Halloween Dinner

It's Halloween and the kids love it, of course. Early on I started a tradition of making a creative meal on this night. Honestly I am not sure why I chose to make such a big deal of it. I have my opinions of how big a deal Halloween is to people over Christmas but I won't go into that now.

So, in years past I have done foods like hard boiled egg blood shot eyes, stuffed bread snakes, tomato juice blood, grilled hot dog worms worms, cookie & ice cream cone witches hats, hot dog mummies, deviled eggs, olive eyes, pretzel ghosts--just to name a few. some have gone over better than others. Cranberry juice called blood goes over a lot better than tomato juice as blood. "Ghoul"ash is never a hit with my children although I am quite fond of it.

This year we were a little short on cash and I didn't plan in advance so it was up to me to come up with something from our very small pantry. I was feeling very guilty that I couldn't give them some of the favorites. It caused me to get really creative this time.

Don't ask why but I had a packet of lemonade kool aid (so not me) and so I made that up and threw in some green food coloring (again not me) and...Voila! Green slime drink.

(I am so embarrassed. The things I served my family tonight are really quite gross and so obviously against my organic beliefs. I shall now have to detox my family from sugar, dyes, chemicals, gross meats and so on. But I shall pocket my pride and continue.)

I also had a packet of Jello which actually required a lot of thinking but I finally decided on making jigglers cut with Halloween cookie cutters. My daughter saw it and said it was witches blood. The blood kind of turned into a lightly congealed, soupy blood but it was the first thing eaten. We had some little smokies that we turned into worms served with ketchup blood (lots of blood tonight). Tomato soup turned into a warm blood drink. We had (organic) green pea baby aliens. Plus we had some (organic)sweet potato pumpkin guts.

The piece de resistance was dessert. Pus with scabs, blood and dirt. I was quite proud of myself with this one. Very ingenious of me. It was vanilla pudding with a chocolate rice cereal, crushed Heath bars and dried cranberries. I thought it was an excellent dessert that all would love.

An overall "gross" meal if I do say so myself. My children loved it! Or they loved the idea of it! They didn't go for the warm blood. And believe or not, one of them would not touch the pus! And he doesn't even know what puss really is! They didn't eat everything but I think they were happy with it. The girls actually said it was the best Halloween dinner ever.

So what do I know. This again just shows me that I really don't have a clue about what is best for me and my family sometimes--no, most of the time. God had a plan which was not my plan and it all worked out for good. I was able to get creative and try new things. I didn't get to do what I wanted but I made due with what we had. And it was great. Once again proving to me and hopefully to you too that GOD IS GOOD!

Music or Art-which touches your heart?

I was sitting in church today listening to the sermon--mind you I am not sure I remember the real point of it, I might remember later--and Dr. Haney said something about appreciating art. How overwhelmed with feelings he gets looking at beautiful art. I on the other hand just get overwhelmed.

I am not an art gallery type person. It really doesn't interest me. I am also not a museum person. Although the kids and I did go to an exhibit of photographer Chuck Close and it was great. I could stare at his photo for a while. But generally art is not my thing. I appreciate talent and have a few friends that are artists that I really like their work but it doesn't move me.

But Music! Music on the other hand can make me cry in a heartbeat. I didn't cry today but boy Paul Sanchez was amazing. I did feel like he could have done more with the song though. It seemed like he held back or was held back. right when he could have blown me away...bam...the song went soft and it was over. Anyway, I digress. He is awesome but I want more.

Two weeks ago we had some local artists from Austin come and oh, my goodness. Carolyn Wonderland, Guy Forsythe and Shelly King and wow, they didn't hold back. It was amazing. I was moved by their music. They made me feel alive listening to their music. I didn't want it to end. I wanted to go back to the next service and listen all over again.

I cry every time Steve Morris sings. He is amazing and so humble. The last time he sang was when he performed "So much to be Thankful for". It was great. The whole church loves him. I love it when he sings the more operatic pieces. I can't wait until he sings again. The kids choir will be singing with him in December. I told my kids they get to hear my favorite singer!

There are other worship songs that we sing that affect me too. Like "Amazing Grace" and "Great is Thy Faithfulness". I can't remember all of them. I really do hear God in these songs and really feel like I can praise Him. And even when I'm not at church I love listening to music.

Check out some of these songs and artists I mentioned.

Light Bulb Moment!

So my post yesterday got me to thinking. And I think I have realized something very important.

Accidental cleaning. Cleaning when you have no choice but to clean. I started to think about other parts of my life. Like, say, the car. We don't do any regular maintenance on the cars other than oil changes. We just wait until something happens and then we work on the car. Repair when you have no choice but to repair.

Or for me, going to the doctor. I don't have yearly physicals and I haven't had a womanly check up in 2 years. There are a lot of reasons but the overwhelming reason is that I wait until I am sick or have an urgent need. Wait until something feels bad and then go to the doctor. Go to the doctor when you have no choice but to go.

Yikes! It extends to other parts of my life to...working on myself when the pain gets too bad, to doing assignments at the last minute. Wow! I am amazed at this pattern. I am not sure what I am going to do about it but awareness is half the battle. Thanks for letting me ramble...

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.