Birthdays

This week I celebrated a birthday. When you are young, that is a very special day in your life - one where you expect the whole world to take note. There has to be a party, gifts, friends, cake, etc. Then you become a parent and the world doesn't stop for your birthdays in quite the same fashion as when you were the child. But, you are newly wedded and hopefully someone will remind your hubby to do something for you! Fast forward 30 years into marriage. These are pictures from my birthday.










Do I fly radio control airplanes? NO. Does my husband fly radio control airplanes? A big YES! This is the weekend for his club's Big Bird Event. People started coming in on Wednesday for this weekend event. Since Gary is president of the club, he was out there waiting on them. He even took our camper out so he could stay with them.

Since my birthday interfered with this event, I went by Ironwood Grill - got HIM a rib eye and me their wonderful quesadillas and we ate at the flying field for my birthday. When I was 25, I might have been upset about this lack of attention, but at 57, it was actually very relaxing. I had a very busy week designing houses and since I work from my home, it was a nice break to get out of the house.

The lesson from life this week......don't sweat the details. Don't think the world has to center around you. It is such a Blessing when things like this do NOT bother you anymore. You learn to just go with the flow. Take what life hands you and have fun with it. Setting expectations may lead to disappointments. It is more Blessed to
give than to receive. Living life with that attitude is a sign of maturity.

Have a Blessed day!

Do You Need a Boost?

Do you have trouble getting good cell phone service in your home?  Do you have AT&T cell service?  Well we sure have that problem!  When we built out home, we used foil backed decking on the roof and the walls.  The utility bills are great, but the cell service was terrible.  If you called us on our cell phones, we either had to go outside or ask that you call us back on our home phones.  Sometimes I had to resend text messages up to 10 times to get them to work and the phone had to be in certain areas of the house.  Sooooo annoying!

Yesterday we got a letter in the mail from AT&T offering us a free product to correct this problem.  Free?  Made me skeptical so I went on a hunt to see what the catch was.  Turns out, there was NO catch.  It really was free and there was no monthly charge for it.  All I had to do was take the letter into my AT&T store and they would give me this product.  I don't know why or how we were chosen to get this product for free, but I am certainly glad we were!  It is call the  3G Microcell.

It hooks into you wi-fi or internet service.  You have to be on high speed internet.  I opened that letter about 3:45 yesterday afternoon and by the time night fall came, Gary had it installed in our home.  Simple installation.  Just a couple of cords to plug in.  It is amazing.  We are like normal people now.  We can sit on the couch and talk on our cell phones!  The only negative that I can see is that if YOU come to my house and want to use YOUR cell phone, it still will not work well.  It will only work for up to 10 REGISTERED phones.  You go online and register the numbers you want and those phones will have the boosted service.  But hey, how many times are you at my home wanting to use your cell phone?  If you come to see me more often, I will add you to my list of registered phones.  :)

Hope this helps someone out there with the same problem that we had. 

Have a Blessed day! 



How Does Your Garden Grow?

 Gary has talked about having a garden this year.  Groceries are so expensive and we have all of this land.  I remind him that we also have large rabbits, a ton of birds, at least 10 deer, geese, armadillos and multiple other varmints roaming around at night.  And, I am usually thinking to myself  (I don't say it out loud to him)  how he will not get out there and work a garden.  He has radio control airplanes to fly, houses to build, meetings to attend.  He dreams of things like........

CHERRY TOMATOES

RED RADISHES

WHITE RADISHES

and, I think of bulbs that will bloom one day!

Don't those all look wonderful!  We have such a green thumb!  Well, actually, all of these are inside our house.  I pull them out every year in the Spring to make us look like we have green thumbs. 

I like to keep our island seasonal and it is large enough to have all those pots on there along with various other things.  Everyone that comes into my house asks if the tomatoes are real. 

I did feel the Spring in the air a couple of Saturdays ago and made the trek to Lowes and planted my garden.

RED BELL PEPPERS AND BANANA PEPPERS

Two plants total.

EARLY GIRL TOMATO

with three blooms already

BIG BOY TOMATO

Not sure this was exactly the garden my husband was dreaming of, but it will be all I want to take care of.  Four plants to be exact in the flower bed right off of my screened porch.  There won't be any need to pull the old canner out of the closet.  But we will have fresh tomatoes and peppers one day if the birds don't enjoy them first.

Have a Blessed day!





Questions on Heaven

Reading is something I  never really did until I was in my forties.  I used the excuse that it put me to sleep which was really the truth.  Then the Left Behind series came out and I started after about 4 of the books had been written so I really got into the habit of reading.  Did it still put me to sleep?  Well, sorta, kinda, but I learned if I got drowsy to get up and go to the bathroom or get a drink or do a few jumping jacks to get my blood flowing and I could read longer.  (Well, I really didn't do the jumping jacks, but I probably should have!)  The books were really good too, so they kept my interest.  Now, it is hard for me to go to sleep at night if  don't read.  And it is even harder to go to sleep if the book is really good.  I am to the point I almost wouldn't need a television to exist.  I know, that is drastic!

Last night I started a new book and just let me tell you, I finished the book before I could go buy groceries today.  It was GOOD!  Less than 200 pages on the Ipad.  One that I couldn't wait to blog about.  It is called Heaven is for Real  and is wrtten by Todd Burpo, the father of the 4 year old that experienced heaven and survived to tell about it in his own way.

(Yes I captured that picture from Amazon so we have the little arrow wanting you to open the book and look inside.  ha)

Have you ever wondered what we will look like in heaven?  Have you ever wondered if there will be animals in heaven?  Have you ever wondered if you will still need glasses in heaven?  Have you ever wondered if your family members will know you?  Or will you know the baby you miscarried and never got to meet?  Have you ever wondered if when you pray, someone is really listening?  And, does it really help the situation you are in when you pray?  And the most fascinating part is have you ever wondered what Jesus really looks like? 

You know, if you never think about heaven, then you might need to think about whether you will really be there or not?  The book answers that question too!  Even if you aren't a reader and think you don't have time to read a book, please buy this book and read it.  It is very enlightening.  Who knows, you may get hooked on reading too. 

Have a Blessed day!

On Reactions

I was just asked by Google to give them my phone number.  If I don't, I could lose all my information if I forget my password or get hijacked.  I think I will take my chances.  I don't need anyone else trying to sell me anything by phone.  I don't think I will forget my password.  If I do, then so be it.  Have any of you ran across this?

That is not why I signed on to my blog.  I had a thought that crossed my mind the other day about dealing with spouses.  We have been married 31 years and I do think it has finally gotten somewhat easier.  Don't let this discourage those of you that haven't been married but just a few years.  I am sure it won't take you as long to figure out your spouse and their wierd  different ways.  As I posted earlier, Gary and I have both started trying to use a treadmill faithfully.  We turned Gary's office/guest bedroom into an exercise/guest bedroom.  We moved Gary into my real office which is another whole story in itself that I really can't post about since Gary reads my blogs.  Life goes on.

Since the room has a treadmill now, it must have a tv.  Purchase number two (treadmill being number 1).  Then the tv needed a home so we made purchase number three.  (Maybe it would have been cheaper to join a workout center!)  I looked the internet and local businesses over and finally found the right media cabinet for our room.

I absolutely love the finish it has.  It so goes with our house and the decorating style I have used.  We had to wait weeks for it to come in.  Finally, it arrived.  Of course, where we have this sitting in the room, it blocked a huge G. Harvey print that was hanging on the wall.  The print needed to be on the opposite wall and that is where life's lesson came into play. 

The room is pretty tight on space and due to the weight and size of the painting, I had to have Gary's help to hang it.  I had a small metal table in the room and I put it over next to the new media cabinet to get it "out of the way".  When Gary picked the painting up to see where I wanted it, the painting bumped into the little metal table which fell into the new media center.  Metal against wood.  Not good.  How would you have reacted to your husband sending your precious, one of a kind metal table flying into your new, precious media cabinet?  Precious, or .......

Would you tell him how stupid he was?
Would you yell at him?
Would you go balistic?
Would you point out for him to be careful because he could be damaging something?
Would you have said, "Babe, you need to watch what you are doing"?
Would you have called him something you wouldn't want your children to hear?

That is my point today.  He is an adult.  He didn't pick the painting up and say to himself, "Let's see how many things I can destroy while this is in my hands."  He knew, as well as I did, the consequences of what just happened.  I didn't need to point out his mistake.  He is an ADULT.  He could figure that out for himself.  He didn't need me helping him make that judgement.  What he did need was my assistance to pick up the little metal table, move it over just a little more (and even possibly while moving it, I could check out the new media cabinet for any damage, for which I am thankful to report to you, there was no damage.)  What good would it have done for me to complain?  None whatsoever.  Would it have changed any thing? In fact, the next time I needed help, he might not want to help me.  It was a time to keep my lips sealed and to say nothing and show no disgust on my face.  Stay calm and collected.  IT WAS AN ACCIDENT AND HE IS AN ADULT!  He didn't need a lecture or one of those looks that would kill.

So many times in life, we need to keep our mouths closed.  We don't need to say everything that is running across our minds.  None of us are perfect. 

Matthew 7:12 reads, "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

This one verse could save a lot of relationships.
Have a Blessed Day!

Bacon Grease

It stinks getting old, especially when your life centers around food, and the doc (God love him - he is a dear true friend) tells you that you have to change your eating habits.  Actually, it is probably more like you have to give up ALL your eating habits.  What makes it even worse is when you have the opposite problem that your spouse has.  I am not suppose to eat fat - he is not suppose to eat sugar or carbs.  The only thing left that we can share are green vegetables.  Not good.  But you know, it isn't near as bad as even a few years ago.  New products are coming out all the time to make your life better when you have to eat healthier. 

I grew up where you never threw out the bacon grease (yes, we really ate bacon and still do when the babe and the farmer come to town).  Bacon grease was a necessity if you were cooking in the South.  It was used for cooking almost all vegetables, making gravy, scrambling eggs, greasing the pan for biscuits - you name it.  We stored it in a jar and never ran without.  And if a little flavored the pot, a whole lot made it wonderful.  This was like Paula Deen and her butter.  A real Southern cook had to have her bacon grease.  I am here to share with you that you can get the same flavor without the grease.  I have found three wonderful new seasonings that bring back the flavor in cooking.

This little box is a life saver!  It comes with 6 or 8 little packets.  Just dump one packet into the vegetable you are cooking along with the broth or water that you are using and you will never know you didn't have the bacon grease.  It is wonderful in peas, green beans, and last night I made cabbage in a skillet with this and my next product and water.  NO grease, olive oil, butter, PAM whatsoever.  And it was just as good as the real thing.  And it has all zeros in the nuitrition label except for sodium.  You may not even need to add much salt when using this product. 

I added this to the cabbage also.  It is J&D's Bacon Salt - Original.  This is Gary's favorite new thing to cook with.  He adds it to everything!  Sure glad he doesn't make desserts!  (Oh, we aren't suppose to have those anymore.  oops! Dr. Gabbie - sorry)  It is a low sodium product or so it says on the label.  It is another way to add the flavor of bacon without the fat.  I found both of these products at Super One Foods in the seasoning section.  If you can't find them in your favorite grocery store, you can always order them online.

This last product was actually the first one I found out of the three.  Boy does it make hamburgers taste better, even if you are grilling them.  It is also great in a lot of vegetables.  It just gives them a hint of out doors cooking.  And have you noticed how Wal-Mart is getting new things all the time.  I found mini cucumbers there that looked about the size of a wiener.  They are wonderful and crisp.  No large seeds in them.  They also had mini colorful sweet peppers to add to the salads.  They look like miniature bell peppers.  Use one or two of these when cutting up your salad and you don't waste the other half of a large one.  We love those in our salads.  You know salads and broccoli are about all Gary and I can share these days besides the treadmill. 

Have fun cooking healthy and have a Blessed Day!

Guard Your Heart

My heart suddenly became burdened today for young couples.  I know that problems can happen in all marriages, but it was young couples that spoke to me today.  I just wanted to take a moment and say, "Guard your hearts and your families."  Don't take any family member for granted.  Treat them as special as you would if you knew that you would never see them again after today. 

Recently, I saw a young couple that you would consider the ideal young family.  They are successful, have a darling family, go to church, involved in the community....you name it, they are the epitomy of what you think a young family should be.  But I was told, rather matter of factly, that the young father was known to have cheated on his wife.  My heart was BROKEN!  The family is together and I don't really know any circumstances or details or even if the rumors are even true, but it got me to thinking how easily life can change. 

We sometimes get wrapped up in our children, our jobs, the community, the church and let those closest to us fall by the wayside.  Take time today to tell your spouse how much they mean to you.  Do something, maybe weekly, to make them feel special.  It doesn't have to be big - just special.  And, most of all, never put yourself in a situation where you can be tempted.  Married people do not need to go on a regular basis where singles hang out.  Does that sound anti-social?  Old fashion?  Maybe it is, but maybe it will save a marriage.  Is your marriage worth it?  Don't you think it would be better to do activities with married couples who have healthy relationships?  Why put yourself in the position of having to say "No" to something that could break your marriage apart?  Life is hard enough when you avoid these situations all together.  Sunday school is the best place in the world to find friends trying to make a great life for their families.  They will have more in common with you than anywhere else you might look for friendships.  It is a great place to start life long friendships with people all working for a common good - family.

On another day this past week, I was around a young couple who is doing it right.  They started their marriage by joining a church and getting involved.  I mean really involved.  Before they started their family, they were teaching in the childrens department at their church.  They had made many wonderful friends in their church and you could tell, the church loved them.  When they had the birth of their first baby, the hospital room was proof that the church loved them.  They had visitors coming and going from the church. Lots of young couples visiting.  It gave me chills to see how this young couple has grown in the Lord.  They are guarding their hearts, serving the Lord and trying to do things right and I told them how happy it made me to see how their lives were going in such a wonderful direction.  They are not my biological children, but they are my children in my heart. 

You choose the life you want to live.  Learn from other's mistakes.  Keeping a family together for a lifetime takes work.  It is hard work sometimes.  And, it is even harder when you don't allow the Lord in to help.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible speaks to this.....

Proverbs 4:23  "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."

Have a Blessed Day!