Don't cry over Spilled Apple Juice!

Saturday we were getting ready to go to our morning meeting when we had a small crisis at our house!

I was vacuuming (anyone who knows me should be proud) and turned the vacuum off for a second when I heard my husband calmly saying I needed to come out and help him because a bottle of juice had spilled. Well, if you do know me you probably know that I try not to buy a lot of plastic so it was a GLASS bottle and it didn't just spill--it SHATTERED! And of course being the thrifty shopper that I am, it wasn't a small bottle it was a HALF GALLON bottle! And on top of it all, it was apple juice-totally sticky and liquidy!!!

It was one of those times that I call accidental cleaning. We really needed to mop the floor in the kitchen and we really needed to pull out the fridge to clean under and behind it. I actually had been thinking about it recently--I hadn't done anything but I did think about it. So we had glass & juice everywhere. The kids were banished to get shoes on and to keep out of the kitchen. We went to work picking up pieces of glass, sopping up the juice--oh, and here's where the fun started--we ran out of paper towels! I had none. So we used old cheap napkins and then we used nice Vanity Fair dinner napkins. It was ridiculous, really.

Then he mopped...with my husband's industrial sized restaurant mop and bucket--a little overboard but typical male thing to do (and buy). This is my husband's motto "If more is good, a lot is better then too much is just enough! And it applies for mops also. After it dried we swept. Then we left. We had to take a break before the dreaded refrigerator!!!

So we pulled out the fridge--a little scary! Things had fallen down beside it so that was kind of gross. I guess that could have been my 27 Fling Boogie for Fly Lady! I didn't even try to clean the things up jut threw them away. We hadn't really missed them so why keep them. To be honest the fridge wasn't that bad. I cleaned under it and we vacuumed the dust off the coils so now we're good to go for a while:)

Accidental cleaning! The times when an accident occurs which prompts a thorough cleaning when you hadn't planned it but it needed to be done.

So even what appears to be a bad thing turns into a good thing--an actual blessing. I am grateful that the juice spilled because it got my husband and I to clean something that we had been putting off. Plus we did it together! Hooray! AND...the biggest miracle of all...NO YELLING!

Once again God is good and His plans for us are good even when it doesn't look like it.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Memories...

I grew up in upstate New York and people are always shocked when I say that I have never been to New York City. I don't know why I've never been...funny.

Anyway, we did spend a lot of time in Canada. My mother's siblings live around Toronto and my grandmother's family had a place north of Toronto that we traveled to during the Summer. lots of different memories come to mind. I couldn't share them all in this one post but maybe I can share a few.

My aunt was/is a wonderful cook and always had/has lots of good food around. In general, most of my memories of growing up are around food. I am always trying to capture the past by having the same types of food we had when I was a kid--ask my poor husband about what i make him eat:)

As I was saying, I love to eat at my Aunt's. One of my favorite things was a tomato sandwich--white bread, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise. So simple but incredible. And we used to eat them outside by the pool. That was fun. They had incredible pantries and freezers full of food. Another thing was a rice krispy treat ice cream sandwich. I think it was a peanut butter bar with strawberry ice cream--at least that's how I remember it. Once time she made homemade caramel pop corn. I could not stop eating it! At Christmas, she made all kinds of cookies. My mother's favorite was fruitcake cookies (yuck!). But my favorite was a meringue cookie! Yum! There were all kinds of family recipe cookies too. One Christmas, Aunt Sari made Seafood Newburg for dinner and we sat around the table eating dessert for what seemed like hours after. I was sick. I had to go lay down and I don't think I got up until the next morning.

One of the things we still laugh about and regularly wish we could still eat is cheesecake! And not your usual homemade cheesecake--thick, tall New York style with a layer of sour cream on top. There were other flavors too but I don't remember those. I do remember the berries that were plentiful on the table. But here's the interesting part...it was not for dessert...THE CHEESECAKE WAS FOR BREAKFAST!!! That's right, breakfast!!!! How awesome was that. I wouldn't dare eating that much dairy or that many calories at breakfast these days but the memory is there and it's great.

The last time I was at their house was for their oldest daughter's wedding. Now my Aunt did not prepare the food but I know she had a part in choosing it. And it was incredible...a seafood buffet. Seafood gets me every time. In Canada, a tradition is to have a wedding cake but it is a fruitcake type and it is cut up and wrapped in little pieces for the guests to take home. So because of that, at this wedding they also had a very large dessert table. It was amazing.

So there, now you know my slight obsession with food. And how it ties in with my memories. It's fun to think back. I just have to make sure that I am not living in the past and that I stay in the present and make my own memories with my kids and maybe a little bit of food...

Crying children...

I was going to write but I have crying and screaming children in the background. Do you feel sorry for me? No, I didn't think so. I wish I knew how not to react...

Wow! Time Flies!

So, it's been a LONG time since I posted. To tell you the truth, it wasn't that I didn't think I had anything to say, I just lost my desire. Let me tell you about it.

I really enjoy writing. I feel like I have a lot to say. I was really finding this quite the excellent outlet for my thoughts. I also found that I was able to share them without any judgement which is pretty remarkable because in my mind I still find that I think I know the right way to do everything:) I am generally a pretty reserved and keep to myself. But I long to be an extrovert who is always bubbly and positive like many of my friends--who know who they are! I secretly-or maybe not so secretly- love to be in the limelight and have all the attention on me. So I think this kind of fulfilled my inner Celebrity!

The problem is the little voice in my head that is constantly berating everything I do. This happens on a regular basis. I start doing something good for myself or something that I like or I relax a little bit and WHAM! the loud, little voice has got my attention. I start questioning and then the next thing you know I don't want to do whatever the good thing was. In AA, we would call that voice our disease. I think Beth Moore (my favorite Bible study author and teacher) would call it the Devil or the Enemy. Others may call it the voice of doubt. Whatever it is, I listen to it too much.

So, what can I do about it? Pray to God is number one and ask Him to remove my doubts and the negative thoughts I have. I can get support from other people who go through this. I can feel the fear and do it anyway. The other thing that I think would help is to have a routine or discipline at least with writing, so that at some point it becomes wrote (literally and figuratively).

I want to thank Mike Robertson for giving my the push that I needed to write here again. Thanks for taking the time to encourage me. I appreciate your positive words.

My Favorite Crock Pot Recipe!

I wish I could make all our dinners in the Crock Pot! The problem is our children and our dietary restrictions make it difficult to find recipes. So here's one the kids will sometimes eat.

Hamburger Casserole (from the Rival Crock-Ette Slow Cooker Manual)

I have adapted this recipe and added some things.

3 potatoes (sliced)

3 carrots (sliced)

1 can corn (drained) or a cup of frozen corn

1 can peas (drained) or a cup of frozen peas

2 onions (sliced)

2 stalks of celery (sliced)

1 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef (browned)

1 can tomato soup

1 can water

Place layers of vegetables in Slow Cooker in order given. Season with salt and pepper. Place ground beef on top. Mix soup and water. Pour soup mixture over top. 16 ounces of Tomato sauce can be substituted for soup and water.

I don't measure the vegetables. I just make sure there is a layer of each item.

Cover and Cook on Low 8 to 10 hours

I hope you all enjoy it. My mother made it when I was a kid although she doesn't remember:)

Breathe

I am coming up for air after months of preparation for and the execution of Vacation Bible School at our church. The Nu Yu Network made it's premier and hundreds of children were taught about the miracles of Jesus. It was a booming success!

We talk about breathing a lot in my home. We have one daughter who is, for lack of better words, a "mouth breather". We are constantly reminding her to breathe through her nose while she is eating. It is a tough battle.

But when I remind her to breathe it is a clue for me to breathe. I tend to hold my breathe and then have to take deep breathes which make it sound like there is something wrong with me--sighing like I am totally depressed! So that is another clue to me to breath. I don't know if it's a stress thing--what am I saying of course it is! It doesn't really matter. I know I just need to get still and breathe.

I also tend to go, go, go. So I need to take some time and sit and be still. Awareness is half the battle. I have known for a LONG time that I need to do this and haven't. I am too busy and tired...Ha!

Here's a bible verse that will help.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Here's some lyrics from a song that I love.

Let every thing that, every thing that, every thing that has breath praise the Lord.

Check out this song by Pearl Jam called Just Breathe (Eddie's singing about God!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuq7RYQ8Wa0

God is Good! All the time.

Okay, so yesterday we were going to take it easy before the big Vacation Bible School week. We did our usual Saturday morning routine--bath the kids, cut the grass and then we went to our favorite AA meeting. We were on on our way back and almost home when our oldest says "we could go eat free Poke jo's BBQ at that thing". That thing was the grand opening of a credit union in our neighborhood. We debated for a minute-my husband wanted to go home and eat pb&j! But we decided we would drive by and see how crowded it was. For some reason we stayed even though we had to park in an adjacent parking lot. Let me tell you that that is not like us...we don't like to work hard at things.

So we walk over and decide to get food first because we are all starving at 12:30pm. We sat down and observed. We ate our free lunch which was quite good I might add--yummy potato salad. Then we had a free water ice--also very good--from Jim Jim's. We noticed that some people were getting a chance to stand in this inflatable play bank vault. So we watched and watched. Then we decided we needed to go do some activities because we had to get my husband to a hair appointment. So we goo spin a wheel for a chance to win prizes. On the wheel it says "cash vault". So now we know how we can get in the vault. One child spins and wins a pen and a pencil. The next child spins and wins a pen and pencil. The other child wants nothing to do with the wheel. So I am up. I spin it and have 2 fleeting thoughts of "I'll never hit it-I'm not that lucky" and "wouldn't it be great to get the cash vault". The wheel stops on cash vault! Cool! I just heard someone say they got $136 bucks. My husband is exited and takes his spin. Cash vault for him, too! I say to the attendant "do we really get cash or is there some other catch?" Yes, I am ever the skeptic. He assures me we get actual money.

I am a bit in shock and trying to act cool because I am not the type to do silly things like this. Then the guy right in front of me comes out and they count his money and he got $186. Incredible. The attendants are giving me pointers and telling me how others have done it which I find intriguing because don't they want to me to lose? So, I step in and do exactly how I've seen others catch the money. I am thinking I am not doing so well but I stay on course. I step out and they start counting. $167!!!!! I am quite happy.

My husband goes in and we are watching him. He steps out after his 20 seconds and we are waiting for the tally. $211!!! Holy cow! Unbelievable. So we walk inside the bank and the teller gives us $167 + $211. $378!!! In 40 seconds! And all because of a free lunch! What a great deal.

I'd like to point out that this was not our doing. GOD had his hand in this at every step. We were almost home. We ended up staying. We spun a wheel and God had it land in the right spot. We just stood there while money dropped from HIM. We do not take any of the credit for this. God is our provider. He provided us with food, family time, fun and funds yesterday. We are so blessed. And we are so grateful and give God the glory.

Oh and by the way, we got home and the phone rang--twice. All three of our children had entered coloring contests at a local natural foods store and 2 had won prizes! So we went to pick them up and in addition to the prizes, they gave the third child something so she wouldn't feel left out and they gave us some additional free cookies and juice. I told you God is good and He is the ultimate gift giver.