, to help, to live outside of myself
*safety from day to day

There's no doubt the blessings have been flowing down on my life. I cannot live one day without praise to the Lord for all He has done for me. And I feel challenged by all of this goodness. Did the Lord give me salvation so that I alone could enjoy it? Did He give me peace, joy, love, a warm home, financial stability, a family, & so many other things so that I could thank Him & then sit back to soak up the enjoyment? I'm starting not to think so. These blessings are not meant to make me comfy & cozy & set me up for a nice little life. No. I'm thinking the Lord has blessed me so that I can learn to share those blessings with others. Share the Gospel. Share the fruits of the Spirit. Share the financial blessings, the warm home, learn how to be family for someone who doesn't have any...so much to think about.

And finally, I'm thankful for each one of YOU. A big, warm, Thanksgiving hug goes out from me to you. It means so much to me that you would choose to read my blog - there are zillions of other blogs out there that are more consistent, more entertaining, that have better pics, more profound or funnier thoughts, & way better giveaways...& yet here you are. You're the best. Thank you.

And,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday!

2011-11-02T14:33:00.000-04:00

Today is my sister Beth's birthday!

Beth is just 21 months older than me. She's been my best friend my whole life long (except for a little while in the junior high years when the hormones were running high & we both hated the whole wide world). I'm so grateful that the Lord put her in my life. She understands me, she makes me laugh, she teaches me stuff about the world & about God & about everything. She even reads this blog! I wouldn't be the same person without her.

I like her so much I'm going to make her a cake.

Happy birthday, Beth!

October Unprocessed - A Wrap Up

2011-11-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

Well, my first adventure with October Unprocessed has come to an end. It was an interesting experience. I definitely think I have learned a lot. I also think I cheated. A lot. As in at least a little bit every day. However, I can truthfully say that for the entire 31 days I did not partake of these processed foods:
*non-dairy coffee cream
*boxed cereal
*salad dressing
*soda (or any other processed drink or drink flavor packet; it was all tea, coffee, milk, or water)
*processed cheese
*seasoning packets
*tortillas
*fast food
*rice/pasta preseasoned packets
*canned soup
*crackers
*the good candy from my mom's pumpkin dish (think Snickers, Reeses cups, Hershey's Miniatures, Skittles, etc.)

And I could probably list some other things but that's all I can think of right now.

Some of the things I learned:
~ grating your own cheese is no big deal; then you don't have to worry about all the weird stuff they put in there to keep it from clumping
~ I used to think that giving up cereal would cause me all sorts of problems, i.e., I love cereal; what could I possibly eat instead?? Cereal has lots of fiber; I need lots of fiber to survive!
The truth is, there are lots of other things to eat besides boxed cereal. Most of the month I ate baked oatmeal but I also had lots of smoothies. Both of these alternatives were high in fiber & I suffered no adverse effects *ahem*
~ I really love smoothies! I'm not super adventurous with my ingredients but if you combine kefir, a little juice, frozen berries, spinach, & flax seed you're good to go!
~ I love natural peanut butter. I will not be going back.
~ I had to be super intentional about meal planning & snack planning. This type of eating does not happen naturally in our society, sad to say. Therefore, before grocery shopping I had to be really organized about what I was hoping to eat & then I also had to have a bit of a Plan B in case something that I thought was unprocessed was actually processed or just unavailable.
~ Canned beans are not a necessity. Soaking & cooking dry beans is no big deal. Once again, I have to be organized because soaking & cooking the beans takes a lot more time than cranking off the lid of a can.
~ It is very difficult to buy canned tomatoes that don't have stuff added. In fact, I was only able to find one brand that didn't have additives. This really makes me even more determined to have our own garden at some point & get into canning our own tomato products.
~ Condiments are tricky substances. We have a lot of work to do in this area.
~ I got tired of water. For the first time in my life I could hardly make myself drink it. I was really surprised by this because I drink water more than anything else. And all month long I continued to drink coffee (although I never really did get used to using real cream in my java). But I didn't have any, not even one little slurp of diet soda. I'm not a big time soda drinker, but I do like to have a couple every week in the evening. Of course this was when the water just didn't cut it. I tried a couple of different teas thinking that they would satisfy the craving but this just let me to discover that...
~ I do not like hot tea. Period. I tried & tried to like it but it just doesn't work. If I am sick I might sip a cup of hot tea but that's it. I will not try to continue to convince myself.
~ I didn't really miss salad dressing. There were several other easy options - I used my own combo of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, & spices, salsa, or cottage cheese. Easy & yummy.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something there too but this is getting long & I wanted to wrap up with some honesty.

Today is the first day off of the challenge & this is what I've eaten so far:
Luna Bar
milk
coffee (with nondairy creamer & raw sugar)
salad with romaine, spinach, Parmesan cheese, carrots, celery, & Catalina salad dressing
yogurt
applesauce (homemade with nothing but a few splashes of cider added to it)

So I'm definitely a hybrid eater. Some processed & some unprocessed. In a big way I need to inventory our pantry, freezer, & fridge to see what we have that should just be tossed & what we can finish up & just not buy again.

This challenge has been thought provoking & I hope life changing. For me it's all about making the baby steps, especially since Mike has to be on board with something this huge in our lives. I've done a lot of research this month. I've read a ton of interesting blog posts. Together Mike & I decided that we would rather buy local as much as possible, buy organic when we can, & pay our grocer rather than our doctor. It's going to involve training our taste buds to like things that taste a little different. It's going to involve adjusting our budget. It's going to affect where I shop, what recipes I use most often & how we plan our time (because I will be spending more time in the kitchen). But I think those are all good things.

What do you think? Are you impressed by my partial, failure ridden success *grin* Are you motivated to make any changes? Do you think I'm a crazy nut?

Today Feels Like A Day To...CELEBRATE!

2011-10-27T13:21:00.000-04:00

Today is October 27th. In my world that is a special date. Exactly four years ago today Mike & I went on our first date.

Tiny disclaimer: we segued from being friends to dating without the official Defining the Relationship Talk (something I thought was necessary from watching friends date at Northland). When trying to recall when our official first date was we kind of hit a stone wall. But I'm pretty sure it was October 27, 2007.

Anyway, that day was a Saturday. Mike had asked if I wanted to go get something to eat & see the movie "Dan In Real Life". Of course I said yes. I worked at my second job in a retail pharmacy all day that day. I got off in the late afternoon & had planned on going to visit two of my uncles who were unwell (one in the hospital & one in the nursing home). When I got off work I received a phone call from my mom that the uncle in the nursing home had actually gone home to be with the Lord earlier that afternoon. *sigh* I called Mike to tell him what had happened & that I just wasn't sure if I would be good company for the evening. He thought that maybe I should go visit Uncle Wayne like planned & then let him know for sure that I wasn't up for the evening out. Sure enough, I went to see Uncle Wayne & felt so refreshed by that little visit. So I called Mike, told him we were on for the evening & out we went!

I knew I would have fun with Mike. I always had fun with Mike. I just didn't know I would feel so comfortable, so able to truly be myself with him. We had dinner at one of those Mexican restaurants that we can never remember the name of. We refer to it as 'the Mexican restaurant where Schlotsky's Deli used to be.'

Exactly one year later, on October 27th, 2008 Mike asked me to marry him.

And the rest is history!

M&M

In Mike I have truly found the one the Lord made for me. I'm blessed beyond what I thought was possible (yeah, o me of little faith!). It's not always easy - the Lord has used marriage to show me so many character flaws that I was ignoring - but it is so definitely worth it.

How did you meet your One & Only? I love 'how we met' stories & engagement stories so it's time to spill it in the comments, people! Give me your stories!

Please?

Second Tiny Disclaimer: That is a super old pic, taken about 3 1/2 years ago. Don't we look young? And I love those glasses. Kept them & wore them until the leg broke off, literally. I wish I had them back. That's all. Over & out.

There's Some Good News & Some Bad News...

2011-10-21T14:34:00.000-04:00

This week has been a good & can I get a big Yee-to-the Haw! that today is Friday. I love the weekend. And it's almost here - that's some good news.

In other good news, I went to the dentist yesterday. And I got a good report. I never take that for granted & I always get a little nervy before I go. What if my toothpaste isn't doing the job? What if I didn't floss enough? Will he be able to tell that I have ditched Listerine because it's nasty & it burns? Yeah, I worry a little bit too much. But I am super grateful that he found no cavities & no spots that could be something scary. God is good.

And please, take note of my droopy eye. Although my teeth might be good, I obviously have issues elsewhere!

And now for the bad news. When I arrived at work this morning I found three pieces of evidence that a mouse had been visiting. EWWWW!!! Since my 'office' is actually a room that also has our break room in it, that means the mouse was in my office! I am thoroughly horrified. I had to Lysol the water cooler, microwave, & mini fridge. A coworker set some mouse traps & then I got to worrying about my lunch. I always bring my lunch to work & usually set it on the corner of my large desktop. Today I brought an apple. I could just picture that furry monster gnawing little bites of my apple every time I stepped away from my desk. I was talking with my coworkers & we found a solution:

This is my mouse proof lunch box. It's the plastic insert for one of our delivery cases. I wasn't too hip about putting my apple inside a box that has carried radioactive drugs so I put it in a ziplock & there you go. No mouse is going to be nipping on my apple, tomatoes, raw sugar, or salad dressing!

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I just hope that little bugger doesn't have a family. I might have to quit my job.

Only 30 minutes until my workweek ends! Have a great weekend everybody!

My Latest Addiction

2011-10-19T13:35:00.000-04:00

Most of the time I am an all or nothing person. Usually I find that I am an 'all' person. If I like something, I have a hard time liking it in moderation (hello, chocolate!). It's not really a character trait that I'm proud of but it can be helpful in certain situations. For example, I am a 'nothing' person when it comes to boredom. I can't hardly tolerate sitting still doing nothing so that tends to make me a productive person (most days).

This all or nothing personality can make trying new things interesting. I find that my reactions are seldom moderate. New foods - I'll scream with delight or gag with disgust. New movies or books or stories - I'm riveted with amazement or asleep in my chair. New experiences - I'll be all aflutter with nervous excitement & I'll sign up for the experience again & again or I'll tell everyone in the world that I know why they should never ever do what I just did.

Yep, that's me.

And I recently developed a new addiction.

I signed up for Pinterest. I know a lot of you have already joined so I am a little behind the trend. At first I was a little put off - they make you request an invitation to join. I figured that since I am next to nothing to nobody I wouldn't get in. I'm not sure why you have to jump through that hoop, but I got in! I'm so very grateful that they didn't leave me with the nobody-wants-me-on-their-team feeling that you get in elementary school gym class. What? That was just me? ANYWAY, I haven't figured out how to really navigate within the Pinterest website. I have found people to follow & a few people have found me, which is always fun. And frankly, what they find to pin is more than enough for me to explore. I have found so many fun things to look at & dream about...too.much.fun. If I thought facebook was a black hole of time wasting, Pinterest is the deepest, darkest, worm-holiest, furtherest back corner of the granddaddy of all black holes. I could be on there all day. And all night.

The only consolation is that I might actually find some good recipes & craft ideas while I'm swimming in the black hole.

Come join the fun!

Beginning Band

2011-10-18T13:23:00.000-04:00

I don't know how all of you might feel, but I love the feeling that you get when things come full circle. You know, when an issue gets resolved or someone close to you gets to experience something that you experienced in the past.

Last night I felt that full circle kind of feeling in relation to my oldest nephew, Caleb. He's in sixth grade this year & will turn 12 next month *sob* He's within six inches of being as tall as his Aunt MeeMee & I can't get him to hold still long enough to see if I can still pick him up for cuddles. It's so sad.

He's got a great smile.
For reals, he's one of the sweetest kids. Ever.

Last night was his first band concert. He's a trombone player in the making. I piled into the car with Mom & the G's to attend the festivities. I wonder how many other kids had their great grandparents in attendance last night? When mom told me she would pick me up a full forty five minutes before the concert I was a bit tempted to be a little cranky & ask why. As you can see from the pics, when we arrived the gym was already so full we had to sit BEHIND the choir, band, & orchestra. So even though we couldn't see the kids' faces we got to see the faces of the various directors which was a show all of its own!

Mr. H handing out some last minute instructions.
Probably something like, "Put your mouthpieces on your
trumpets & be ready to play for pity's sake!"

This guy right here? This is Caleb's band director. He was my high school band director. His name is Mr. Humphrey. I think it's great that he is still doing what he loves - teaching kids to make music. If I had a dollar for every time he hollered at me on the marching band field I wouldn't have a lot of money, but those dollars would have searingly vivid memories attached. I don't think I'll ever forget the times I came down on the wrong side of Mr. H. During marching band practice he used to wear one of those long range microphones & be up high on a scaffolding like stand. The area surrounding the high school has a lot of shopping & restaurants. One time my parents were out shopping while I was at band practice. They heard Mr. H holler my name over the long ranger. Oy. I'm still embarrassed.

It was more fun than I expected it be, going to hear a huge group of sixth graders squawk, gurgle, & whine through little ditties like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:" And it was exciting, too. Music is with us all of our lives & it can be such a wonderful tool for interaction, worship, fun, motivation, & more. I hope Caleb likes it. I hope he sticks with it. I hope he joins the marching band in high school. I just hope no one yells at him over the long range mic.

An Update & A Recipe or Two

2011-10-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

This whole month of not eating processed foods continues to be a challenge for me. I guess that's a good thing, right? I mean, who wants to do what's easy? what's natural? what's habitual? Not me, that's who. Unless I'm tired, hungry, or feeling uninspired. Which happens a lot so yeah, I'm feeling challenged.

Anyway, since I'm sure you're wondering if I'm actually sticking with it, I thought I'd post a little update. I have continued my un-admirable streak of failing at least a little bit every day. This week my hugest failing was a piece of Sam's Club white layer cake. I'm totally defenseless against this stuff. Even as I was cramming it in my mouth a voice in my head was screaming that the icing had enough food coloring in it to paint my insides the colors of the rainbow. But I didn't listen. Naughty. I also made sloppy joes with some straight-from-the-bottle bbq sauce. It's my husband's favorite. I'm not sure how to tell him that the first ingredient is HFCS but we will have that discussion one day soon, I promise.

The boundaries that I have still held hard & fast are: no processed cheese, no nondairy coffee creamer, no spray butter, no packaged candy, no boxed breakfast cereal, & no bottled salad dressing.

I have to say that I miss a good cup of coffee the most. I did splurge last Saturday & have half a pumpkin spice latte. I always feel like it's too concentrated so I filled my cup halfway with the latte & then topped it off with decaf coffee. So good. I did find some recipes online for homemade coffee creamer so I intend to try one of them out this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have actually had a couple of new recipe successes this week. After my post of failures I thought we would all be encouraged if I shared some good news! Unfortunately I have no pics of the recipes that actually tasted good. Figures, doesn't it?

We had a Mexican dinner on Wednesday. I like refried beans & I think it might even be possible to buy them canned without too many weird things thrown in. However, I read this online post & decided to give her recipe for refried beans a try. I do have to say, the website Eating Rules does a great job of hosting this unprocessed challenge - there is a post every day brimming with information & recipes.

I actually really liked these beans & I loved being able to make them from the hard little dry bean all by myself. Small accomplishments make my day, what can I say.

Here's the recipe with a few observations/notes thrown in by me:

Easy Slow-Cooker Refried Beans

Author: Lisa Leake, adapted from allrecipes.comCook Time: 8 hours Total Time: 8 hours I didn’t think I liked refried beans. That’s what happens when you only try them out of a can. But much like the difference between store-bought and homegrown tomatoes, homemade refried beans are light-years beyond the canned stuff!

Ingredients:

1 Onion, peeled and halved
2 cups Dry Pinto Beans, rinsed
Fresh Jalapeno or other hot pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
Teaspoon Sea Salt
Teaspoon Black Pepper
One big pinch of Cumin
6 cups Water

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
Cook on high for 8 hours, or overnight while you are sleeping.
Remove the bigger onion chunks and drain the excess liquid. If desired, save excess liquid until the final product is desired consistency.
Mash remaining beans with a potato masher and voilà! You have homemade refried beans.

I only modified a couple of things. I used jalapenos that come in a jar that supposedly have the heat removed. I also omitted the black pepper because it makes Mike sick (isn't that SAD?). After the beans were cooked I drained the liquid & reserved it just in case I needed it. I used my immersion blender to puree the beans because chunky beans just didn't sound right to me. I probably could have added all of the water back in because the beans were really pasty at this point. I did use about half of the water in my taco meat to make the sauce which worked really well. The beans were also really bland so I think maybe a hot jalapeno would be a better idea than what I used. Or a huger pinch of cumin because that stuff is fab.u.lous. Bottom line, I would make these again & I would probably add 1/2 - 1 cup of salsa into the beans right before serving to zest them up a bit.

That same meal I made taco meat & seasoned it without using one of those little packets from the grocery shelf! And it was so seriously easy that I hope I never, ever, ever buy one of those packets again. To me, making my own taco & chili seasonings solves two problems. Number one, I know exactly what goes into the seasoning (no weird additives or extra salt) & I can tweak it for Mike who not only does not really like the taste of spicy things but he also develops spice induced tummy aches very easily. Heartburn, anyone? Number two, I will actually be able to use more of my spices! Even though I try to cook a lot & make our food savory I know that those spices sit in the rack for probably longer than they should. This way I can hopefully use them up while they are still fresh.

I wish I could source this recipe for you. I was doing a massive internet search one day & I wrote the recipe down without adding the information for where I found it. It's a fairly basic taco/chili recipe that you would find if you did your own internet search. They thoughtfully posted the recipe for one pound of meat & then quintupled the recipe so you can keep it premixed in your pantry. At first I thought it might be gross to use the same recipe for tacos & chili but I think it might be just fine. I haven't used this for chili yet so maybe don't take my word for it.

Taco/Chili Seasoning
For One Pound of Meat:
1 T chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. sea salt

Quintupled:
1/4 cup + 1 T. chili powder
1 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/4 tsp. oregano
2 1/2 tsp. paprika
2 T. + 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 T. + 2 tsp. salt
*Use 2 T. for one pound of meat

The only variations I made were to omit the onion powder (I didn't have any), omit the red pepper flakes (too much heat for my man), & I reduced the salt by about half. I only used about 2/3 of the amount made from the recipe for one pound of meat & I used about 1/2 cup of the water from the beans to make it saucy.

We had some yummy nachos that night!

Whoo - almost 14 days down! Only 17 to go!

Am I Getting Old?

2011-10-13T13:01:00.000-04:00

I think I might be getting old. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm getting older every day - there's no escape. And don't get me wrong, no matter how much gray hair it might bring me, I'm grateful for every new day the Lord gives.

But today I'm wondering if I'm getting old. To me, getting old is more of a shift in mindset. It's not just that sinking feeling you get when you realize that five or less hours of sleep a night just isn't going to cut it anymore. Hmmm...

It's waking up on a day like today - chilly & rainy - & realizing that I'm moving kind of stiff-like. I would prefer to blame it on the intense workout dvd I did yesterday but I'm just not so sure.

And it's having weird thoughts cross your mind. Thoughts like, "I'm turning 35 next year. Maybe I should jot down some sort of Bucket List." No, I've never seen the movie. It's always seemed kind of depressing to me & seriously, why would I want more depressing in my life? Give me a comedy people, just a comedy.

And then there was the real kicker. The other day Mike & I had a conversation that went a little bit like this:
Me: Well, maybe someday we can do such-and-so. Maybe we'll have more free time & more disposable income & we can pull it off.
Mike: Yeah, we can always try to plan for it. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't happen.
Me: And until then, talking about it is really almost as good as being able to do it.

At this moment I can't even remember exactly what we were talking about. I think it had something to do with quitting our jobs & going after some kind of self-employment dream. The part that really makes me feel like an old fogey is the "talking about it is really almost as good as being able to do it." I actually said those words.

Like talking about skydiving could compare with an actual leap from a plane at however many thousands of feet?
Like talking about writing a book could compare with sitting in front of the computer for hours & hours pouring my heart & soul into a story that maybe no one or maybe thousands will read?
Like talking about running a marathon could compare with the hours of training, sweating, crying (there would certainly be tears at some point), & the exhilaration of crossing the finish line?

Yeah, I do not think that merely discussing something is really almost as good as being able to do it. It must have been just a moment of tiredness that allowed the old fogeyness to seep into my still vibrant youth. Yeah, that's it. I'm sure that's it. Don't you think so?

The Autumn Mood

2011-10-12T13:47:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again. The nights are crisp & cool. The air conditioners aren't roaring nonstop in our house (we can actually hold a conversation using our inside voices!). I can enjoy a drive with the windows down & it doesn't feel like I'm trapped in someone's hair dryer. The sun still feels warm on my skin but it doesn't burn. That's nice.

I'm trying to enjoy this change in season. I love to watch the leaves trade in their green for red, yellow, & orange. It seriously doesn't get any prettier than the Midwest in the autumn.

But there are images of the howling wind, driving snow, & icy temps lurking in the back of my mind. The long nighted days when it seems we have just moments of sunlight. Not to mention scraping the windshield every morning, constant searches for gloves, & feeling the need to hibernate until spring.

Yes, in my mind the beauty of autumn is sometimes overshadowed by the dread of winter. So I decided to be proactive about it this year. I'm really trying to get into the spirit of the season.

We have Indian corn on our door! And since it was time for
a new 'welcome' mat I choose one has some mum-ish type flowers.
My parents have this 3-tier Jack in their front window.

I've been noshing on some fallish treats.
Gotta love candy corn & peanuts & caramel apples!

I've traded in iced coffees for an ever-present steaming cup o' joe.

I've been howling at the harvest moon.
Not really. Just snapping pics of its beauty.

And I've been enjoying the foliage whenever I can.
The beauty of back country roads in autumn just
can't properly be captured by a camera.
But I'm gonna keep trying!

Some other things I'd love to do to celebrate this time of year is go apple picking, hit the Covered Bridge Festival (or really any festival; fall festivals are the BEST!), go to a hot dog roast & eat my requisite one hot dog a year, sit around a camp fire, wear an old flannel shirt, rake leaves, carve a pumpkin, make every sort of baked delicious pumpkin flavored thing I can get a recipe for, watch "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with Bing Crosby narrating...I've still got lots of autumn celebrating to do!

What are your autumn traditions?

Happy Birthday To My Dad

2011-10-11T22:06:00.000-04:00

Today is my dad's birthday.

I think this just might be my favorite pic of him ever.

Happy birthday, Dad.

We'll have a Sam's Club cake to celebrate soon!

It's A Monday

2011-10-10T14:32:00.000-04:00

This day, today, Monday started off the way it should. We got up without too much fuss & without so much 'snoozing' that we had to rush like crazy to get Mike off to work. After I watched him drive away (a morning ritual because I'm a sap & I never want him to go) I settled in for a little quiet time to read my Bible & pray. This is by far the best way for me to start any day. I'd really like to tell you that it's my regular routine, rain or shine, sleepy or wide awake, weekday or weekend, but it's not. When I have the discipline to do what I should & spend that time with the Lord my spirit is in much better shape to handle the day ahead.

When I got to work things were fine. We cranked out the second run & I only felt a small bit of irritation when things weren't done exactly how I would like them to be done.

*Side story: a few weeks ago we were a little shorthanded so I did most of the second run by myself - drew up the doses, ran the QC tests, and even packed the cases. I told Mike that it was great & I actually kind of liked doing all of those steps by myself. He said if I was a kindergartener that my report card would say, "Does not play well with others." We giggled. Just a little bit. It's so true. And that's not so good...

Anyway, as the day has gone on there have been other challenges. An interaction with someone that left me feeling unwanted or unnecessary. News from my boss about another change in our schedule that left me feeling insecure. Stuff.

But because I spent that time on the couch this morning connected to the Lord, studying His Word & praying it seems like all day when 'things' have reared up my first inclination is to turn to Him & start praying. It's been such a good thing. I can tell you, when 'things' come up my first inclination normally is to start the hamster wheel in my mind. You know the one I'm talking about? The one where your thoughts jump on & start up with the why, what if, if only, what else? kind of nonsense.

And just to be clear, I have not become some kind super Christian. Nope. This is all the Lord's doing. He can do so much more in my heart & mind when I open the door to Him, when I ask for His help & guidance.

So simple. I think maybe I'm going to try it again tomorrow.

Psalm 34:1-10

I will bless the LORD at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD;

let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the LORD with me,

and let us exalt his name together!

I sought the LORD, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him

and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the LORD encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!

The young lions suffer want and hunger;

but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Too Many Experiments!

2011-10-08T05:00:00.001-04:00

This unprocessed food challenge is not easy. If I used to think about food a lot before, I think about it even more now. The worst part has been experiments gone wrong. I am usually fairly adventurous when it comes to food. I get bored easily. I like to wander through the produce section & give the farmer's market a good look for something new, something different, something to have some fun with. Huh. It doesn't always work out that way.

For instance, this green cauliflower I got at the farmer's market. Isn't it beautiful? I was just sure it would be wonderful, steamed to perfection with a little butter & seasoning. Yeah, not so much. It smelled kind of funny while it was cooking & it tasted even worse. Mike & I ate it though. It was like we had to keep tasting it to see what was 'off'. Later we both regretted it *burp*

Then there was also this lovely little gem. It's cute, isn't it? I'll give you bonus points if you can guess what it is...

Now can you tell?

It's a cucumber. Now I didn't really expect to love this because I don't really enjoy cucumbers. *burp* I'll let you guess why. Anyway, it had so little flesh & so much seediness that neither one of us liked it.

This is an assortment of carrots, sweet potato, rutabega, & parsnips.
Yuck.

Now moving on to failure #3. The bad part of this one is all the time I spent peeling & chopping all of these veggies. I even sacrificed a fingernail.

Oh well. At least I can assure you that the fingernail did NOT make it into the oven with the veggies.

And lest you think that this week of trying to eat unprocessed foods has been a total bust, I'm going to tell you about some of my good discoveries:

Homemade Applesauce - seriously, why would you ever buy it? I know I'm weird because I enjoy peeling & chopping apples but it is SO GOOD! The batch I made this week is probably my best ever. I used lots of Gala apples, two big Granny Smiths & two MacIntosh. I added just the slightest amount of raw sugar & some cinnamon. Instant happiness.

Baked Oatmeal - I experimented with steel cut oats for the first time. And although I don't love, love, love it, I don't mind eating it for breakfast. And it really does stick to your ribs. I don't get hungry at 10 a.m. when I have this for breakfast.

Sorghum Syrup - I bought a big jar of this over the summer on a total impulse. After 15 seconds of research I realized it might be kind of tricky to use in baking so it's just been waiting in the pantry. Turns out, I really like a light drizzle of sorghum on my baked oatmeal. And after realizing how much refined sugar & HFCS is in jelly, I've used sorghum to make my pb&j. So I suppose my sandwich is a pb&ss *grin*

Ezekiel Bread - I've heard of this stuff before but I hadn't seen it at our grocery store. Then someone told me that it is kept in the freezer. It's the heartiest bread I've ever eaten. And since I love things with bark & twigs in it I really love this bread. It's prepared by soaking & sprouting the grains & it is so good. I think this change just might last forever. It's expensive but we don't eat a lot of bread so it just might work out.

Natural Peanut Butter - I have to admit that I never tried natural pb before because it looks so gross in the jar with the oil all separated out. Then I actually read the ingredients on our jar of pb & I got really sad at all the added sugar & weirdness. Since I love, love, love pb I knew I was going to have to try the natural stuff. And it is really good. I'm not lying, I thought it would be awful without the sweetness. I am a real sweets girl but I truthfully did not miss it. However, I did not like having to mix it up when I first opened the jar. I made a mess. Anyone out there have any tips for how I can mix it up without making a huge mess next time?

And as far as this challenge goes, I fail a little bit (or a lot!) every day. But at this point I can still honestly say that I'm trying (though I'm tempted to jump off the wagon!). And I haven't used non dairy coffee creamer or white sugar in my coffee. I haven't had any candy from my parent's big pumpkin jar. I haven't had any boxed cereal, processed cheese, canned soup, or soda.

Maybe I should confess right now that I had Taco Bell & a huge gas station diet Coke the night before the challenge began *grin*

The Ornies!

2011-10-07T10:01:00.029-04:00

Today is the first day of the big craft fair where Mike's ornaments will be sold. I'm not sure if I have posted all the details of this little adventure so I'm going to give you the whole story now!

Last fall Mike made some intarsia magnets for Halloween. There was a black spider, a mummy, a black cat, & a couple of other little figures. We all thought they were adorable so he started on some Christmas ornaments. He made a few last year & gave them as gifts & some family members bought a couple. Mike's sister Gwen has been really enthusiastic about the ornaments & bought several for their Christmas tree. Over the holidays some of her husband's family were visiting & two of his aunts were quite interested in the ornaments. These two ladies make some primitive wood art & furniture that they sell at craft shows & markets throughout the year. They are always looking for something that would complement their products that they could sell in their booth. Several conversations later, Mike decided he would make them some ornaments for the Metamora Canal Days Festival this weekend.

Mike has made about fifty ornaments (aka, ornies) to sell. We are excited to see how things go! And although we have had fun making the ornies, I think we will be glad to have just a smidgen of our free time back *grin* We are headed out tomorrow to visit the festival & I'm almost giddy at the thought of a road trip. It's been a long time since we've been on one & I'm ready!

I thought I would post some pics & general information about how Mike makes the ornies. I'm sure some of you might be curious about the process & if you're anything like me, you may have not ever heard the term 'intarsia' before.

in·tar·si·a

noun

an art or technique of decorating a surface with inlaid patterns, especially of wood mosaic, developed during the Renaissance

And here's how he does it:

First of all I put a solid layer of blue painter's tape
on a narrow board. This is a step that I can actually do for him!

Then we use an aerosol adhesive to adhere the patterns to the wood.
Mike gets the patterns online or draws them himself.

Then he uses the scroll saw to cut each pattern out.
He follows the basic lines of the picture.

This little guy has been cut out.
Do you see the individual pieces?

Then Mike uses this dremel tool to contour & shape the pieces.
Try not to notice the sawdust that is 1/2" deep on our basement workshop floor!

Now he has been shaped.
Isn't he cute?

And then we paint or stain the pieces & glue them together.
*For ornies like the teddy bear & the angel Mike drills holes
& then inserts dowel plugs for eyes & noses.
Sorry I don't have a pic of that...

And that's the basic overview. I think he's extremely talented & handsome, but I suppose I'm biased *grin*

I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll let you know how the selling goes...here's hoping we get sold out!

Aunt MeeMee To The Rescue!

2011-10-06T22:16:00.000-04:00

I know that some people are puzzled by the fact that I have a Bachelor's Degree in Home Economics & I am not a Home Economics teacher. Lots of folks think that teaching would be the only reason you would choose to major in Home Economics (I think it's Family & Consumer Sciences now but I'm not sure).

Anyway, I majored in Home Ec because I thought it was what the Lord wanted me to do. Now I have a job in the pharmaceutical industry & that's just fine. I have plenty of other opportunities to use my skills.

For example, last Friday my sister called. She was in a bit of a panic. Her daughter was supposed to volunteer with her Girl Scouts troop at a pioneer village the next day. The problem was, the pioneer girl outfit that Beth had ordered online had not arrived. What to do? What to DO? I sent her to the store for some material & some elastic. Beth & Maddie arrived on my doorstep at about 9:30 that evening (*yawn*) & we made Maddie an ankle length skirt.

I'm no excellent seamstress. Especially when I'm working without a pattern. It was a lot of fun, though. I got to show Maddie several things along the way & tell her step by step what I was doing. She was a bit fascinated. She especially like the sewing machine because she had never seen one before.

And here is the finished product (at about 11:15 p.m.). It didn't take quite two hours & with all of our chatting along the way, I think that's pretty good!

Maddie went to her activity the next day & had a great time. She completed her outfit with a white apron. And I'm sure you've already guessed, when they got home they found a package by the mailbox with her outfit in it!

Here's the whole troop.

Those are some pretty cute pioneer girls!

I'm A Bit Crazy, Maybe...

2011-09-30T13:55:00.000-04:00

I have jumped in.

Signed a pledge.

Committed myself.

What have I done?!

It all started last week when I was stuck at home with strep throat. Give a girl a few idle hours & a laptop computer for company & she can get herself in all kinds of trouble. I was just doing the blog hopping thing. It's like jumping down a rabbit hole, let me tell you. I read through the posts from blogs that I already subscribe to & then I get to exploring the blogs that they recommend or I follow a link from a commentator to their blog. It's fun. I learn things. And I also sign up for things. Like this pledge.

I found this blog called 'Eating Rules' & I was sucked in. It's a good read. And the writer is hosting his second annual October Unprocessed challenge. The basic idea is to avoid all processed foods for the month of October. That's the easy part - summing up what the challenge entails. The difficult part of course is actually sticking to the rule & not eating processed foods.

Obviously I've been thinking a lot lately about our diet & the things that we eat. I am working on implementing some baby step changes for our household. I'm going to keep that mentality with this pledge. I don't know if I will last thirty minutes or if I'll last all thirty one days. But I'm going to give it a try. I'm thinking if I simply avoid diet soda & processed cheese products that will be a huge step in the right direction. My main goal is to be reminded to read labels & eat thoughtfully.

And yeah, I'll definitely crash & burn some days. But maybe I'll learn something along the way. If anyone decides to jump on the band wagon, let me know!

Wisdom of the G's

2011-09-29T05:00:00.000-04:00

I'm sure that by now I've mentioned several times that I try to spend some time with my grandparents ('the G's') every week. I see them at church for a few minutes every service, but I just need a little more visiting time, if you know what I mean.

Thursday afternoons are usually when we visit. I go out to their place after work & we sit, chatting for a few minutes. G-ma is always there. We set our plans around that. Depending on the weather & how he is feeling my G-pa may or may not be there. He tries to keep moving as much as possible to keep himself limbered up. He's a very motivated & disciplined fella. The other day I went by for our visit & for the very first time I saw him without his shoes on. It wasn't a good day. He was having a lot of arthritis pain in his ankle so he had decided to take it easy, sip some green tea & chat with us. During our little chats I learn so much. Sometimes they are in the mood to reminisce. That's when I learned that my G-pa was born at home, in a little shack that we used to be able to see from their farm. And that's when I learned that my G-ma once won a bunch of Rhode Islander Red hens in a giveaway at the feed store. Good, fun facts about their childhood. I love it.

Every once in a while our conversations are more serious, more adult. We debate the evils of society, the insurance industry, & nutrition. Sometimes I think my G-pa likes to agrue with me just to see how riled I'll get. Sometimes the conversations are heated but they are alway stimulating.

Even more often we talk about what makes a life & what things are worth remembering. I don't know if they are motivated to topics like this because they are in their December or if it is just motivated by a desire to instill purposeful remembrance in me. Because I am just not wired like that. What jobs have I had? Let me think... How old was I when I had that apartment? I'm not sure... When did you get baptized? Ummm...

One day as we were having our chat, G-ma suggested that I keep a diary. Before I could even sigh through my many objections of who has time for that & blah, blah, blah, she went on to explain that it didn't have to be anything elaborate. Maybe I could just keep a sort of time line of major events in my life. Hmmm...this seems doable. And worthy of some effort on my part.

So I have this little red journal (thanks, Steph!). It's blank pages are just begging for some graffiti. I think I need to begin to record the timeline of my life. Keep me accountable, because you know all about the best laid plans...

The Book Fairy

2011-09-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

The Book Fairy strikes again!

And I've been so very glad.

Since I was sick last week I had a lot of time to read.

And there's a special kind of misery in having time to read

& not having any books that strike your fancy.

I'll let you know if there are any treasures in this stack!

Fridgie Wallpaper

2011-09-27T13:46:00.000-04:00

With the purchase of our house, along came a fridgie. It's kind of funny, but I didn't realize it wasn't a full-sized fridgie for quite a while. Then I noticed that I could easily see on top of the freezer. I'm tall but I'm not THAT tall! That's when I realized we have more of an apartment sized fridgie. It's the almondy, off-white kind of color. And I thought it was just really in need of a good scrubbing when I first moved in. It just looked dingy & kind of stained in places. Several cleaners & lots of elbow grease later I discovered that the way it was would be the way it stayed. So we kind of use different things to 'wallpaper' our fridgie. And since we have three nieces, three nephews & many friends who send pics in their Christmas greetings, we have lots of material to work with!

I thought I'd highlight two pieces of our current fridgie wallpaper. This first one was recently penned by Madison. We were all gathered at M&D's for a family dinner. She snuck off into the office, wrote this poem, & then wrote a separate copy for everyone. She delivered them rolled up like a scroll & tied with yarn. Super fun delivery!

This second piece of fridgie wallpaper has been around for a while. It was designed by our niece Caydance. She is a very artsy child so I wasn't surprised when she decided to draw a pic of me. She's in second grade & has taken the time to carefully label different features of my face, etc. The one label that made us crack up was "a little dot" with an arrow pointing at my chin. Yes folks, that little dot was none other than a little zit! This is also the kid that checked up with me one day asking if I was liking my ProActive? Just a reminder, when you are talking with a kid's mom & the kid is anywhere nearby, it doesn't matter how busy they might seem to be with something else, they are still listening to your conversation! *grin*

What's wallpapering your fridgie?

Observations From A Housecleaning Woman

2011-09-24T17:08:00.002-04:00

I've been sick since Wednesday afternoon with a fairly vicious case of strep throat. I've been trying not to complain about it too much because I've been strep free for two years, two months, and ten days. And the only reason I know that for sure is because the last time I had strep was my wedding day.

Anyway, I didn't log in here to post about that messy business. I was feeling a little better today so I decided to spiffy up the house a bit. I've been sitting around for a couple of days & I needed to move around. Plus looking at the dusty mess was making me grouchy.

While cleaning I made two very important observations.

First of all, I love this rug that we have on our living room floor. It's nice and cozy. It's a great place to dig your toes in after a long day or stretch out and take a little nap. It's fluffy & wonderful.

But it sheds. To the point that we might as well have a long haired dog with an underactive thyroid problem living with us. *sigh*

My second observation also invovles cleaning the floor. We mostly have hard surface floors in our house with just a couple of area rugs. A couple of years ago I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket so I went to get us a little vacuum. I got us the best thing that the combination of $50 & Walmart could buy. I got this blue beauty. And it does a fairly good job. But it is so loud that I'm going to need double hearing aids before I hit the ripe old age of 35.

Seriously, my ears are still ringing.

Now I'm relaxing with a weird DVD I rented from the library. I've been laughing at some scenes but I'm not sure they're really meant to be funny...

It's A Christmas Miracle!

2011-09-23T17:12:00.000-04:00

I know it's only September. But something amazing has happened.

I have finished reading "The Maker's Diet."

This book is a very challenging read for several reasons. I hope that I can give you a careful evaluation & honestly represent the spirit in which the book is written.

I love a good, gripping, dramatic story. The author, Jordan Rubin, begins his book by telling the story of his own very desperate health crisis. He was a healthy young man until he went to college. As happens for so many young people, once he was away from home & fully in control of his schedule & his eating choices his diet was not what it should be. The big difference between the author & most young people is that instead of just gaining some weight, he became deathly ill. They diagnosed him with ulcerative collitis & began treatment. Unfortunately, in the United States 'treatment' usually means drug therapy. Don't get me wrong, I work in the pharmaceutical industry; I believe medicine is important & life-saving - in some cases. His doctors treatments only seemed to exacerbate his problems so he ended up going to live with a man who was an 'eccentric nutritionist' who believed that the illness was caused because he was not eating the diet of the Bible. Thus began the author's journey to health & his development of 'The Maker's Diet.'

There are a lot of things in this book that scared me, frankly. Over the past year or so as I have regularly read several different foodie blogs & as I've seen family members struggle with some different health problems, I've become more & more interested in learning more about what I am eating & where it comes from. I thought I was making a huge step when I started buying milk that said it was growth hormone free.

I had no idea how complex this whole food situation is.

As I read through the beginning of the book I had to set it down on several occasions. I was just overwhelmed. First of all, we should be buying meats that are hormone & antibiotic free. We should be buying organic fruits & vegetables that aren't tainted with pesticides. All of that makes sense to me & it seems to be something worth trying for, at the very least. Then it gets more complicated...the animals should be fed the way the Maker intended them to be fed (grassfed). And the fruits, vegetables, grains that we consume should not be genetically modified. I did not realize how many GMO (genetically modified organisms) foods are out there. Seedless watermelon = GMO. Huh. Now it's getting tougher.

The author also has a lot to say about how the conveniences of this modern age are definitely adding to our health problems. We just don't have to work as hard for anything. And foods of all kinds, many laden with extra fats, sugar, & salt are far to easy to come by. I see evidences of this in my own life as I go through my day to day activities. I've come to be grateful for the fact that our washer & dryer are in the basement, causing me to work that much harder to get the laundry done. It's good for me!

Another point the author made that sticks out in my mind is his encouragement to play in the dirt. The dirt has many components that are actually good for us - enzymes & other things that actually help nourish us (through the food that is grown in it) & other organisms that help with allergies & asthma. I found this part to be very interesting.

The author breaks down the different types of fats we should be consuming & gives information about how to get those fats in our diets. He also discusses the benefits of raw dairy (that was another one that set my mind reeling). He discusses fiber, carbohydrates, & proteins. I learned so much about the composition & function of food - it's kind of like chemistry class!

The author also takes several opportunities throughout the book to talk about the whole man. Our bodies are not independent of our minds, emotions, & souls. The whole system must work together in harmony. The body will evidence the ill effects of unrest & tension within the mind, emotions, & soul. This struck a chord with me. I know that if I am not right with God, am dwelling on angry or anxious thoughts, & do not have my emotions under the Holy Spirit's control that I do not feel good physically. It just makes sense that they are all inextricably joined together.

Mr. Rubin also points out the necessity of proper rest, regular fasting, & regular exercise. I must confess that I stink at resting properly. I am constantly paying for it. It has become a matter of prayer for me; that I would learn to be obedient & rest. The section on fasting was interesting to me, too. He doesn't recommend 40 day fasts or anything extreme. His suggestion is to fast through breakfast & lunch & then eating dinner. It makes sense that this would give the body some time to heal or reset & also give me time to focus my mind on the Lord. He advice when feeling the hunger pains of fasting to turn your mind to prayer. I like the idea of something physically reminding me to pray. I try to be conscious of my need to be in prayer but if I am honest, I fail many times to do it. We all know that if I fast, my stomach is going to growl & I'm going to feel hungry. And then I'll be reminded to pray!

When Mr. Rubin discussed exercise I found I could not wholeheartedly agree with him. He strongly advises against any sustained cardiovascular exercise saying that it is harmful & often leads to injuries of overuse. He advocated using 'functional fitness.' As I read through his suggestion I could not really get a true definition of what it was, just that our exercise should mimic daily activities. Then the reader was referred to the appendix where there were resources listed for videos, information, etc. The author also stresses the importance of walking, suggests rebounding on a mini trampoline for exercise, & deep breathing exercises. I think some of his ideas are valid, but I personally have received too many benefits from running to lay it aside. When a runner takes the time to warmup, stretch, & cool down properly many injuries can be avoided. It is also important to listen to your body no matter what the exercise or there is great possibility of injury.

There was also a chapter at the end of the book that discussed spices & essential oils. This was very intriguing to me but I'm not sure it's something I'll have the opportunity to explore in great depth. I kind of wish I could pull this section out of the book to keep on hand for future reference.

Finally, there was a theme throughout the book that I kept picking up on that did not sit very well with my spirit. My personal desire in evaluating my daily diet & health is to keep my body as healthy as possible so that I may have the strength I need to best serve the Lord. I also want to live with the knowledge that I am accountable to the Lord for the way I care for this body He has given me. I am called to be a good steward. Mr. Rubin does mention this. But far more often he mentions 'the long-lived' people of this society or that society. His point seems to be that we clean up our diets & our health so that we can be long-lived people. That's not really my goal.

All in all, I would recommend this book. There were parts that made me cringe with a bit of fear about how messed up things are & how drastic changes in my lifestyle may need to be. But that kind of evaluation is good for us. I really learned a lot. This was a difficult book for me to trudge through, but I'm very glad I finished it. The public library is glad too, because it's way overdue. I've got to get it returned or they are going to come asking for our firstborn child!

Nothin', Nada, Zippo, Zilch

2011-09-20T22:15:00.000-04:00

Lately I've had this little thought niggling in my mind.

It seems like we just don't ever leave anything alone. How many things do we change from their original state so that they are more appealing to us? It's kind of like we have lost the appreciation for many things in their natural state. The way they were made is just not good enough anymore.

And that kind of bothers me. Not in an angry way. In a wrinkle-between-the-eyes-from-pondering kind of way.

I believe that God made this world & I believe that He made each one of us. And that includes all of everything. And who am I to say that He didn't do a fantastic job?

So why do we feel the need to enhance just about everything under the sun?

For example, when I read through a blog post that enumerated the many beauties of the flowers this spring, I really enjoyed it. But then I noticed that every single picture in the post had some sort of filter enhancement. It just seemed kind of incongruous, in a way.

And it got me to thinking...we enhance all kinds of things. We enhance our food. Are you familiar with MSG? We also enhance our music. I'm sure I don't really know all the ins & outs of the music recording industry but I'm pretty sure that if I were to attend a concert of nearly any artist there would be some major differences between the show & the CD. And there are innumerable ways that we can enhance ourselves - hair dye, breast augmentation, make up, colored contact lenses - we can fix our complexions, our gray hair, our 'defincies', & even our eye color. If we think our own fingernails (or even toenails!) aren't good enough, we can have fake ones put on.

Don't get me wrong - I employ quite a few of these enhancement. I wear makeup; I dye my gray hair. I use Instagram to edit photos & make them shiny & bright. And I don't intend to quit any of that any time soon.

But I do hope that I quit underappreciating the way God had made things. Goofy as it seems, the fact that God made our food in a certain way makes me feel even more determined to limit the amount of processed foods we eat. He intended our food to be a particular way & I'm sure that's the way it will best nourish my body. And I hope that I can quit feeling like I MUST dye my hair, I MUST have makeup on before I can leave the house. God also made me in a particular way & while I have no intention of 'letting myself go,' I do feel like I need to be a little more at peace with the way He created me to look.

And so I'm going to be brave & post a pic of myself in my natural, relaxed state - old race t-shirt, no makeup, hair pulled back & the frizzies flying out.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully & wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14

My New Favorite Thing

2011-09-16T14:44:00.001-04:00

Recently I participated in an International Craft Swap & in the process I found a new toy.

I adore this new toy.

I'm not afraid to admit that I like to doodle, note take, list make & so on.

And I love chalk boards.

We have two in our kitchen.

On one I usually write our menu for the week.

On the other I usually write a verse or appointments or a thought provoking something.

I used to struggle with chalk because I am a fine point pen kind of gal.

Chalk is NOT fine point.

Not to worry, my friends.

Thanks to the project that I completed for the swap, I found Bistro Markers.

They are like chalk in a marker.

They are fine point.

I am a happy chalk board doodler!

My Monday - By The Numbers

2011-09-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

I had a crazy day at work today. The little collage above tells a story. The moon was shining on me at 5 a.m. when I clocked in & got behind the wheel. The top right shows the sun coming up as I tool on down the road. The bottom left shows my view on the world at around noon. The bottom right was taken at 4 p.m. when I finally parked it for the day. Whew!

My personal theory is that Mondays are supposed to be gentle days that ease you back into the workaday world calmly & softly. That is not what happened in my world today! Here's my Monday - by the numbers:

5 ~ a.m. when I clocked in to work
11 ~ hours in my workday today
465 ~ approximate number of miles I drove today (mind you, I got nowhere; I just drove in circles, slowly losing my mind as I made deliveries)
4 ~ % of battery strength I had left on my phone by the end of the day
1 ~ number of gas station hot dogs I ate for lunch (I know, I know, but it was free so I ate it!)
2 ~ loaves of apple bread I made
4 ~ loads of laundry that got washed, folded, & put away (victory!)
2 ~ miles that I ran
1 ~ mile that I walked
1 ~ life changing phone call we received (Mike's uncle went home to heaven tonight; we mourn but not without hope - we will be together again one day)
1 ~ joy inducing email (congrats on your happy baby news, Erin & Jeff!)
6 ~ tomatoes that I picked
1 ~ weary PharmGirl that needs to go to bed very soon

So how was your Monday? I hope it was gentle...

SOMETIMES...

2011-08-31T13:42:00.000-04:00

*I wonder why it took me until I was like thirty years old to discover that cherries are so wonderfully yummy?

*I wonder why I make such stupid mistakes? And then when I make the mistake it's like I get frozen in mind warp & I have no reaction. Which looks like a bad reaction of indifference. Then I wonder why I beat myself up about it for hours afterward.

*I wonder why workdays go so slowly while time at home goes so quickly my head spins?

*I wonder why I do things like buy an immersion blender? Hello, I don't NEED to be able to make milkshakes at the drop of a hat!

*Sometimes I put on my pants & wonder how they could have gotten so snug...might have something to do with that doggone blender...& then I wonder if I will ever dry my clothes in the dryer again?

*Sometimes I wonder why I write 53 blog posts a day in the secret confines of my mind but I barely manage to get two or three a week actually posted?

*Sometimes I wonder why do we text so much? Sometimes I miss the sound of familiar voices.

*Sometimes I wonder why something simple like watching "Pride & Prejudice" (again!) can make for such a enjoyable evening? Try it; it works, I promise!

*Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who has marinated chicken in a ziplock bag & then spilled the raw chicken yuckiness of said bag all over her kitchen? And then I wonder if my kitchen drawers (where the marinade very unkindly decided to seep in) will ever be safe?

*Sometimes I wonder at the good grace that my kitchen knives aren't all that sharp. I'd be missing some fingertips if they were!

*Sometimes I wonder why I have SO MUCH? It would have been easy for the Lord to put me in a place where I wouldn't have a lot of things. And yet, here I am.

You know, some days I just wonder...do you?

My Nightstand Has Been Hijacked AGAIN & Other News...

2011-08-26T05:00:00.001-04:00

I know that once upon a time, now long, long ago I promised you all that I would read a book entitled, "The Maker's Diet." I have not forgotten that promise. I am indeed reading that book. The problem is, it is so full of stuff. Complicated stuff. Stuff I haven't thought about before & frankly, some stuff that is a little over my head technically. I've gotten slightly overwhelmed a time or two & taken some time away from reading to mull things over & discuss them with Mike. It is definitely a good book, a good resource & someday - hopefully soon - I'll tell you all about it.

Until then, my nightstand has been hijacked again, this time by the book, "The Daughter's Walk" by Jane Kirkpatrick. I'm not sure how I found this book at the library. It seems to me that I read about it on The Pioneer Woman's website under the homeschooling tab some time in the far distant past. I try to keep a list on my phone of books that are recommended to me & this one was on the list, our library had it & so I checked it out. Then I spilled an entire glass of water on it & kind of wrinkled the pages up something awful *sigh*

Anyway, this is a fascinating story. It is based on a true story about a mother & her oldest daughter taking a walk all the way from the west coast to New York City. They were supposed to wear 'reform dresses' which were scandalously shorter than the accepted fashion - they were just above ankle length *gasp* The purpose of the walk was to prove that women had the same strength, stamina, courage & common sense that men had & that they should be recognized as full citizens. It was the very beginning of the sufferage movement. They were also supposed to promote the dresses as the newest mode of fashion with the shorter length making it easier to walk & ride bicycles. The mother insists on participating in the walk even though her husband doesn't want her to; the daughter participates in the walk completely against her will because her mother makes her. The sponsors had pledged to pay them $10,000 if they completed the walk by the deadline & the family needed the money to save their farm from foreclosure. They embark on their journery & experience every kind of excitement & difficulty imaginable.

The book follows the daughter, Clara all through the walk until basically the end of her life. The walk caused so much strife in the family that Clara & her mother were forbidden to speak of it & there was a long estrangement. Because of this discord, many of the details of the remarkable walk & the rest of Clara's life are very vague. I'm sure the auther completed many hours of research & still had to 'fill the holes' as best as she could. The end result is still a compelling read. I truly love to read a story of someone else's life. The Lord sends His children down a myriad of paths; they are all interesting. If you get a chance, I think you would enjoy reading this story.

In Other News...

Largely because of all this reading I've been doing regarding diet & nutrition, I started scoping out some different places to see if I could purchase grass fed beef. I'd read that it was a much more natural way to grow cattle, that it was healthier for us to consume & that it even tasted better. Much to my delight, a family in our church that runs a CSA has grass fed beef for sale right now! They don't always have it but this summer they do. I went out to the Farmer's Market & got us some. Then I picked up some organic crushed tomatoes & the zucchini that my sister's garden grew & I fixed us some Zucchini Hash, a family favorite! It is just the beef, tomatoes, & zucchini cooked up together in a big skillet with some oregano, basil, garlic, onion - whatever you like! I top it with cheese & YUM! And you know what? I'm not really a beef person, but grass fed beef DOES taste better.

And for those of you wondering how my procrasting little self was doing with my International Craft Swap project, here's the low down. We just started it on Tuesday. When I asked for input on what I should make, everyone voted for the same thing - the chalkboard candleholder. Mike & I had a Lowe's gift card (that I actually purchased with Discover card cash back bonus!) that we used to buy the drill bits. Mike ended up getting a set rather than just the one we needed because the whole set of 10 was only $10 more. He got new tools to play with so he is happy *grin* So far we have cut the board to size, drilled the candle holder holes, sanded, primed, & applied one coat of chalkboard paint. I'm hoping to apply another coat of paint tomorrow & have that bad boy ready to be shipped out on Monday!

Making progress!

And that's what's going on around here. This weekend is going to be a blur of cleaning, project finishing, cooking, & celebrating my momma's birthday. Lots of activity but I'm ready for it!
What's on your weekend agenda?

My Dream Garden

2011-08-25T05:00:00.002-04:00

I've joked a lot this year about our 'yard tomatoes'. They can't be called garden tomatoes because they didn't grow in a garden. They just happened to spring up in various places all over our yard (which makes for a strange sight, trust me). Personally I don't think they just happened to spring up all by themselves or whatever. I think those five tomato plants are the direct result of a conversation I had with the Lord early this summer. You see, the past several summers I have had a major case of Garden Envy. I would love to have a garden. I would love to grown tomatoes (obviously!), green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, corn, onions, garlic, vast amounts of basil, green peppers, potatoes, blackberries & even have a small apple orchard. I know, I know...I have no ambition *grin*

Anyway, there are several roadblocks to my gardening plans. Number one, Mike isn't really into it. He's just not much of an outdoorsy guy & he doesn't really enjoy yard work. I don't think he would need to be too involved once all the ground work was done but...Number two, we have some stinky stupid soil. It's full of broken bricks, glass, terra cotta pipe & good old rocks. And it's sandy. It would take some elbow grease to get a garden plot ready & prepped to grow well. Number three, I can't hardly get my chores done as it is.

So, I had a heart to heart with the Lord a while back. I said, You know I want a garden. You also know that it's just not going to happen at this time. I'm going to try (please help!) to maintain a good attitude about it - especially when I see other gardens or read about them on my friend's blogs. Amen.

Fast forward to now & I have five thriving tomato plants that I think the Lord gave us. We have so many tomatoes that we almost can't eat them all. But we're working on it *grin* And the Lord has been super gracious to help me with my Garden Envy. I even took a bunch of pics of the garden that my sister & her husband planted - I didn't even pout as I pointed & shot. It's a fabulous garden - the stuff of my dreams!

Look at those lush green leaves!

They have a whole row of blackberries & this is the first year that they really produced well.
They shared with us; I can't wait to use them!

See that sweet baby zucchini?

Since they live out in the country surrounded by farm fields they have a little deer problem.
Under that bucket is a radio set to a rock music station.
It scares the deer away!

Alas, it doesn't scare the coons! They ate all of their corn this year.

Maybe someday Mike & I will have a garden like this...or maybe the Lord will just give us some more 'accidental' plants!

2011-08-24T05:00:00.003-04:00

There are some things in our day to day, week to week lives that just become part of our routines. Simple things like grocery shopping, showing up for work, or even scheduling get togethers with friends or dentist appointments. And while I am going about these regular, normal things there are little extras in my life that I know are gifts from my faithful, loving God. There are too many of these extras to mention in one blog post but I wanted to write about just one of those blessings - Teressa.

I first came to know Teressa when she was my Children's Church teacher. She told us countless Bible stories & always had the best games planned for us. It was exactly what a Children's Church class should have been.

As I grew up & promoted out of Teressa's class I didn't have as much contact with her. But she was a constant presence in our church, faithful as faithful can be. And though over time her health faded, her smile never did. My sister started helping her with her house cleaning & I found out some fascinating things about Teressa. She was a skilled propagator of violets. Beth said they decorated her house with beauty. And Teressa rode a stationary bike for several miles every day, no matter what. And she was in her 80's!

Sometime in the past 10 years or so our church set up a prayer chain. When they drew up the diagram they put my name with a straight line leading to Teressa's name. And this is when Teressa became the biggest blessing to me. Taking my calls, listening with care, making concerned comments about people she most of the time didn't even know. She taught me about faithfulness, she taught me about prayer, & she became such a sweet friend. She even asked me to be the second call after her daughter on her Life Alert system. I was so honored (as goofy as that sounds).

A few weeks ago we said farewell to Teressa when she went home to heaven. When the prayer line calls come in now I miss her most. At her funeral her family had brought in a table full of violets. They asked that we take one home to remember Teressa. We grabbed this little beauty & have been trying to nurture her well. Right now she has even more blooms than are pictured here.

When I look at this pretty little flower I remember Teressa & her life well lived for the Lord. I also remember the Lord & how He brings so many beautiful extras into our lives to add some sparkle to our day to day, duty-filled routines. And I'm so grateful.

Aloha! sniff

2011-08-23T12:49:00.000-04:00

I'm sniffing because we are saying, "Aloha, goodbye" to our friend Cody.

It's not the first time.

She's lived in Hawaii for a long time now.

This last aloha was hard though because we thought the Lord was leading her to come home & go to school.

She'd have been captive here in Indiana for at least a couple of years. And that would mean we could go get coffee together, watch stupid girl movies together, hang out. Fun stuff.

But...

At seemingly the last moment (doesn't God work like that? just reminding us that things happen in HIS timing, not ours) the Lord provided a job for Cody back on Kauai. Her dream job, in fact. She will be working to get the Bethany Hamilton (yeah, the Soul Surfer girl) Foundation off the ground. Super exciting stuff!

Before she left Autumn & I met up with her for one last night of girlie fun. We went to Applebee's to eat sinful desserts & watch the turtle races. We know how to party.

Great conversations were had all the way around & I was reminded once again of how the Lord has blessed me with such beautiful friends. And not just cheap glitzy beauty but the inside shining through to the outside kind of beauty. And they both like Irish music like Celtic Thunder & Gaelic Storm. Yeah, I have the best friends *grin*

Right before we called it a night Mike had to come to my rescue because I had lost my keys. When he arrived at Autumn's house I asked if he would take a pic of us girls. I forgot that Autumn is so twitchy that she can't sit still for a pic. So the one shot turned into many hoping we could get her to behave.

In this one Autumn was talking.

In this one she was just being ornery.

Come on, Autumn! Focus!

Now we are all giggling!

I think Mike just scolded her.

This is her 'model' face.

We have officially given up.

We miss you, Codes!

Cabbage!

2011-08-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to get caught up around here & I realized that I never gave you the low down nitty gritty on the Gaelic Storm concert!

Here it is...

We arrived at the venue a good 45 minutes before the show started. I had been advised that seating was limited & that no tables could be reserved. Armed with that info we arrived early & were happy to see that we were only about 25 people deep in line. We're good, so I thought. Not so much. When we got inside we wandered for just a moment because none of us had been there before. It was also dark inside & our poor little eyes were super dazzled from the bright setting sun. Long story short, the balcony was closed, there were quite a few reserved tables, & Autumn's socializing skills were put to the test as she made friends trying to find us seats. She was successful & I was super grateful because while I can certainly stand for the length of a concert, my dear momma cannot. Autumn, you're a peach! And I love how you have never met a stranger.

I snapped a couple pics as we waited for the show to start.

My sissy-poo & me

Autumn & Momma

Gaelic Storm

All in all, it was a super fun show. I would definitely recommend you get yourself a ticket if they are anywhere near you. If you like Irish pub music, that is. They were super fun, down to earth, & amazingly talented. After the show was over they all came out & just mingled with the crowd, signing autographs & taking pictures. They featured their new album, "Cabbage" which is full of fun songs & rousing instrumentals. My personal favorite, 'Space Race' says:

They say there was a Space Race,
If there was I guess I missed it.

From the earth up to the moon & back...
Well, doesn't that take the biscuit!

The song then goes on to lament about how there are no Irish astronauts. Maybe I'm goofy, but I think it's hilarious.

Here's to belly laughs & toe tapping rhythms!

Applesauce & Song

2011-08-15T14:57:00.001-04:00

Recently I have been made very aware of how important it is to have some sort of activity that you can fall back on when you've had one of those days & you just need to relax.

You know, big time relax...when you get to pull your shoulders down from your ears & ease the frown between your eyebrows. Ahh...doesn't that feel better?!

In this quest for relaxation I have discovered something about myself. I really like to peel apples. Peel 'em up, slice 'em up, rah, rah, rah! And once they are peeled you can make yourself some fab.u.lous apple sauce.

You start with a bunch of Granny Smith's & you can even get a little loosey goosey with it & add some Golden Delicious or Gala or whatever makes you sing.

And if you have a cute little cutting board & a corer/slicer you're doing just fine. I actually prefer to have a sharp paring knife & a compost/garbage bin & I go to town.

Once you get your crock full to the brim, add a little apple juice or water, put the lid on, & let it simmer away for hours. Those bad boys will get all cooked down & scent your house with a heavenly aroma.

If you don't like apple sauce, if apples give you hives, or you hate crock pots I have another relaxation exercise for you. Grab some cd's (preferably some opera or broadway show tunes). Get in your car. Drive to a remote area. Roll down the windows, crank up the opera/show tunes & sing along at the tip tip toppy of your lungs. Really dig down deep & reach for those high notes. Scream it out, if necessary. Get your tunes on with the windows down on a sunny summer day & I dare you to not be totally relaxed. You might even giggle. I know I do *grin*

Tomatoes

2011-08-13T05:00:00.002-04:00

Yeehaw!

My tomato plants are really coming along.

I've already eaten one of the big round ones. I'll admit that it was a bit crunchy & so not quite ripe but the flavor was ex.cell.ent. I about fainted from happiness!

Mike thinks I'm crazy.

Migraine Eyes

2011-08-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

I have a little excuse for why I have been MIA lately.

I really, really, really wish I could say that I have been outside doing tons of fun sunshiny summery things.

I have been doing a little of that. After all, those volunteer tomato plants have to be tended.

But I have also been spending some time dealing with migraine headaches.

'Migraine Eyes'

I started having migraines when I was about 12. The first one I had scared me to death. I always seem to have a lot of visual disturbance leading up to my headaches so that first time it struck I was convinced that I was going blind. It was a bad day.

Those headaches of the past were always triggered by stress. Most of the time it was emotional stress but they could even be triggered by physical stress - too much activity on too little sleep. Since we have a strong family history of migraines no one was surprised when I started having them & my pediatrician advised aspirin & it really worked. I could usually head it off at the pass if I took two aspirin as soon as the visual disturbances appeared. After a couple of years I seemed to have developed the maturity to handle the stresses in my life & the headaches sort of disappeared except for maybe two during my college years.

Fast forward 12 years (ouch! has it really been that long?) & I have had something like six migraines in the past six weeks. I don't really know what is going on. A couple of them seem to have been totally unprovoked while a couple of them definitely flared when I was overtired & a little upset. I went for two whole painful weeks without eating cheese to see if it made a difference. My grandpa became sensitive to cheese when he was in his early 30's so we thought maybe we shared a trigger. Nope. Thank God I can still eat cheese! So I don't really think I have developed a food allergy. I'm thinking it's probably the same old song & dance - I need to relax! get more sleep! trust the Lord for all the scary stuff! Yes, yes, & yes, all easier said than done. But I can be very grateful about a couple of things: these headaches are for the most part much less intense than the headaches of the past. I have been able to work through most of them. I don't really get nauseous. Light doesn't bother me but loud sounds really do. It's easier to escape from noise than it is to escape from the daylight. My old lady stomach is too sensitive for regular aspirin so I have to take the coated stuff. That means that the headache usually has time to go full blown, but all but one of these headaches has only lasted a couple of hours.

A weird situation for sure & I have to admit that I'm a little sad that so much of my summer has been consumed by this headache deal. But it's manageable & yeah, I intend to talk to my doctor about it sooner rather than later. I just haven't done it yet. This has just been another excellent way for the Lord to show me that there is always something to be thankful for in every painful situation. He has protected me & given me the strength to get through the painful times.

I'm totally open to home remedy kind of suggestions. A facebook friend told me that when her mom feels a migraine coming on she sniffs Vick's VapoRub & it makes it go away. Who knew?!

2011-08-03T17:41:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday. Oh boy...another year.

And I thank God that it doesn't bother me.

I mean, why worry about aging now; I've had gray hair for years.

And I'm the youngest in my family so I can still be called the baby.

Nah nah nah na na nah!

I'm so mature.

Anyway, the day has been a good one. God has blessed with me with a husband, family, friends & co-workers who know how to make a girl feel special.

Thank you all so much for the lovely happy birthday wishes!

The smoothie that I concocted for my breakfast got me off on the right start. I threw some frozen strawberries, blackberries, & blueberries in the blender with some kefir, apple juice & ground flax seed. I gave myself a break & didn't measure anything. Heehee...not such a great idea. There was a lot too much solid in there for the liquid & I had to keep tweaking & adding & tweaking & I thought I was going to end up with a monster smoothie! But it all turned out ok & I was only a couple of minutes late for workie-poo.

And then when I got to work the guys had brought in some fabulous cupcakes.

A sugar induced coma followed shortly after.

It was a good work day!

Thanks again everyone for making my birthday a special one!

Michael's Birthday

2011-07-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

Uncle Mike & Canton

Last week Mike had a birthday. Unfortunately, we have decided that as a couple we make the worst gift-giver/special occasion makers. I did buy him a sweet card & we took a trip to Menard's for a mitre saw stand (obviously something he had decided he needed for his shop & not something I had picked out for him). The week was busy with work & then when we had planned to do a special meal over the weekend our plans were interrupted by his dad being sick & ending up in the hospital (he should be coming home today - yay!).

The one thing I did do right to make my hubs feel special was make him a cake. And this is no ordinary cake, oh no! It's a peanut butter cake with peanut butter icing & you can find the recipe here. I just have to say, look out! Because it is one super-dee-duper-dee good cake.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go running because somehow over the course of this last week half of a peanut butter cake has attached itself to my thighs.

Gaelic Storm!

2011-07-28T12:34:00.000-04:00

In just a few hours I'm going to load my car up with a few of my favorite people:

my fabulous, fun-loving Momma

my wonderful, up for anything sister, Beth

my zany, a million laughs a minute friend, Autumn

We are headed to the big city for a live concert.

And this isn't going to be just any concert. Oh no.

We are going to see Gaelic Storm.

If this band is half as fun as I think they are, we are going to have such a blast.

When we get back & I get recovered from the super late night,

I'll tell you just what all the rumpus was about!

Huh.

2011-07-19T16:46:00.000-04:00

Used to be, I couldn't grow much of anything no matter how hard I tried. Apparently, I can now grow things without trying at all. Whaddauknow...I wonder if I have acquired any other super powers?

2011-07-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

Gratitide has been a bit of a recurring theme in my life lately. And I guess if you gotta have something tripping through your mind a lot, gratitude sure beats a lot of other stuff that could be jamming my brainwaves.

We just completed a ladies' Bible study that considered the role that gratitude plays in a Christian's life. We read the book, "Choosing Gratitude," by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I highly recommend it. Our last meeting was last Tuesday. To wrap up the final meeting & really cement in our minds what gratitude is all about & how important it is for it to be spoken (to the Lord in our prayers & also to the people who have blessed us), our pastor's wife, Bekah had us do a little exercise. We were sitting in a circle & we started with the first lady to Bekah's left. Each one of us in the circle got a turn to mention something that we were thankful for in that lady. It could be a personality trait (she's so friendly! energetic!), a character quality (she has such a servant's heart! she is so honest!), or something that she had done (she had our entire family over for dinner! she lovingly confronted me!). You get the idea? I don't think that any of us were too excited when Bekah explained the exercise. We all squirmed just a little bit. I was happy to think of ways that those ladies had been a blessing to me but I did not look forward to my turn to listen. It embarassed me. It humbled me. And it really encouraged me. It helped me realize that the work the Lord has done on me has not gone unnoticed. That brings me joy because it brings Him glory. It took a long time to get around that circle but it was such a blessing. It was just what we all needed.

Then this past Sunday night Pastor Jeff gave the congregation an opportunity to give testimonies. I love it when folks pop up & tell you what has been on their minds & hearts. I sat there & literally felt the goodness of the Lord fall over me like a waterfall. I listened with tears in my eyes & joy in my heart as church family members got up one by one to give God the glory for lessons learned, prayers answered, hurts being healed, & grace being accepted to deal with difficult situations & life changes. The only thought that coursed through my mind was, "Who am I, Lord?" I have SO MUCH. I have a family. In addition to that, the Lord has blessed me with a constant, caring church family. And if that wasn't enough, He allowed me to join Michael's family. It humbles me to think that the Lord has counted me worthy of being a part of these precious groups of people. He knew there would be dysfunction; He knew what I would need & He knew what others would need. And then He wisely & tenderly grouped us together so that we could have an impact on one another - so that some iron could sharpen iron & so that we could love, support, & comfort one another. I have been overwhelmed by His love & kindness.

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his hosts!

Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, all you shining stars!

Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the LORD!

For he commanded and they were created.

And he established them forever and ever;

he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all deeps,

fire and hail, snow and mist,

stormy wind fulfilling his word!

Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

Beasts and all livestock,

creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

Young men and maidens together,

old men and children!

Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

his majesty is above earth and heaven.

He has raised up a horn for his people,

praise for all his saints,

for the people of Israel who are near to him.

Praise the LORD!

Psalm 148

A Couple of Misfires

2011-07-13T05:00:00.000-04:00

Our Fourth of July weekend was very exciting - and the excitement started on Saturday night.

Mike & I had spent the evening at Beth & Brennan's house with several other couples & their kids. We had a great time together, eating, visiting, & shooting off some fireworks. While we were outside lighting up the sky with roman candles, fountains, & bottle rockets there was also a lot of lightning lighting up the sky to the north. I checked the radar & it looked like the storms were far north of us & that we had nothing to worry about.

Several hours later we were home & I was fast asleep. We are talking deep sleep. That storm was no longer far north of us but hovered right on top of our cozy little house. At almost exactly 1:30 in the morning there was a horrible loud boom. I didn't hear it (remember, I was fast asleep) but Mike sure did & it really startled him. He jumped out of bed & hollered at me & started looking out the window to see if there was any damage within sight. He couldn't see anything but he did note that our power was out. I double checked my phone to be sure an alarm was set so that we wouldn't miss church, rolled over, & fell back to sleep. I was tired; did you pick up on that?

The next morning when my alarm went off the first thing I noticed was how warm the house was. Ought-o. Still no power. I started stirring around trying to figure out what we needed to do. We loaded up our Sunday clothes that needed ironing & a few things from the freezer & took them over to my M&D's. I'm so grateful that they live so close & that they still had power! When we reported our outage the estimated repair time was 6 p.m. Ugh. Before we went to M&D's we did a little bit of looking around.

This transformer is by the back corner of our house. I'm not sure if you can see it in this pic, but the lid was blown clean off of it. We are pretty sure that this was the source of the loud bang.

And this sight greeted us at the front door. At first I was super relieved, thinking that the limb had fallen right beside the car. When we looked a little closer we were convinced otherwise.

There's a pretty sizable dent & scratch where the limb hit the top of the car before it fell to the ground. I was kind of discouraged when I saw it but then I remembered something. Earlier that week Mike & I had discussed dropping full coverage on the Corolla because it is paid off. We then did some investigating online & realized that the Corolla had retained an amazing amount of its value & decided to leave the insurance as it was. Thank God! Our insurance will pay for this repair with no deductible & no impact on our premium. Hopefully we can get it repaired later this week.

If I were a paranoid person who believed in poltergeists I would think that those trees were trying to get rid of us...first the sewer, then the roots in our flowerbed, and now dropping limbs on the car...hmmm...just a little something to think about...

Making Yard Progress!

2011-07-12T05:00:00.000-04:00

A battle has been won in the epic war to bring our yard back from complete anarchy & chaos!

This is the current battle zone: the flowerbed to the right of the front door steps.

As you can clearly see, it's been a bit overrun with weeds. Just a bit. But it's nothing that a huge jug of Roundup can't handle! I promise you, I pumped the pump on that jug so many times that my arms got sore. But it was worth it. Within 36 hours all those weeds were dead.

The pics above and below this line are of our two surviving hostas from last year. Poor things - the one below is especially pathetic. But one green leaf denotes survivor to me! That's all it takes to get another chance in my flower bed!

After the Roundup worked it's magic, all I had to do was take a pointed shovel & skive off the top layer of dirt & dead weeds. I put it off for a few days thinking it was going to be so hard but it wasn't really that bad. I was done in no time.

G-pa aka The Hosta Man gave us a couple more hostas to plant in our flower bed. He is so generous & despite my horrible track record, he has faith that I won't kill his gifts. Time will tell. I planted them spaced out in a row along the back of the flower bed.

My mom went with me to a local greenhouse (where I was a cashier during the summer in my college years) to help me pick out some shade lovers for our spot. We got a few of these colorful Coleus. I love their frilly leaves!

And I bought a whole flat of Impatiens. I don't know what I was thinking. That's something like 48 little flower plants. That's a whole lot of time on your knees with a trowel in hand!

So I arranged the back row to be hosta, coleus, hosta, coleus, etc. And then I planted the impatiens all along the front of the bed in several staggered rows. Planting the impatiens was a bit frustrating because our maple trees (you remember, the ones that have almost totally destroyed our sewer line?) have roots all through this flower bed. Some of the roots were small enough I could hack through them with my trowel but some of the were so big I just had to pick a different spot for the flower. It worked out ok, I think.

And here is the finished product1 It's looking lovely & I just have to remember to water it faithfully & put down some Preen so the weeds don't get out of control. It feels SO GOOD to have this little project done!

Two Years...Already?!

2011-07-11T05:00:00.000-04:00

In some ways I can hardly believe that two years have passed since the day Mike & I said, "I do." In other ways I feel like we have been married forever. I think that's a pretty normal feeling. All I know for sure, is that I do not know what I would do without him.

I have so many happy memories of our wedding day...the flowers were GORGEOUS. My dress wasn't half bad either *grin* Mike was so handsome (even though he was half petrified of being up in front of all the congregation). We felt so loved by our family & friends for gathering there with us to witness our marriage. It was a good day & the Lord has blessed us so much.

And there was a little bit of fun, too. Mike was totally untrusting of me during the cake exchange. I have no idea why...but perhaps that bite of cake was a little large...

And there was lots of smooching! I love me some Michael kisses *grin*

And the best part of all was that on July 11, 2009 I became Mrs. Michael. That is definitely the best part - even better than the yummy cake & the gorgeous flowers!

Since that day I have learned a lot. I have learned that being a wife is a good job. But it can be a hard job. And it's not because of my husband. It's because of my own sinful tendencies. I now understand more of how the Lord uses marriage in our lives to help change us to be more like Christ. There has been no other relationship in my years here on earth that has done a better job of holding the mirror up for me to see my true self. And I'm a bit dirty looking in that reflection. I've got the telltale signs of selfishness, anger, stubbornness, pride, impatience, & more. It's a pitiful picture.

But being Mike's wife has taught me even more than how awful I can be. I have had the opportunity to learn more of my husband's character. And he blows me away. He has his flaws, sure. But he has shown me over & over & over again the love of Christ. When I am awful acting, he loves me. When I am ugly (inside & out), he loves me. When I have been stinky just so I can test the limits of his love, he loves me. It's amazing, it's beautiful, & it humbles me. And I thank God for him.

Happy second anniversary to us & earnest prayers for many more years together...

New Garage Doors For Father's Day!

2011-07-10T05:00:00.001-04:00

For a very long time Michael had been planning to do something a little extra special for his dad. Mike is super good with dreaming up gift ideas. He remembered that a long time ago his dad had removed their regular overhead garage door so that he could store a boat for his dad. The boat was just a little bit too long for the garage so Estel had fashioned some really simple carriage type doors that offered just enough flexibility for the length of the boat. Time passed, the boat was sold, & the doors stayed. As they aged they got more & more weathered looking & they just didn't help with curb appeal, if you know what I mean.

So Mike decided that it would be a good Father's Day gift to make his dad some new garage doors. Two years after the inspiration stuck, after lots of research, lots of hard work, & approximately 479 trips to Lowe's & Menard's, the doors are now completed!

This is one of the old doors after we took it down.
It weighs approximately 1,283 pounds.

First Mike made the doors from some wood & stuff. I meant to get actual details for this post but Mike isn't here & I can't remember what this stuff is called. It might be MDF of some kind. We loved the look of planks & the material it is made of it supposed to stand up to the weather better than wood. I love the added details of the framing. I think it makes the doors look sharp.

After the doors were all put together, the hard part started. Neither of us is very talented when it comes to painting. And we're not very patient either. But we stuck with it through some of the hottest days of the summer putting the two tone paint job on the doors. We were really happy to make such close paint color matches with the house.

Once the painting was complete & dry Mike hung the doors & added some extra locking features to make them secure.

This picture was an attempt to show you the hardware. We put on pull handles & large black hinges. Their is a latch as well as a latch with a padlock.

This project was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun. I love it when Mike can use his talents to be a blessing & I also love it when he has a project to work on where I can help him.

Next up, window replacements for this little garage. And then I think we may have it whipped into shape!

What's On My Nightstand

2011-07-09T14:06:00.000-04:00

At this point I was hoping to be writing out a very informative review of the book, "The Maker's Diet". It's time for a little bit of confession.

Confession is good for the soul, right?

My nightstand has been hijacked.

I was dutifully reading "The Maker's Diet" & actually learning some things. It's started off as a very interesting, convicting, although somewhat heavy read.

And I made a quick trip to the library.

At the library I made a quick availability search.

You guessed it, that's when the train jumped the tracks.

Because this little book was available to check out.

Check it out, I did.

Read it everyday until I was finished, yes I did!

It was a fun read. And after I read all about the sickness on their honeymoon I didn't feel nearly so bad about having strep throat on my honeymoon!

Ree is nice & comforting like that.

So I can't tell you oodles of facts about how our digestive systems should be working & what exactly we should be eating for optimal health, but I can tell you that the Pioneer Woman experienced a lot of stomach dysfunction in the first year of her marriage.

I wonder if she would like to read "The Maker's Diet"?

Never fear, I do intend to get back on track & read "The Maker's Diet". Pinky swear. And if I don't get it done in a reasonable amount of time I owe you all a McDonald's dinner & a McFlurry! A nice, healthy meal...

An International Craft Swap Update

2011-07-08T12:44:00.000-04:00

As the deadline for my International Craft Swap project swiftly approaches I am feeling a little panicky.

Just a little bit.

Probably due to the fact that I haven't started yet.

And complicated by the fact that I haven't picked a project yet.

Oops.

I need some help. Since I'm not super crafty & I try to like doing crafts-y things but I don't really have any amazing artistic ability I just kind of flounder around with a zillion half hatched ideas in my brain.

So I started surfing the web. And this is where you come in.

I've discovered a few projects that I think even I could pull off without investing too many hours & too many dollars.

All I need you to do is let me know which project you think you would most like to receive as a gift. That's all. Not too hard, right? So leave a comment here or on facebook or tell me in person. Please don't be silent! Because I know you have an opinion lurking around in there *grin*

Option #1:
A dressy scarf Even though I have a degree in Home Economics & I had to take several sewing classes, I'm not much of a seamstress. However, I do think I could pull this off. I am a little intimidated because the girl I'm gifting seems to be quite the talented seamstress.

Option #2:
Anthro Geological Spectrum Necklace I've never made a necklace in my life. But I did make a bunch of beaded bracelets for Christmas one year. That gives me the confidence to think that I could probably pull this one off & make a humdinger of a necklace!

Option #3:
A bracelet from a belt This idea comes from Malia at one of my favorite blogs, Yesterday on Tuesday. She's full of easy ideas & all sorts of fun. You should check her blog out sometime.

Option #4:
A Chalkboard Candelabra This idea is also from Malia. I think this is the project that I really want to do. It just looks fun & it's something completely different than any other crafty thing I've done. And I think Mike would have to help me. I'm always looking for excuses to spend time with him. Don't tell, but I think he's cute *grin*

Option #5:
Anything you can think of to recommend to me. I'm open for suggestions!

Thanks for all of your help!

To Make You Smile...

2011-07-07T14:50:00.000-04:00

Look at this lovely little tomato coming on. Doesn't it look great? This summer I have really been longing to dig in the dirt & plant a big 'ole garden! But the problem is that I'm PharmGirl, not a farm girl so it just hasn't happened. Our yard is big but totally unfenced & full of bunnies every evening. And the soil is bad, as in sandy & full of broken bricks & rocks. If we were to have a garden there would be weeks of preparation. We don't have that kind of stamina. Maybe someday...

So I've had several chats with the Lord about this. I have been requesting that the next house (& who knows when that will be?) will have a lovely gardening area - maybe even already established!

As the summer has gone by & I've been mowing & trying to figure out what to do with the serious ruts & mess left behind by the sewer saga I noticed a strange looking growth in our yard. I refused to mow it down & man, did it look funny! Mike came home & asked what was up with the weirdo weed. I said not to worry about it; I think it's a tomato plant. He didn't believe me & I halfway didn't believe myself. I decided to wait & see.

I have waited. And now I have seen. Three little tomatoes & a total of three plants! All volunteer. Can you believe it? I can't help but attribute this little yard development to the goodness of our God. He knew the desire of my heart & He knew how hard I was working not to be jealous of those who have big, gorgeous gardens. And He blessed us with three volunteer tomato plants.

How sweet is that?

A New Addition to the Family

2011-07-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not pregnant.

And no, we didn't get a puppy (too bad!).

We got a Ram.

A Dodge Ram, that is.

Mike & I had been praying for quite some time that the Lord would provide a truck for us. Mike has one that's wrecked. He knows how to fix it but we either haven't had the money or he hasn't had the time.

Time & money.

Money & time.

It's so funny to me how it always seems to work that way - when I have money, I have no time (probably because I'm working WAY to much to get the money!). And then when I have the time, I got no money.

So Mike's wrecked truck has sat in his parent's driveway for quite some time. And we were praying for a solution to our truck problem. With all of the woodworking & remodeling projects Mike takes on, it just really helps to have a truck. It's no easy feat to figure out how to get a 12 foot piece of wood trim home when you are driving a compact Toyota, people.

So we were praying specifically because we want to be wise with the resources God gives us & not just go out & buy things because we want them or because right now we can afford them. We prayed specifically: we asked God to provide us with a Dodge Ram, regular cab, short bed, 4 wheel drive, in the color black if it wasn't too much trouble.

Evidently for the Lord, it wasn't too much trouble.

We are enjoying the Ram & trying to remind ourselves that it is a work vehicle & not an everyday driver.

One of it's first loads was to haul home some windows for Mike's parent's garage. Over the next few weeks he will be working on getting four windows switched out for them in the next stage of the big garage update. What's that? I haven't shared the completion of Stage One yet? It's coming, I promise! I've had a little bit of trouble loading up all of the pics. When I get them on here, watch out! You're going to love what you see!

It Could Be Time...

2011-07-02T05:00:00.002-04:00

for an intervention...

You see, things have gotten increasingly more serious...

some might even say it's gotten a little out of hand...

It used to be that I liked picking up a gas station coffee every now & again.

I figured out the perfect cup - 3/4 decaf & 1/4 Colombian.

Top it off with some cream & sugar & some cinnamon.

Yum.

I'd stop in maybe once every couple of weeks.

Then it got more serious.

The cravings were intense!

I'd stop in, get my perfect cup of joe & then a smile would spread across my face.

The ultimate in early morning happiness.

See that smile?
It used to be reserved for Mike alone...
Poor Mike...

Recently things have escalated to a whole other level. Did you realize that gas stations have deals on fountain soda? You can get anywhere from a 20 oz. drink to a 44 oz. drink for the low, low price of $.89! And if you have their punch card, every 6th drink is FREE!

Do you see why I'm having such a struggle?

And they have that lovely crushed up ice that looks like little pellets.

I love pellet ice. It's a sickness.

The perfect soda is 3/4 caffeine free Diet Coke and 1/4 Diet Dr. Pepper.

Bliss, sheer bliss...

I think I might be in trouble...send help before I drink away the family fortune!

The Unplanned...

2011-07-01T14:23:00.000-04:00

Today has just not gone like I thought it would.

First of all, it has been raining off & on all day. I didn't think that was in the forecast.

Second of all, one of my coworkers went home sick which in turn caused me to make several deliveries that I wouldn't normally be making & I was not planning on spending that much time away from my awesome new desk.

And the big kahuna of the unplanned is that I have had a migraine headache today. It's the weirdest thing because I haven't had one in years. In fact, it's been so long that I didn't recognize the symptoms at all until it was too late. I was getting ready to leave for my out of town delivery when I realized that my eyesight was monkeyed up. I was looking at Bob (one of my coworkers) & I couldn't see all of his face. Huh. Mild panic took up residence in the pit of my stomach. I rationalized that it was from looking at my computer screen since my desk changed & now the light was hitting it different, blah, blah, blah. Truth be told, for about 15 minutes I couldn't see much of anything. Then all of a sudden it was fine. I got in the car & called my mom & she convinced me it was probably a migraine starting up & that I should take some aspirin ASAP. Thankfully I had some with me so I took one. Man, then the headache set in. I have been squinting my eyes & furrowing my brow so much that most of my mascara is on my cheeks & I think I have a permanent wrinkle between my eyebrows.

A few hours later & I'm feeling much better. My migraines are bothersome but they have never been debilitating, thank God. The thing that bothers me most about today is that I have no idea what triggered the headache. Years ago when I got them more frequently they were always linked to some big emotional thing - something upsetting or even something really happy & exciting. Today has just been a regular day; nothing big has happened at all. Huh.

Do any of you suffer from migraines? What are your triggers?

Moving Day

2011-06-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

The changes just keep a'coming at my workplace. Starting next week we will have some major changes, going from two pharmacists to one & all that is involved with that.

It's going to be a little weird, but I think it's going to be ok.

With all of this crazy change taking place, I got to do a little crazy thinking.

In my 'office' (which is really just a common room with the break table behind me & everyone coming & going all the time - which is how I like it) has a computer desk in it. I have never really loved it because I don't have any drawers & its design just lended itself to messiness.

The pharmacists used to share an office adjacent to mine. In it they each had a large desk with four drawers. When my boss announced all of the changes that were going to take place I realized that one of the desks in their office would no longer be needed. Hmmm...I want me some desk drawers!

So I asked my boss about it. Let me tell you just one thing about my boss: he's nice. If he can make something happen for you, he will. Today I got my desk drawers.

The Old Desk moved away from the wall & ready to be cast aside.
See all those piles of papers & clutter?

This is Ed. He is our main fix it man. He was right there with a plan &
ready to help when we started talking about swapping desks.

My New to Me Desk with Four Drawers.

I'm really grateful we were able to do this little switcheroo. It forced me (& my boss) to go through some things that needed to be dealt with. And I'm really liking my new setup so far.

Now it's time to go get some candy bars or something that's worth hiding in the drawers!

I'm Needing A Nudge

2011-06-23T05:00:00.002-04:00

Lately I've been feeling a little bit ho-hum-dee-hum. Not unhappy. Not depressed. Actually I'm in a pretty good place of contentment with a lot of people/circumstances in my life. God is good (all the time, of course) & I'm grateful that lately my prayers to recognize His goodness to me are being answered - blessing are all around, people!

So what's with the ho-hum-dee-hum? I just feel unmotivated. I've been staying up late. I've been eating lots of good for me food but just as much bad for me food. I've been working out a little bit, & I've been running not at all. I've been starting projects & finishing nothing. I just don't have a lot of get up & go & hit it! I really need someone or something to light a fire under my lazy hiney & get me going.

Any volunteers?

What is your sure fire (ha!) go-to plan to get yourself motivated? Do you set a list of goals? Do you find someone to be accountable to? Do you memorize verses on laziness & self-control? Do you lecture yourself in the mirror every morning? Or do you just give yourself a hug & be chill with the status quo?

Help, anyone?

My Wanter Is Out Of Whack

2011-06-22T05:00:00.002-04:00

When I was a kid we had a dog. She was a sweetie & her name was Queenie. She was probably a miniature Collie-Husky mix. At least that's what she looked like. And she was a great dog. Except for this phase she went through where she would get out of her collar (or even harness) & dig out under the fence of our back yard. Once she was out she wouldn't go too far but she would do some yucky stuff like get dirty diapers out of the neighbor's trash cans. *shudder* Yeah, other than that she was a great dog! And I think she lived a fairly happy life in our backyard under the maple tree in her little white house.

Several years after Queenie went to the pet cemetary at the farm, my brother went to the local pound. He found a little puppy named Abbigail that was probably a Husky-Chow mix. She was a pretty little thing despite a case of mange that tattered her cinnamon colored coat. After a couple days spent twisting my dad's arm Abby came to live with us. She was our first indoor dog & she was so smart. She was house trained in one day. Though she struggled with the mange & some other sickness at first she quickly got healthy & gave us all a run for our money. She could chase her tail & play for hours. We had so much fun with her. Then she grew up & got a little moody. She didn't like it when we rearranged furniture. She would pout when I went off to school & then pout some more when I came home. She didn't like any of my friends & she even got in a couple of nips over the years. She was a beautiful dog but she was a little hard to handle when she got old & crochety.

And now I haven't had a dog for years. When I bought my house I got dog fever BAD. And it hasn't really gone away. At first I really wanted a dog because I was a little intimidated of living alone. I only lived there alone for about nine months before we got married but those nights were sometimes long & scary. I definitely would have gone to the pound & got myself a puppy if I hadn't been working 14 hour days several times a week. And to complicate matters, my yard didn't & still doesn't have a fence. And I still don't have a dog.

But my sister's family does. She's a pound puppy. And we all love her to pieces. Her name is Coco & Brennan has taught her to chase deer so she is a garden guard dog! Any time I get a real jones-n' for a puppy of my own I go down to Beth & Brennan's house & have a romp with Coco.

Coco says hi to all of you PharmGirl readers!

Coco goes along for all of our adventures - hiking in the woods, bike rides,
walks & runs along the country roads where they live outside of town.

Coco even came to the farm with us to celebrate Memorial Day.

Maddie & Coco are great friends. They get their cuddle on whenever possible.

Coco even gets rides in the red wagon.

And she even looks good in black & white!

I think I might have to go down to the country tonight & get my Coco fix!

Are you wanting a pet these days? Or do you already have one? Or do you have one that you wished you didn't anymore? heehee...

Our Annual Yard Sale

2011-06-21T05:00:00.000-04:00

I consider myself super blessed because I have some friends who are yard sale junkies. Every year they get together & have a big yard sale Saturday. This is the second year I've been able to get in on the action. I have always loved putting on a good yard sale but it is utterly exhausting doing it yourself. Plus our house has a very stinky location. Autumn's house is The Spot, if you know what I mean.

Saturday morning we were supposed to be at Autumn's house by about 6:15 to get things set up. When I got up at about 5:30 *yawn* there was some thunder storm action going on. We had a quick phone conference & decided to try to be set up by 8 instead of 7. I finished getting myself together & then headed out to pick up a ~~tanker~~ cup of coffee & the requisite donut breakfast for me & Mike. I had a tractor tire. They are the grand poobah of all donuts. Mike had a couple of Bavarian filled donuts. I did not try to talk him into giving me a bite of one of those. *shudder* Whoever thought pudding should go in a donut?

YUM.

Thankfully the Lord answered our prayers & cleared the rain up. The sky was cloudy & ominous & more than once we felt a sprinkle or two but mostly this was the scene in Autumn's driveway all.morning.long. Yee to the haw, people!

See those Dodge Ram wheels in the front right corner?
They are still available! Let us hook you up!

I have never been part of a yard sale that was quite so busy for so very long. Usually the sales wind down around noon. We still had a few folks dropping by at 3 p.m. We had one big rain scare that had us hauling the totes out. We scooped all the rain affective stuff back into the totes quick as can be. Then the bad clouds blew over & we had it all back out. It took about 10 minutes all told. We are like a well-oiled yard sale-ing machine!

Will made a killing selling water. I think he earned about $2 off of me alone!

Abby & Jess took a moment to model some puppy Halloween outfits.

Autumn, Abby, April, & PharmGirl

Yeah, my yard sale-ing friends are sisters (can't ya tell?). We had such a good time all together on Saturday & we made a decent haul. I made more at this sale than I think I ever have before. We were kinda thinking that maybe we needed to schedule a fall sale. I gotta tell you, I'm in...I still have some stuff to unload & I have tons of masking tape left so I can make many a price tag!

Have you had a yard sale this summer? Was it a doozey?

Change is good, right?

2011-06-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

For whatever reason, resistance to change seems to be built into our human nature. Or at least it's alive and well in my nature. There are some changes that I have learned to appreciate, like the changing in the seasons. As much as I detest winter I don't think I'd be perfectly happy living somewhere that didn't have all four seasons. It would be fine with me if the warmer seasons took up a disproportionate part of the calendar, but I would still want the change. And I enjoy the change of pace that I regularly have with my work. I know that I will usually work the same shift with the same guys. I know that the day will start out working in the lab with the drugs, the drugs will be delivered, the returns will be dealt with, & then we will prepare for the next day's work. But with all of that planned activity there are all sorts of monkey wrenches that can get thrown in. Sometimes our supply chain gets interrupted. This time last year we had major shortages because of two of the world's largest reactors were shut down. Then there was the volcano in Iceland that erupted & shut down all of Europe's airports. Every day we had a puzzle to solve to see how many doses we could supply out of our store of radioactive material. It wasn't fun exactly but it was definitely not boring! Another monkey wrench that can get thrown into the day's schedule is an unscheduled dose for one of our customers. That almost always puts me on the road to make the delivery. So when I clock in I'm just not quite sure what the day holds. And that kind of change I like.

But there's a different kind of change that's coming to our little pharmacy on July 1st. The location in the Big City has lost some of their business to a competitor. We have lost some business as well just by having customers run fewer tests. The Decision Makers have decided that the best way to handle this situation is to shift some of our business to the Big City location & make our location more of a satellite. Acutally the official terminology is 'hub & spoke'. They are the hub, we are the spoke (I don't know why, but that hub & spoke stuff triggers a SheDaisy song in my mind, "You got the bucket baby, I got the chicken..."). Ahem...where was I? Ok, the Big City location will be dispensing our first run of doses, one of our drivers will go pick them up, & then we will deliver them. One of our pharmacists will no longer be needed so he will be relocating to the Big City. The other pharmacist & I will come in, get things going & then dispense our second run from this location. That whole process is familiar to me because it is what we do when we have a pharmacist on vacation. But it will be strange doing it all the time. There are still a lot of questions in my mind about how other tasks will break down - things that are inherent parts of my job like returns processing & billing. At this point it is most likely that the Big City location will handle all of that so that our customers can receive just one invoice. This is not my favorite part of my job but one that I take very seriously because there should be no errors in billing. It might be a bit hard to let go of the control. And it concerns me that a part of my workload is going to disappear. At this point there has been no discussion of staff changes or cutbacks. That is encouraging. My boss also mentioned that he would like for me to be trained as our location's Radiation Safety Officer. This is something I would love to do. However, he is already trained for it so there is no guarantee that his boss will think it necessary.

It's kind of interesting. It's kind of an easy thing to worry about - is this the beginning of the end for our location? What if I have to work full time in retail pharmacy?! That has crossed my mind multiple times. But I'm constantly reassured that the Lord provided this job for me. If it goes away it will be because He allowed it & because He has a better place for me to be. It's all good with change when the Lord is the One orchestrating it!

What We've Been Up To

2011-06-19T07:00:00.002-04:00

Part of what has kept me offline recently is a big project Mike is working on.

It was something he promised his dad as a gift for last Father's Day.

It just got finished last night.

That's what I call working at a fast pace *grin*

I'm still working through some pics to make sure that I have a complete start to finish kind of report for you.

As always, Michael did a fabulous job.

More to come!

Successes & Failures

2011-06-18T05:00:00.002-04:00

Call me a little weird, but I'm always on the look out for something new to eat. I get bored easily & I've always been taught that a healthy diet embraces wide variety. And I don't think I'm too awful picky. There are just a few things I don't like. For example, I am not a fan of coconut, bananas, papaya, ham (or essentially all pork products), ground hamburger, peaches...

Ok, so maybe I'm a little picky.

But I have been trying to broaden my palate lately. Poor Mike gets dragged along. Most of the time he isn't kicking or screaming. And most of the time I don't try to coerce him into trying something he doesn't want to. Most of the time...

Anyway, a couple of successes I have had recently are discovering that I love, love, love pistachios! I had never had them before when recently a friend shared some with me. It was love at first bite *grin* And I like the fact that you have to pop them out of their shells. Then you have to work to eat a whole fistful at once. No, I don't usually snack a fistful at a time, do you? *blush*

And they make a good driving snack!

I love yogurt. This is something I didn't discover until college because my mom doesn't like yogurt so it never occurred to her to introduce us to it. Now I eat it almost every day. It's good stuff. Recently I tried Greek style yogurt. It's a little different. I think the honey helps me like it. Without the honey, no deal. But it's packed with protein & those good bacteria bugs so it will probably become a regular resident in our fridgie.

Now for my not so success-full stories. This past Saturday I ~~dragged my carcass~~ popped out of bed bright & early to hit the farmers market. I may or may not have shoved a baseball cap over my bedhead. I may or may not have ducked & hid when I saw some people I know. But I know that I absolutely did pick up some farm fresh eggs, local honey, a leek, & a baby bok choy.

Am I weird, because I kind of liked that I had to wash the wet dirt off of my produce. It made me feel like it had been picked just that morning.

Who knew leeks had such beautiful flowers?

And here are the brief tales (I promise) of my failures:

*I used the honey to make granola bars. I got local honey with the hopes that it would help relieve some of Mike's allergy symptoms. This honey tastes totally different than any honey I've ever had. It's not totally unpleasant but it didn't jive well with the granola bars. Huh.

*The baby bok choy was a limp noodle mess by the time I was hoping to use it. Grrr.

*The leek was actually kind of fun to chop down & find a recipe for. I was going to make Garlic & Leek Mashed Potatoes. Things were going great - I had the potatoes on to cook. I had the garlic & leek simmering in some chicken broth & I had some milk set aside with just a touch of vinegar to make a substitute for buttermilk. At just the right time I added the 'buttermilk' & some butter to the leeks & garlic. What ensued was nothing short of sickening. The milk curdled & turned into this awful snotty mess & it started to smell bad & all I could do was keep stirring in horror! Then I checked the date on our milk & it was expired. Then I checked the smell of our milk & it was definitely spoiled. Yep, I added vinegar to sour milk so it was double rotted! Ugh. It was gross. Super gross. Ugh. La La La La La Laaaa! It's time for a subject change.

Kudos to Mike for dumping that mess out for me so I could wash the saucepan. Otherwise the whole deal would have gone into the trash!

I won't be checking out the farmer's market with my bedhead under a baseball cap this weekend because I'll be co-hosting a yard sale with my friends Autumn, Abby, & April (yep, they are sisters!). If you are local, come by! We've got lots of great ~~junk~~ valuables to sell!

Tickling the Ivories

2011-06-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

Recently Caleb & Madison had a piano recital. It was an excellent chance for them to display the skills they are developing. When we walked in I was surprised & happy to see that not only were Caleb & Maddie going to play for us but there were also 8 other students, one of whom was their grandma (their dad's mom). She is an inspiration - always learning something new.

Each student had one solo piece & then they all played in a duet. All of the students except Caleb & Maddie played their duet with the teacher. Caleb & Maddie got to play together.

Doesn't Caleb look thrilled?

Maddie was nervous all day but she did a great job!

Their duet

As I was sitting in the pretty little country church listening to the piano players flow & stumble through their pieces, I did a little looking around. I was filled with gratitude when I realized how many of our family came to support Caleb & Maddie. That's one thing you can say about our family - we show up for each other every time we possibly can. And that's part of what makes my family so very, very wonderful.

Of course Dad & Mom were there.

And the G's (Great Pa & Great Ma)

My Momma aka Grandma In Town

And even Aunt Ruth & Uncle Allan

It was a good time of entertainment & a great time of fellowship as a family. And no, Caleb & I aren't confessing how many cookies we ate at the reception that followed *grin*

Hiya!

2011-06-16T10:19:00.000-04:00

Just popping in for a quick moment to let you know that I have not been abducted by aliens, I have not been living under a rock, & I am not in the hospital or dead.

And even though I haven't been hanging around here at the blog, I have been thinking about it. Like, a lot. And making notes & reading other blogs & dreaming of ways to improve this little space. I've been thinking about things like adding some pages, creating a regular feature or two, & maybe even hosting a linky party (which is terrifying to me because what if NO ONE LINKS UP!).

And I have been living life. It's been exceedingly life-ful lately. And that is a good thing; it just takes up a lot of time! My plan is to be back here on a regular basis soon. Until then, ciao!

What's On My Nightstand

2011-06-09T12:46:00.000-04:00

A while back I told you all about a book I was just getting into, "The Help". At that point I couldn't really make an informed recommendation because I hadn't finished the book yet. Since I have convictions about what I feel the Lord would have me to read & I know some of you do to, I don't take making recommendations lightly. None of us has oodles of time to sit around & waste on a bad book, whether the story itself is disappointing or the content is just too colorful, if you know what I mean.

That being said, I can wholeheartedly recommend "The Help." My goodness, did it ever make me think! In really such a short span of time our country has made some major strides as far as discrimination & integration go. And I never really thought so before, but I think we still have progress to make. It might not be so much with black people & white people anymore. I think it's gotten more complicated than that. We have so many 'minority groups.' You can't classify just by race anymore. There are belief systems, sexual orientations, financial classes, educational distinctions, tall/short, fat/thin, red headed with freckles, & so many others. It just really made me pray that I would learn to show the love of Christ to anyone & everyone that I interact with. After all, every person is a person that Jesus loves.

Let me just put one caveat on the book: there is one section that would not be appropriate for young readers. Definitely preview it before you give it to a teenager to read. It's not a gratuitous scene; it actually is telling the story of an attack that two of the ladies endure. Just something to be forewarned about.

And if you're not convinced that "The Help" is a good read, I'll tell you one more little thing. My friend Autumn borrowed the book on a Friday night & by Monday morning she emailed me to tell me she was done with it, she loved it, & could her coworker borrow it?

So now that I've finished that book up, I'm on to something new. And this time it's a bit of a change of pace. It's actually a type of book that I've never read before so we will see how it goes.

I could absolutely get consumed (ha!) by the topic of food & nutrition. I am just like everybody else, I want to lose some weight. I want to feel good. I want to be healthy. I want all of my blood test numbers to fall into the right ranges. So I tend to obsess about food & exercise. I read food blogs. When I get the chance, I watch the Food Network. I work out almost every day. I talk to other people about what they eat & how they work out. And I know I'm not alone. It cracks me up that one of my friends on facebook has an album entitled "Stuff We Eat" where he chronicles his wife's culinary masterpieces. I use the iphone app Instagram & more than half of the pics on there are pics of food (mine & the folks that I follow). Why do we love The Pioneer Woman? Mostly because she is real & great but also because she cooks! And anytime the topic of diet or nutrition or exercise comes up, everyone has something to say.

I decided that since I had read about & heard about this title several times recently that I would go to the library & see if it was available. They had it, I checked it out, & now I'm going to read it.

It's supposed to contain a health plan that is based on the Bible & proven by science. I guess we'll see. I'll let you know what I find out!

As always, if you have any thoughts about my thoughts, please share! And let me know if there is a book out there that you think I should put on my nightstand.

Just so there's no confusion, these are just my thoughts & opinions. I have not been given these books to review & I have not been compensated in any way. Over & out.

My Culinary Miscabobble

2011-06-08T13:26:00.000-04:00

I had myself all prepared to post a fabulous write up on a homemade granola bar recipe.

I took lots of pics. I even used natural light (which I have read enough about on other blogs to figure out that it must be important). I got the idea to make homemade granola bars from one of Alicia's recent posts. She was discussing her goal of purchasing less processed food & it made sense to me, too. This was the second time for me to use this recipe but I have been adding lots of personal tweaks.

In case you didn't know 'personal tweaks' is synonymous for 'reasons the recipe can fail.'

And that's what happened.

I don't think I'm being prideful by saying that the granola bars look good. And they smelled good. And they even taste pretty good. So I won't call this a complete failure. But I did keep going back for bite after bite trying to figure out what was off. Once I had totally wrecked my sensible eating for the day by snagging way too many evaluation bites, I think I have it at least partially figured out. When I get it all straight we will revisit this recipe with another post that will celebrate it's wonderfulness!

In the meantime, may I entertain you with a story about myself that should make you chuckle?

The first time I made the granola bars I had a new ingredient to add to my pantry. The recipe calls for wheat germ so I bought some (and yes, I did the happy dance when I found it in Walmart; that place is huge! when looking for something new it can take HOURS). Anyway, after I was done using it I read the entire label, twisting the jar all the way around more than once trying to determine if it needed to be stored in the refrigerator. Something was tickling in the back of my mind that wheat germ should be refrigerated once it's opened. However, we have a teensy fridge & real estate in that baby comes at a premium. I wasn't going to add another jar in there unless it was necessary. I twirled the jar a couple of times & then set it down on the counter with a huff of frustration thinking maybe I'd have to look it up on my iphone.

That's when I got a look at the lid. Are those half inch letters big enough for you, PharmGirl?

I put the jar in the fridge. After all, the package clearly states that it should be refrigerated after opening!

Sometimes I can be a little ~~blonde~~ unobservant.

Not again!

2011-06-07T13:08:00.000-04:00

This morning I did that thing that I know I shouldn't ever do - I fell back to sleep after Mike left for work. And the thing that always happens did not fail to happen.

I had a weird, crazy, awful dream.

You could call it a nightmare.

*WARNING*

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE ADVERSE TO IMAGES OF SPIDERS, STOP READING NOW!

Aunt Ruth, that means you *grin*

While I should have been slumbering peacefully, I was actively dreaming. About spiders. I dreamt that Mike & I were in our bedroom talking, sitting on the end of our bed. Instead of the red painted walls that our bedroom has in real life, our walls were wood paneling. I looked up at the head of the bed, to the wall behind the headboard to see a group of no less than 30 spiders crawling around & spinning webs & jumping all over the place. I freaked out. Mike was calm & said why don't we just wait & see what they are going to do? So that's what we did. We sat on the far end of the bed & watched them. They stayed in the same general area but as we watched we could literally see them getting bigger. That's when I came undone in my dream. I got up from the bed & hollered & they all started moving toward us & that's when I woke up. And yeah, I was afraid to open my eyes or move any part of my body. It was horrible.

In order to fully share with you the experience of my horror, I spent all of my lunch hour scouring the internet for a picture of the spider that occupied my dream. I knew eventually I would find it because I've seen this kind of spider just about everywhere. So I searched online & definitely lost my appetite looking at pictures of spiders. Finally I found out that it is called the Black & White Hunting Spider. I was relieved to discover that he is totally harmless as far as poisonous biting. However, I was horrified to discover that he is a jumper. *shiver*cringe*shiver*

Here he is! Have you ever seen a spider like this before?

Everyone have sweet dreams tonight!

Pharm Girl

What Would You Do?

It's Never Boring In Our Neighborhood!

Countdown To Christmas!

Wintry Weather Blessings

Young (At Heart) Love

Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

Breathing A Sigh of Relief

Getting My Soup On!

Reflections On Humiliation

I Guess I'm Not Too Highly Principled After All

You Wanna Know What I Think?

Soup

Wrapping It Up!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday!

October Unprocessed - A Wrap Up

Today Feels Like A Day To...CELEBRATE!

There's Some Good News & Some Bad News...

My Latest Addiction

Beginning Band

An Update & A Recipe or Two

Am I Getting Old?

The Autumn Mood

Happy Birthday To My Dad

It's A Monday

Too Many Experiments!

The Ornies!

Aunt MeeMee To The Rescue!

I'm A Bit Crazy, Maybe...

Wisdom of the G's

The Book Fairy

Fridgie Wallpaper

Observations From A Housecleaning Woman

It's A Christmas Miracle!

Nothin', Nada, Zippo, Zilch

My New Favorite Thing

My Monday - By The Numbers

SOMETIMES...

My Nightstand Has Been Hijacked AGAIN & Other News...

My Dream Garden

Aloha! *sniff*

Cabbage!

Applesauce & Song

Tomatoes

Migraine Eyes

Michael's Birthday

Gaelic Storm!

Huh.

A Couple of Misfires

Making Yard Progress!

Two Years...Already?!

New Garage Doors For Father's Day!

What's On My Nightstand

An International Craft Swap Update

To Make You Smile...

A New Addition to the Family

It Could Be Time...

The Unplanned...

Moving Day

I'm Needing A Nudge

My Wanter Is Out Of Whack

Our Annual Yard Sale

Change is good, right?

What We've Been Up To

Successes & Failures

Tickling the Ivories

Hiya!

What's On My Nightstand

My Culinary Miscabobble

Not again!

Aloha! sniff