You might wonder why I am posting pictures of blue skies and minimal clouds.
That would be because it has rained for the last 5 days.
And according to NOAA dot com, the only day this week that it isn’t supposed to rain is Wednesday.
I’m just trying to remember what the sunshine looks like.
Now, can you tell me where I was when I took those pictures?
PS…tomorrow…food.
I know that there is not a single one of us that hasn’t been affected by the downturn in the economy. We all are now worrying about the price of gas, the price of groceries, how much we are having to take out of our savings accounts just to make do. I know that I have. There isn’t any time that it isn’t either in the forefront of my thinking, or simmering on the back burner.
I was reading some scripture to the girl last night before bed, and I was reminded that God is in control. I don’t have to worry. I shouldn’t worry, but I do.
So I say to you, don’t be worried for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; or yet for your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of heaven, they don’t plant, neither do they reap, or gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value then they?
And which of you by worrying can add one moment to his life? And why are you worried about clothes?
Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow; they don’t work, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God does so clothe the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow cast into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
(Mat 6:25-30)
I have been faithless in this area for far to long.
Thursday evening, the girl came up to me and told me she wanted her hair cut. I asked her how short and said I’d cut it if that is really what she wanted.
14 inches of hair in the trash later, her hair is now short.
Before.
After.
It is Friday, and I am nosy.
Tell me something that instantly cheers you up.
For me it is a phone call from my sister, a visit from my friend C., listening to my children laugh, having the boy tell me a story about work or something funny, a card from a friend, an email saying “hey I’m thinking about you”, my cats doing something hilarious.
These are a few of my favorite things.
Monday, in my boredom, I decided to go outside and try to capture pictures of the hummingbird that frequents my feeder. I love hummingbirds.
This was the closest shot of got of him. Don’t see him? Neither do I, but the clouds were pretty. And soothing. And not the hummingbird.
So, I decided that if I couldn’t get a shot of the hummingbird that I needed something more stationary to photograph.
Enter the bumble bee, lovingly pollinating my lavender.
I took over 20 pictures of these stupid bumble bees, and all that came out was this one.
And this one.
Look hard, he is there. These things are almost as quick as the hummingbird, which made me rethink the subjects I am photographing.
This one sat still for me for over an hour.
She is much more my speed.
You took my breath away, the moment you took your first.
You made my world right when you turned it upside down.
Even though you are ‘legally’ a man, you have been a man for many years now, and I am so privileged to have you in my life.
Happy Birthday Sonshine!
Nothing shoos the boring away like a phone call from your sister, or a package in the mail.
Yesterday I had both.
Hello sister, I had a wonderful time chatting with you. I needed a sister fix.
About a month or 2 ago, a friend emailed me and asked me if she could use my peanut butter pie recipe in a bake off, I said sure.
My recipe was a winner, so she sent me something to thank me for the recipe.
I love note cards, and this one screams me. You know me well. They are just lovely. I love them. Thanks so much, and I am so glad that you enjoyed the pie. Now go make another one.
I know that I am going to seriously disappoint many of you, but I did not take any pictures of the boy’s party. Once people began to arrive, I kicked into ‘hostess’ mode and I didn’t pick up my camera. I had considered it, but then my sister-in-law showed up about ½ an hour before the party was to begin, and I knew that there was no way in the world I would pick up my camera for the rest of the day.
…bad segue…
I am bored, internet. Bored. stiff. I have nothing to look forward to when I get out of bed except making my bed, laundry and cleaning. Cleaning and laundry. Have I mentioned laundry? I need something to occupy myself with. Knitting has lost its appeal, I don’t want to read, there are no kittens to entertain me, and yesterday… yesterday when I went to eat a piece of chocolate, it wasn’t even good. I stopped at one piece, internet, one. piece. It is a sad situation. Very sad.
Send help.
Great party.
Dead tired.
Tons of leftovers.
Collapsing.
Shots that didn’t make the cut.
Here he is watching out for those that might want to run him over.
Waiting for me to finish fiddlefarting with the settings on my camera.
I suggested to him that he ‘pose’ for me. This is what he came up with. He is such a kidder.
I have to re-run this one, because it just makes me giggle.
Now I am off to the kitchen to finish up preparations for today’s open house.
It’s Friday and I am nosy.
When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or a glass?
I rarely drink soda/pop/coke, rarely. Something like maybe three times a year. I drink it however it is presented to me, then belch for hours on end.
Yesterday the boy actually had some spare time, and it wasn’t 476º outside, so I grabbed my camera as we walked out the door to run some errands.
After dropping off 2 job applications, we took some pictures.
I took many suggestions to heart, and am finally…finally satisfied with these pictures.
This is the first one I took. He asked for this pose. I aim to please. I totally love the wall behind him, and all the history that goes with it.
Same wall. I just love this one.
We moved over to the old barn in Roscoe Village. It has such character, I really wanted to get him with it.
I just love old barns.
I really need some advice on glare from glasses. I tried taking this from different angles, but I got glare from every single one, and we were in the shade.
We moved to the tunnel.
GOBA is in town, and this tunnel is smack dab in the middle of a walking/biking trail. There is enough room to drive a car down this path, but someone thought they would be ‘cute’ and try to run the boy over. I wanted to tell them what I thought of their ‘cute’, but I didn’t.
I did much better this time. I am pretty pleased with the results. When I get the rest photoshopped, I will show the rest.
Last Friday I was at church folding bulletins for Sunday service. It isn’t something that I generally do, but I was there, and it needed done. I was needing a break, because folding bulletins isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Whomever folds your bulletins at church deserves a medal, and a good back massage. Every. week. Pay them. Buy them chocolates. They deserve it.
Anyway, I wandered around the room trying to force my right hand to work again, and massage the permanent twitch out from under my left shoulder blade. I stopped at the window because I had noticed a fly desperately trying to get itself untangled from a spider web.
At first I was morbidly fascinated. I hate flies and was cheering the demise of it. Neener..neener..ha ha your sooooo dead…muahahahahahaha All bugs deserve to die!!!
But the longer I watched it struggle, rest for a moment and get back to the struggling, trying everything it could to remove itself, over and over and over again, the more I realized that I have been just like that fly lately. Stuck in a web, not of my own making, doing everything in my power to get out, resting, and trying again. Hopelessly wearing myself out and making everyone around me miserable.
Nothing could get that fly out of that web unless someone bigger, smarter, and stronger disentangled it. Nothing can get me out unless someone bigger, smarter and stronger disentangles me from it. I just need to call for help, and wait for it to come. Resting in Him. Waiting for His timing.
Patience…not something I was born with…something I am learning the hard way, every. single. day.
I am getting ready to go grocery shopping for the boy’s graduation open house this Saturday, and I need your help.
The boy wants those meat balls that have the grape jelly and chili sauce combo, and bbq sauce. I am not going to do both, so I thought I could do something that is in between the grape jelly/hot sauce and bbq sauce. I haven’t been able to find anything similar.
Anyone have a great sauce recipe for meatballs?
When I was young, I remember the first time my mom made Strawberry Shortcake.
It looked almost exactly like this, minus the metal rings and the flowers. I remember thinking “mom is the best cook in the world” when I saw it.
Strawberry Shortcake is one of my favorite desserts, and I have never understood why people buy those yellow sponge cake things when you can have real shortcake in no time at all.
My shortcake isn’t nearly as impressive as mom’s was, but it tastes just as good.
A shortcake is very similar to biscuits, and they are just so easy to make. I’ll show you how.
Dump your dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them around to make sure that 1. everything is aerated, and 2. to make sure that everything is incorporated.
Then take some heavy cream, crack an egg into it, and mix with a fork.
I am going to share a biscuit/pie crust/shortcake secret. Freeze your shortening/butter/lard and grate it into your dry ingredients. You don’t have to cut anything in, you don’t have to worry about ‘is this pea size or not’ and it makes your pastry totally flaky. Totally!
Just mix this all around to get it coated in flour. Make a well in the center, and pour in your liquid. Stir with a fork or a wooden spoon till it forms a ball. Dump onto a floured surface.
I generally make my pastry into a disk shape, whether it is biscuit dough, or pie dough, or shortcake. If I were making biscuit or pie crust, I would wrap this in plastic and refrigerate for about ½ an hour.
Since I made shortcakes, I divided them into 8 equal sections, and patted them into rounds.
Then I sprinkled them with sanding sugar. If I had had plain white sanding sugar, I would have used that, but I didn’t so we went with fun.
Pop these into the fridge for ½ an hour then bake for 20 minutes at 400º I am thinking that I should have waited till they came out of the oven to top it with the sugar.
Slice them in half, and layer with strawberries and cool whip. I am a big lover of home made whipped cream, but for Strawberry Shortcake, I need something that will not melt away into nothingness in 30 seconds. I need the stability of cool whip.
And remember that strawberry ?
I found a use for it.
I generally layer shortcake, berries, cool whip, shortcake, berries, and cool whip. Unless you forget to get the cool whip out of the freezer in time, so it is only thawed around the top edge, so you are stuck with only cool whip on the top.
Strawberry Shortcake
Freeze your butter (or if you are like me and already have a pound of butter in the freezer, just grab a stick). Measure your dry ingredients into a bowl, whisking to incorporate. Grate your fat into it and mix to coat fat with flour. Make a well in the center. Combine liquids and whisk with fork. Pour your liquid into the well, and mix till just combined. Dump your dough onto a floured surface. Divide dough into 8 equal sections. Pat into 2½ inch rounds that are about ½ inch thick. Bake at 400º for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into half and layer with berries and cool whip.
Happy Father’s Day, daddy.
(Dad was about 14 in this picture, he doesn’t look a day older.)
Happy Father’s Day, Superman.
Happy Father’s Day cousin Jerry.
Life just wouldn’t be complete
without our men.
May your day be blessed.
Thanks dads for all you do.
Everyone has seen my hummingbird except me this year. I have been a good hummingbird mommy. I have put out food, and been on the watch for them, but they have always eluded me…till last night.
Last night, the girl and I were getting ready to leave to watch the boy play ball. I was on the front porch looking at the black sky, listening to the rumble of thunder, and the girl said “look…there he is”. I was so excited. I whipped off my lens cap and got 2 shots off before he flew away.
The lighting is awful, camera compensating for the impending weather, but I don’t care. I have finally seen my hummingbird.
Maybe I should refill the food, since that hasn’t been done in about a month.
Told ya, I was a great hummingbird mommy.
It is Friday and I am nosy.
What color of ink do you prefer to write in?
Black. It must be black or I go into convulsions. (Unless it is pink, then my spirit soars on wings) After having taken 4 years of accounting, it. must. be. black.
Sucked. in.
That is what happened to me yesterday. Tuesday evening a friend came over for supper and cards. She casually mentioned that she had been watching this TV show called ArmyWives. ArmyWives? A new something to pass the time? Cool!
Since I have no cable/satellite, the only source of television is whatever I can find on the computer. So, yesterday I googled it. Lo and behold you can access it online.
Yesterday I did my morning routine, and after 11am, my backside was glued to my computer chair. Nothing else was accomplished. Nothing. I was sucked. in.
Somebody stop me.
Wordless Wednesday.
Ok, I can not make it totally wordless. What I want to know is why yesterday he was jumping around on the floor saying “look at me, mom, I’m a frog…ribbit, ribbit , ribbit” and now he is doing things like graduating and going to college.
Some strange kind of time warp.
Chocolatechic 