ANY BLOGGERS IN BLOGGER LAND?

I quit posting 3 or 4 years ago, because there really wasn't much interest in this particular blog, but for some reason, it is still in existence.  With Face Book, I think a lot of bloggers simply closed up shop.  Are there any bloggers left in the world?  I would love to hear your comments.  :0)

IN A NUTSHELL...

Life is busy…

Started back to school…Will be giving up all but one of the classes I teach starting next Fall…Too much on my plate…

Hospital work going well…

Oldest DD divorced her husband…Have been sick to my stomach…Divorce is normal in the world…Not for us…It is not okay.

Children going through H-E-Double Hockey Sticks…Makes me want to bring them under my wings and protect their little souls.

DD #2 getting married next Spring…Was going to move back to live with DD #1 but will probably stay in Utah…She turned 25 last month…Hard to believe.

Gramma has lost some of her mind almost instantaneously…Most energetic, organized, hard-worker I’ve ever know…Something happened—we don’t know what…Poor gramma knows it and can’t do anything about it.

DS received black belt last year…Confirmed night before last…Did outstandingly! Broke three concrete slabs this time (two last time) with the heel of his hand…then broke one, while being held by instructor, with his fist…Took two blows—hand not great…But…Concrete slab broken…So proud of him.

To St. Patty’s Day parade last Saturday with DD, grandbabies, mom, and dad…Had a fine time…Little people got much candy.

Off to do homework soon.

Amazing Grace - Rhema Marvanne 7 yr Gospel singer

This beautiful seven-year-old girl was on 20/20 the other night. Her mama died, with her at her bedside, of ovarian cancer. It was so tragic.

Her daddy taught her to sing Mama's favorite song. If you didn't get a chance to watch it, please take a minute to listen to this child.

This is a music video of her singing that I found on YouTube.

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS...

I was reading a favorite blog of mine the other day…Sugar Pie Farmhouse…

RuthAnn and a friend were talking, and she shared part of their conversation…

It was a blessing to me…

We were talking about the difference between being joyful verses being down-in-the-dumps when we are going through hard times. She said when you are disappointed, hurt, frustrated, sad, depressed, worried, and fearful (insert any negative emotion here)…”Don’t park there.” That’s it. “Don’t park there.”...

In other words, don’t dwell on your problems. When you are “parked” at the curb of your problems you’re stuck, the scenery doesn’t change. You are not going anywhere. Negative thinking drains the battery. Read the Word to get re-charged and to remind yourself how much you are loved by your creator!...

(Read Psalm 139) Move on. Get busy doing positive things. Pull yourself up by your cute cowgirl bootstraps. Giddy-up. Cowgirl-up!...

Count your blessings! Remember “This too shall pass”. Whatever you feed on (think about) will grow bigger. So think joyful, thankful thoughts if you want big joy. We can’t change our lives until we change our thoughts. I know this is hard sometimes but the great news is we have help!

“ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1

No matter what difficulties we may be experiencing we always have something to be thankful for.

I encourage you to pop on over and visit the Sugar Pie Farmhouse…

Aunt Ruthie just makes you feel so at home…

A FEW OF MY RECENT BLESSINGS...



My Keira called and announced that after five years, she and her honey are engaged! We’re all so excited!



The wedding will be next summer, and we’re going to have so much fun planning it…



I am so thankful for beautiful people…

I am blessed by my students and their drive to learn against all odds…



I am blessed…



After a dead car right before work; a Taxi ride to work (which was running late because other people were having the same problem); a cancelled class; a dear daughter who spent time jumping me and digging me out; getting stuck again right after daughter left; another half an hour trying to shovel myself out of the underlying ice that was keeping me from driving; a wonderful elderly neighbor who called asking if she could call another neighbor to help me; the nice other neighbor who pushed me out; a dead car again after work; a nice custodian who jumped me; getting stuck yet a third time, for the day, while trying to park at home; three great people who stopped to help get me out…



I had the extra blessing of my husband, who at 1:30 in the morning, upon returning from work, dug the extra car out of the snow and got it ready for me to take to work the next morning…



This was after he had put in an 18-hour day of his own dealing with the ice and snow…



I am blessed by the guy at McDonalds, who is always so nice to me…Tonight, I could tell that the man on the speaker was stressed though trying to be nice…When I got to the window, he saw it was me (not patting my own back here), and I saw that the gentleman was him—someone we’ve come to know a bit over the past few weeks. He was able to open up and tell me about his particularly trying day…

I was thankful to be able to say a prayer for him and to give him words of encouragement…

Never under estimate the power of a listening ear and a smile…



I am thankful to my Heavenly Father, who in His wisdom, once again did not allow me to be offered a position that I would love to have taken…I know that He has something better in store, and I am grateful for His patience with my humanness…



I am thankful to be cozy and warm, here under my quilts and afghan (made by my Grammas) with my two kitties curled up by me…

I am thankful to have partaken of the Christmas parade with my mom and gramma…



And to bring in the Christmas Season!

THANKSGIVING...FEEL-GOOD RECIPES

THANKSGIVING…



We were heading to our favorite resort for Thanksgiving, but the weather beat us…

Our son had a terrible storm to drive through, but thankfully made it…Safe AND Alive…

Our daughter and boyfriend only made it from Salt Lake to Idaho Falls…The roads were closed the rest of the way to the border…



Our two nieces rolled their car coming from Idaho Falls…

Our other niece and children hit the guard rail coming from Salt Lake…



It has been crazy! We are thankful that no one was hurt, and we had a nice cozy Thanksgiving here at home…



It was VERY informal…Instead of the five-star renowned-chef’s dining that we normally attend each Thanksgiving, we ate…

In the garage!



Family was together…



And we had a good time...







I hope that everyone else’s was safe and happy as well.

I haven’t put in as many hours at work lately and so have enjoyed being in my kitchen…



HEALTHY GOODIES...

I love how life is a circle…

A yummy organic Buttercup Squash…



Gets cooked…Eaten…



And put into the compost, which is then turned back into nourishing soil for next year’s garden!



It’s the circle of life…



Sunflower Seeds from DD’s garden…

She seasoned them in some fun different ways…



NOT-NECESSARILY-HEALTHY COMFORT FOODS…

Fridge leftover’s soup…

I had some canned peas, hot dogs, fresh carrots, and spam. The spam gave a hammy-type flavor and the carrots a sweetness...

So...

We ended up with a poor-man’s split-pea soup…

The day that Boy surprised me by coming home, I had set out ingredients to make and send him a treat package…

So…Of Course…I had to make him treats anyway!

Better Than Anything Cake…

1 German chocolate cake mix…(I had a chocolate fudge cake on hand so used that)

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 16 oz. jar caramel topping…(Like that used on ice cream—I used Hershey’s Caramel)

6 Heath bars…(I used an 8 oz. bag of Heath Toffee Chips)

Make and bake cake as per directions. Remove from oven and cool 2 to 5 minutes.

Poke holes over entire top with handle of wooden spoon. Pour caramel topping over entire cake, taking special concern to fill the hole…This makes for a really sweet moist cake!

Pour can of sweetened condensed milk over entire cake…Get the holes like above.

Top with Heath crumbles for a Really Yummy Cake!

Baked Beans…

Always a good cold-weather dish…

The amounts on all ingredients are all approximate and can be added according to your taste…

Pork and Beans (Any name brand—I’ve used store brand but found that they were too watery). I think that I used 6 small cans.

1 pkg. or so of hot dogs or fried bacon

1/4-1/2 c onions, chopped

2 T molasses

2 t. mustard (I just squirt some in and probably use less than the two teaspoons)

1/4-1/2 c. brown sugar

Combine all ingredients.

Put in 2-qt. casserole dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes…

Or…

I like to put it in the crock pot and let cook all day so that the flavors have time to blend. When you come home from work or Christmas shopping, you’ll have a yummy warm-to-the-tummy baked bean dish!

These are only cold left-overs…I sent a couple of containers home with Elliott, froze one for DH and I, and have a bit in the refrigerator for this week’s lunches.

Dutch Apple Cake with Lemon Cream…

This really was quite tasty…

1-1/2 c flour

1/2 t salt (I always just put a little in my palm—less than what they call for)

2 t baking powder

2 T granulated sugar

¼ c butter (I ended up using ½ c to get the right consistency)

½ c milk (We drink skim milk so used half skim and half heavy cream)

1 egg, well beaten

4 lrg. Golden Delicious apples, pared, cored (remember to put the cores and peels in your compost for next year’s garden :), and cut into thin slices. Sprinkle with lemon juice.

1 T lemon juice

1/3 c packed brown sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

Grease bottom and sides of a 7X11 SHALLOW baking dish. This was an odd-sized pan that they called for. The closest that I had was smaller and a bit deep, so the crust turned out too thick…So be sure that you have a shallow dish.

In medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.

Cut butter into dry ingredients with pastry blender (I use two butter knives) until the mixture looks like tiny peas.

In small bowl, add milk to the beaten egg, and stir into flour mixture. Mix until well blended.

Evenly spread batter onto bottom of baking dish.

Arrange apples, rounded side up, in rows in batter.

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together, in small bowl, and sprinkle over top of apples.

Bake 30-35 minutes at 350.

Lemon Cream…

2/3 c granulated sugar

3 T flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 c lemon juice (I used a bit less)

2/3 c water

1 c whipping cream

1 t lemon rind (make sure you wash your lemon first)

Blend sugar, flour, egg, lemon juice, and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and very thick. Cool completely.

Beat cream in small mixing bowl with electric mixer until peaks hold their shape when beaters are lifted out of the cream. (I always pre-chill my mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer before hand).

Fold whipped cream and grated rind into cooked lemon mixture.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The white whipped cream has kind of a nice surprise to the unexpecting diner with its nummy lemony flavor!

I garnished mine with lemon slices placed on the top of the dish for a nice-looking dessert…:0)

This picture isn’t a good representation—Forgot to take pre-eaten pictures…



For some strange reason, late last night, I had a craving for spaghetti—Hmmm…

So, I grabbed the tomato sauce and headed up stairs to make myself a little snack.

I ended up not using the sauce I made but instead topped my hot pasta with butter (not margarine).

This Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Pasta has much richer flavor than white flour noodles and is much healthier as well.



There are not any preservatives, and the grains used are certified organic.

Manufactured by Food For Life Baking Company, (I believe that my daughter picked it up at the health food store) this food contains all organic and sprouted whole grain wheat, whole grain barley, whole grain millet, whole lentils, whole soybeans, and whole grain spelt.

It is very important to have the whole grain versus just parts. The sprouting gives a more nutrient-rich product.

Healthy Sprouted Grain Pasta…

Box cooking instructions:

Bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Add pasta and 2 T organic extra virgin olive oil. Cook 4-5 minutes being careful not to overcook.

This pasta does stick together more than your regular spaghetti noodles, so don’t skip the oil or butter while boiling.

I scooped up the hot noodles, added a bit of butter, and some dill from my garden (you can use store-bought dill weed as well). It was a tasty midnight treat!



After my pasta was cooked, I used the water from it, since it was hot and nutrient-packed, and poured it over my 14-grain cereal to soak over night.





Stay warm, have a wonderful week, and cook something yummy for you and yours!

TRIALS AND BLESSINGS

A TRIAL…

I may have mentioned before…My dad and his continual losses...

Over all of the years that he has been in business, he has had thousands…No…hundreds of thousands of dollars taken from him…

Embezzled from…Stolen from…Robbed from…Taken by both insiders and customers.

Once, they crashed a stolen van into his store to gain access the goods…

Yet…For the most part, he maintains a happy face and doesn’t complain…

Friday morning was a particularly upsetting start for me and coincidentally…For Mom…And, as we would later find out, for Dad as well…

Mom was depressed about all that seems to continually go on…Money losses, attorney dealings and the like...I was frustrated by more politics at work…And so we commiserated…

Later in the day, in lunching with Dad, he told me of the latest, someone ELSE that is suing him over something ridiculous…Unbeknownst to us, and possibly even as we were dining…he was being assailed yet once again…

A group of at least four people, two or three to cause disruption, and the other two to pull it off, got off with $15,000 worth of jewelry…They were on camera, and some pretty good pictures of the thieves were available and given to the police, but no finger prints were taken…Blows my mind…They were on the jewelry glass counter AND the gun glass counter…The police only committed to posting the picture in the “bull room”, whatever that is.

It just makes me so enraged…So sad for my dad. He is one of the most generous men there are…

With some visual-enhancement computer program, I think that the police could zoom into the car plate and get the number. Since they don’t seem to be overly concerned, one of the employees has taken it upon himself to work on that.



DH and I drove around for quite awhile today, in the area of town that we believe the thieves come from (the wrong side of the tracks, if you will) and hunted for the vehicle.



I don’t even KNOW of all of the times that Dad has been ripped off, because he doesn’t always voice it, but of the ones that I do know, rarely, if ever, has he been reimbursed.

I pointed to a painting that he painted years ago…one of David and Goliath…hung above his desk…"Dad, you’re not as big as the bad guys, but you’ll win in the end. I love you."

GOALS…

My goals for this year (I know, it’s a bit early for the final assessment, but that’s okay) were not 100% achieved…But, I did work hard on my organization skills, keeping up on the house, and trying to feed myself in a more healthy way…

I would have liked to have gotten a bit further along but will continue to work on them.

I think that for the upcoming year, my goal will be to try to be content with where I am at…Or something like that...

My dream is to be a homemaker…It matters not that I do not have children at home anymore (as someone stated the other day…in other words, "You don’t have a NEED to stay home anymore"), I DO still have a home…

AND…I do still thrive on making a warm, cozy, and comfortable abode…

I feel the Spirit so much more when I concentrate on making my home clean and lovely…My husband, although he doesn’t say it, enjoys when I am home, baking up yummy smells and having the candles lit and a nice, warm, scented home to walk into after coming in from work. He DOES comment on those niceties but doesn’t say that he likes it when I stay home, is what I meant. He needs me to work.

So…As that dream will not be, in January, I am returning to school. I am excited, I am stressed, and I am depressed. Ha ha—Can one be all of those things at the same time?



So…I’ll work (an undetermined amount—as yet undecided) and I’ll go to school…And, I will get a job that brings in more money…And, I will work the rest of my healthy years…Sigh.

I shouldn’t be so morose about it all…But the fact of the matter is…Well…I am.

There should be another way, but there isn’t…So, this coming year, I need to work VERY VERY HARD on making the best of it…Trying not to stress as much as I have been (have had health issues because of it in the past few months) and look at it as an exercise in developing a go-with-the-flow attitude…

Or something like that…

I need to come up with a positive before January 1...A real positive…To sell to my self…That continuing to work and not being able to stay at home, until I am too feeble for it to matter…Is actually a GOOD thing…

Well (wink) you can tell that I’m a ways away from that still!

I’ll get there, though-:0)

SIDE NOTE…Just looked at the thermometer…It’s 1…Ha ha…We got a foot of snow between midnight and 6:00 p.m. yesterday as well.



(This is not our home...I just thought it to be beautiful)

BLESSING…

I didn’t do anything to deserve it, but last week, for three days in a row, I received such blessings at work…

They all came from patients…Patients who were so very sick but yet had a smile and such love in their hearts…

One day, I had a particular man, who because of a severe reaction to drugs given in surgery, had great mental disorientation and distress. This poor man had not been allowed out of bed for days, to even sit up. He hurt, he wasn’t allowed any pain meds., and he didn’t know what was going on…

The tubes and lines in him were a constant irritation…For hours on end…Days on end…He tossed and turned, and tried to get up. We had to keep him down. It came to mind, after some time, to do what my grandma would have done…I rubbed his back…

That’s all…

A small thing…But that was the only thing, including medication (the little that he was allowed to have) that worked. It didn’t work for a real long time, but he was at least able to get a few short minutes of rest as I rubbed his back. I felt such a blessing in being able to do that, and it brings tears to my eyes as I speak.



My FAMILY means so much to me…They have each taught me GREAT things. This particular gramma, now passed, taught me to love the Lord and to love others.

I have a great love in my heart…Not of my own…But as a gift from my Father in Heaven…Each day that I go to work, I pray that I will be able to bless someone’s life. The Lord answers my prayers, and often I am the one who ends up getting blessed as much or more than they…







An aunt, my dad’s sister…This painting was commissioned by a beau of hers…Painted in Germany...

Aunt Joann passed years ago from MS… Her husband, who divorced her, (they were closer after that then before) drowned in the river; she passed on; and then the youngest of her four sons was stabbed to death.

You would never know, if you were not looking at Aunt Joann, that she had this wicked disease. Her sense of humor preceded her wherever she went! I think that she taught us all to look on the bright side.





My own dear parents…Their wedding picture…They were 18 years and two days and 18 years and four days old respectively.





My honey and I…My, but we look young!

BLESSING…

I got up the other morning; my husband took me by the hand and lead me to the window…”Look”, he said, pointing out the window into the snow-laden streets…

“Elliott?” “Elliott?!”

He then took me to our son’s bedroom, opened the door, and there lay my BOY!!!

Oh, my goodness! He had come home early to surprise me! I hugged him and hugged him…



Oh, it is so wonderful when he comes home…He brings laughter, his unique and special wonderful laughter…And, he brings my other boy, Derek—a friend from his grade school years, whom I love very much.

I think I’m glad that I didn’t know he was coming after hearing his tale…He drove in the worst of storms, at times going only 30 miles per hour, behind snow-blowers and passed by many semi-trucks…



It was so bad that what is normally a five-hour trip took him nine…In looking back over it, he said, “I don’t know how I made it alive.” “You must have prayed before you left”, I said. “Yes, and when I got here, I said a prayer (of thanks)…[and then was instantly exhausted].

The stress had been great, and he then just wanted to sleep...

I am thankful to my Father in Heaven that he brought my boy home safely.



Dear mothers of grown children yet to be…

Some day…

Some day…You will be thankful for a messy bedroom floor…



And the unmade bed…



For it means that he is home.

Some day…You will be thankful for the church clothes yet unhung…



And the posters on the walls…

For it shows of the signs of the morals that you taught…





And the strong man that you raised.



Oh, dear mothers of grown children yet to be…



Cherish them…



Love them…



TAKE TIME TO BE WITH THEM…



Take it from this mother, whose heart so aches when they are gone, but who is so thankful that she did the very best that she could…

You raise them up to what they will be…So give them the best YOU that you can be!