End of an Era

Today ends an almost 10 year era.
I have drove miles and miles
for
years and years
to go to work.

Today ends that era.
Starting Monday
I start working at a hospital
5 minutes from home.

I won't know how to feel to not always be on the road,
but I sure am
EXCITED
to find out.

11 Years

This states it very clear.

You never said goodbye.

A massive heart attack took you in a blink of an eye.

Your daughter tried desperately to save your life.  You would have been so proud of her. 

But you were gone, and only God knows why.

I loved you dearly. 

I will always love you.

It broke my heart when you left

And it will never be repaired back to normal.

Yes, the cracks and rips are healed

But my heart will always be scarred because you left.

The day God took you – most certainly a part of me went too.

Now 11 years later we have achieved a “new” normal.

If God would allow

 a new beginning open up,

And a new life begin,

I know you would be happy that I am happy

but

Rest assured my dear, dear sweetheart

You will never be forgotten

And will always be

LOVED!!!!!!

Counting my Blessings

This time of year has been hard for 11 years.  When life with your sweetheart so abruptly ends sometimes it is hard to go on.  But life does go on, and there is no option of giving up.  So today please pardon me as I count some of my blessings to try and boost my spirits.

1.        My Savior.  He definitely has walked beside me.  After Mark first died he must have kept his hand on the wheel when I was driving.  I would find myself passing up roads, etc.

He has understood all my tears, and has had to decipher what they meant a lot of times because I had no words.

2.         My girls.  This Momma has been blessed with 3 of the most beautiful wonderful girls God ever sent to this world.  They have stood beside me even when I’m sure I have driven them nuts.

3.       My son in law Wesley has definitely helped me in many ways.

4.       My friend Mary who has listened to all my woes and tales.  Her emotional support has been nothing short of amazing.

5.       My church family at the time were wonderful.  Someone told me that they had never seen a church so supportive.

6.       My health.  God has brought me through some health scares, and I am confident he will still be with me in the future.

7.       A new job on the horizon.  For years I have drove mile after mile until I am absolutely sick of driving.  Next month, I start a new job just 5 minutes from home next month, and a wee bit more money.

8.       My grandbabies.  Oh my goodness!   They light up my life.  They never fail to bring a smile. 

9.       All my family.  So blessed to have my Daddy and Mother and sister. 

My home.

11.   Etc., etc., etc……………..

Friday - Happy Dance

Be Still My Soul

There are days that I feel like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.  All gloomy and not very sunny.
Today I would have to be honest.......I was Eeyore the 2nd.  Life gets big sometimes.   You wake up exhausted, and have to keep going because work is waiting.  What about this.....what about that.........  Etc.....etc....... Nothing bad just "big".

I needed this desperately.

 "Be still my soul......the Lord is on my side.......

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.........

I know this probably won't mean anything to anyone but me.........but it is comforting to know the Lord is on my side.

Sometimes I get to feeling bad thinking I have not accomplished anything great in my life.
  No great mission or pastorate.
No evangelist singing.
No big college degree.I don't have a big social life, and I just mostly go to work and go home.
What have I accomplished in life?


I raised 3 girls who love Jesus, and I will be content with that.

Refrig. Oatmeal

Use equal portions of oatmeal (old fashioned)
greek yogurt
milk
Depending how hungry you think you are going to be I would use 1/3 to 1/2 portions.

Add honey for sweetness

Your choice of fruit.
Place in refrig overnight.
You can eat cold (which I do) or warm in the microwave.

Yummy!

Ta Da!!!!

Finishing up the kitchen.
I'm loving it.

It's a wonder I could move the next day given the awkward position I was in painting the backsplash.  Originally, I was going to paint the cabinets when I was finished with the walls.  However, I think I'm going to give them a good shine, and buy new hardware instead.

I HATE PAINTING...............

Change of Plans

I changed my plans ------again!

I got to figuring how much it was going to cost me to put up the back splash tile and decided it was not practical for my budget.  

So on to plan B.

I'm going to get a stencil and use a shade darker than the base paint and make my own backsplash.

My budget will be much happier now.

AND..............................

I can change this easily when I get the "itch" for a change.

BTW...I would have pick #2.

Cast Your Vote

#1

#2

I am currently painting my kitchen.  I plan on installing one of the above for my backsplash.  I know which one I want, but the practical side of me tells me another.

What is your vote?

Happy Birthday

An early death took this sweetheart of a man away.  He would have been 57 today.  Just for fun I did an app to see what he possibly might have looked like today.  I don't see it, but maybe.......................................

Thinking Thoughtful Thoughts

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  A bittersweet day.
No longer do I have a sweetheart to bring me flowers, or take me out to dinner.
No longer is there someone to walk down the sidewalk holding hands with.
No longer is there someone to hold me tight, and tell me it is going to be all right.
No longer is there someone to wink at me across the room, letting me know he loves me.
No longer is there someone to call when there are problems, and he comes racing home to take care of things.
No longer is there someone to help carry the burdens of home maintenance, car maintenance, and any other maintenance this "handyman challenged" person has.

And I could go on and on.....but life does go on.

If you still have your sweetheart, cherish every moment - even when you feel like "kicking them out the door".  Haha!  

I shared some thoughts on widowhood before, and here they are again.

1. Don't forget.  Life goes back to normal for you after the shock wears off, but it never is the same for the grieving family.
2. Send a card.  If you don't want to send a card, or even telephone, send an email, or a private message in Facebook.  You will be surprised how it will encourage the recipient.
3. The Bible says to care for the widows and orphans.  Talk is cheap.  Put action behind your words.  
4. If children are involved in the loss, take into consideration that they are missing the activities that they did with their Mommy or Daddy.  Take them fishing, hunting, shopping, sewing baking or whatever they are missing from the loss of their parent.  They will never forget your kindness.
5. Ask if they need a leak fixed, or or a nail hammered or a heavy piece of furniture lifted, or maybe a flower garden tilled.  Don't wait on them to ask - it won't happen.
6. Remember when someone died and how awful you felt.  Multiply that by one million and it will just be a drop in the bucket of how the surviving spouse feels.

The End......................

Papa

This guy was so excited about being a Papa.  He stated many times that we were going to spoil them and then send them home.  He would have done exactly that too.  But unfortunately, he never got to meet his "babies".  Sigh....

 They would have been rotten.

Loving it.

I recently discovered Billy Jacob's art.  I am looking forward to getting a print.  I am planning in May to be in the area where his store is, and hope to purchase one for my family room.

Check his shop out at www.billyjacobs.com

No Sugar

Jenny and I are doing a challenge to make our diets as sugar free as possible.
We started January 1'st......I'm still doing it......amazing!!!!

Monday Ramblings

I have been wanting new curtains for my breakfast room.  Have you ever priced curtains lately?  Expensive!!!  So I bought a couple of flat sheets, did some measuring and off we went.

The lace that I added to to give it a little more pizazz............

Do you think God will allow my mansion up in Heaven to be a restored farmhouse?  I sure hope so.

Can A Girl Dream?

I would love to live in a restored farmhouse.  While life circumstances at this point would not make a farmhouse practical, a girl can dream?

Eggs - Try It Out

I dislike peeling hard boiled eggs.  Period!!!

Recently, I came across  the jar method.

Put your hardboiled eggs in a jar and fill partially with water and shake, shake, shake.

Pretty good plan.

Then there is the method of peeling under cold water.

I'm not sure which method I like the best.

Try it out.  I would be interested in reading your comments.

My Little Man

This little booger called Momo the other night.  Well, actually Mommy  made the call.  He saw Jenny's phone and kept saying Momo, Momo.  He wanted to call me.  Of course I answered and there he was.  He chattered and chattered and told me all about it.  I have no clue what he was saying.  Then he would look and the phone and point "wook".   

It didn't take him long and he was off and running, but this little fellow just made Momo's day.

Maybe they will belive Momma?

I don't function very good when I'm tired.  And now I have proof.

Debbie has bought her very first house.  It is a dollhouse.  The owners completely remodeled it, and all she had to do was move in.  So Thursday after work found me at her apartment to help load the truck.  Everyone worked hard including my 82 year old Dad.  He just doesn't stop.

So after getting the truck loaded and everything was done at the apartment we headed out for my place.  She was parking the moving truck in my driveway for the night.  I needed to move her vehicle to a friends driveway, so parked my car out on the street.....got out....shut the door.....AND.......you guessed it.  The keys were in the car.   I was so exhausted I could have bawled, but managed to be "an adult".  Roadside assistance came and unlocked the car in record time for which I was very thankful.

So I pulled into the driveway (I thought) parked went inside and called it a night.

Next morning I discovered that my car wasn't even all the way into the driveway.  Good thing I don't live on a busy street.  Never pulled that stunt before but now I have proof.....

I DO NOT FUNCTION WELL WHEN I AM TIRED!!

Which One?

HAPPY OR GRUMPY
Which one will it be?

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Today has been a frustrating day, and we haven’t even reached noon yet.  I have been sitting here “stewing” in my frustration.  Sometimes you’d like to be able to tell someone just what you think about a situation, and yet you can’t, won’t, or decide to turn the other cheek.

What good does it do to “stew”?  Not a thing.  I know there are cases of right and wrong, and that’s pretty much what has been the frustration today, but when you can’t change the situation am I going to fret about it and ruin my day, or do as the scripture above states.  “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth”.  Psalms 34:1

I was actually looking for a different scripture and this popped out at me instead.  OUCH!!!!!!  I can’t change the problem – believe me I’ve tried.  So I allow myself a moment of grrrrrrr…….and get on with life.   I choose to get on with life.  I choose to get on with life………I choose…..I choose……I choose……

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth........

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth........

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth........

The Good Ole Days

I love hanging clothes outside.  I would love to live where that was possible.  I remember my Momma hanging out clothes, and she still hangs out clothes on the line.

In my younger days, I also hung out clothes.  It was much more work than just tossing into the dryer, but there is just something unexplainable about hanging out the laundry.  I must admit I don’t much like the towels outside, because they come back in so stiff. 

Life was simpler back in those days.  People worked hard to make a living.  A lot of people would have a garden.  I remember the huge gardens we would have when I was a kid.  We would sit and break beans by the washtub. As a kid we didn’t appreciate all the hard work of breaking beans, but now….oh yum…canned green beans are better any day than beans from the grocery.   It was nothing for my Mom to can 100 quarts each of beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, and also put corn in the freezer.

During garden season our suppers were wonderful!!!  Fresh out of the garden.  Usually would have fried potatoes, tomatoes, corn, and whatever else had been planted.  My Pops would plant a couple of yellow hot pepper plants because he knew how much I liked them.

Oh!  The good ole days.

Snow...Boo!

Yep.....this is what my stomach feels like driving to work in the snow.

Living Today

Stress should be spelled at my house like this STRESS!!!!!!!  Big red letters, all capital letters and about 20 miles high.  Ha!

God has been working on me in this area.  I am so used to trying to take care of daily living concerns that I tend to forget that God knows the outcome already.

Emotional stress is a big one with me.  Mark has been gone a long time, but I cannot seem to get used to being alone.  Along came the empty nest.  Whamo….here I went again.  Pile it all together, and it is not a pretty picture.

God has been working on me about living in today.  When you are alone, you tend to think about  the past.  It all seemed so perfect.  But we forget that today is a new day.

All the same time, that God has been working on me about living in today, I also listened to a devotional that I got for Christmas.  Guess what the 1^st one was?  Not living in yesterday, not looking towards tomorrow, but living in today.  Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

 

Lord, help me to let go of the past.  Nothing I can do can change the outcome.  I know I won’t  forget what was – but help me to focus on today.  To make today the best that I can make it.  To make today the day that I can be a blessing to someone.  To focus on today, enjoy the present. Not to say that what has been before doesn’t hurt – it does.  But may I live today as the first day of the rest of my life.  To let God handle all the rest.

Today!!!  Focus!!!!  The past is gone.  The future isn’t here.   I am in today.

Creamy Jalapeno Dip

We love to go to Chuy's Restuarant.  They have the best chips and dip.
Debbie looked on line and found a recipe that we tried.
We are hooked!!!

Creamy Jalapeno Dip

1 cup mayo
1/3 cup buttermilk (I use regular milk)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
Couple dashes of garlic powder
4 oz. can green chilies
4 oz. can chopped jalapenos ( I never put in the whole can - too spicy)
1 bunch cilantro

Mix in food processor and enjoy.