Warmth and Hope

The wind is blowing.

There was fresh snow on the ground this morning.

And it is cold.

Oh spring, where are you?

Was it just three weeks ago I was standing on the beach enjoying heat?

The sun was warm.

The waves were demonstrating their power.

I need hope.

Sun and warmth.

They will eventually make their way north.

This video I have replayed several times today to re-live the moment of hope.

Boring lunch...

I pack my lunch almost every day to eat at work.

One of my colleagues brought a small refrigerator to the office and we keep it in the closet. 

You read that correctly.  There was an outlet in a closet for us to plug in that dorm-sized refrigerator. 

This is a very old building, it used to be the courthouse.  It has been renovated for office space.  It would be interesting to know if this closet had always been a closet...

Back to my lunch.

This morning as I put my lunch bag into the refrigerator, I announced to my office mates that we should do something different today at lunch time.  I asked them for their thoughts on just picking any lunch bag to eat instead of eating each of our personal lunches. 

There was silence in the office.

I tried again.

"Wouldn't it be fun for one of you to grab my lunch instead of your own to eat today.  It would be like going to a potluck."

Silence.

How disappointing it was when I went to the refrigerator just now and saw my lunch bag still there.  No one grabbed it to participate in my new idea.

So I ate my own boring lunch.

For excitement I put the potato chips ON the sandwich.

Amazing what a potato chip can do for a sandwich...

BBQ Cups

One of our favorite meals are BBQ Cups. 

Basically this recipe are biscuits placed in muffin pans,

filled with BBQ-flavored ground beef, topped with cheese and baked.

Sometimes I make homemade biscuits, last night I used Bisquick.

 After stirring the mix and water, the dough is kneaded.

 Rolled out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

 And cut into circles.

 I use a large-mouth drinking cup as my biscuit cutter.

 Each biscuit circle is placed in a greased muffin cup.

 The ground beef was heated with the BBQ sauce.

A heaping spoonful of the heated meat was placed in each cup.

 Our neighbors are from Kansas.  They bring us bottles

of Jack Stack Barbecue sauce.  We love it and that is what I used last night.

 Place one large "pinch" of shredded cheese on each cup.

Bake at 450 degrees for about 10-13 minutes.

 These delicious BBQ cups are quick and easy to make.

They can be frozen and reheated later.

A quick, amazing supper.

Baseball Season Has Started...

The season has started and how can I tell:

• The remote control has been programmed to the Major League Baseball (MLB) channel
• Kidlet Three's team practices have started
• My house is a mess because we aren't home to pick up
• I find myself humming "take me out to the ballpark...."

Yes, the season has started and I can't wait for the games.

Peanuts, sunflower seeds and red licorce.

It's going to be an amazing season, I can tell.

Lessons from a Puffer Fish

What a lesson I learned from a puffer fish.  I saw, firsthand, what I act like sometimes.

It wasn't pretty.

On vacation last week in Sarasota, Florida, we went on a Sea Life cruise.  A marine biologist was on the boat explaining and teaching about the sea life and birds in the Gulf area.  During the cruise, a net was dropped behind the boat to collect sea life.  The contents were brought on board and dumped in a cooler.  The biologist then spent about 10 minutes digging through the contents pulling out crabs, fish, sponges and a multitude of creatures.  One of the fish collected was a puffer fish.  All of the collected specimens were placed in an aquarium on the boat or in individual salt-water jars.

Back to the puffer fish.  It was about two inches long and looked like every other fish I'd ever seen.  My picture of it in the aquarium is blurry but you can see that it isn't anything spectacular.

It isn't spectacular until it gets irritated.  The biologist stuck her hand in the aquarium and started tickling the belly of that fish.  Within minutes, it started sucking in water and growing.  It grew and grew until it looked like this:

 It doesn't even look like the same fish from the one laying so still in the tank.  It's countenance totally changed when it was irritated.

The biologist held that puffer fish out of the water for just a short amount of time.  I was in the front row so she brought it right in front of me and just as I shot this photo, the fish spewed out its water contents all over me.  It had sucked in water to allow it to puff up and that water now ran down my purse!

Everyone laughed including me.  The timing was perfect! 

As I think about that fish, however, I realize I am very much like a puffer fish but not in a good way!  I go about my day looking like everyone else.  However, when I get irritated...when someone rubs me the wrong way...I suck in hot air much like that fish sucks in water.  And I hold that hot air in until I explode and the contents coming out of my mouth are not pretty. 

I'm sure God didn't create that puffer fish to teach me a lesson but I saw it on the boat that day.  I don't want to be a puffer fish.  I don't what to puff up in a protective manner and then spill my guts out on someone.

Romans 12 contains words like:  bless and do not curse, live in harmony with one another, live at peace with everyone, do not take revenge, if your enemy is hungry...feed him.

Oh God, when my belly is being tickled by someone; when I am feeling irritated, help me not to puff up like the puffer fish.  Fill my heart full of love and help me see people the way You see them.  Let my mouth speak words of blessings and not spew foul contents.  Thank you, Lord, for the puffer fish and the incredible lesson I see from Your creation.  You are amazing!  In the name of Jesus I pray...Amen.

Lazy Days

Yesterday was a day off from work for me.  Actually, I've been on vacation and yesterday was day 11 of not having to get up with an alarm clock, not having to put on office attire and head out the door to go to work.

Reality is just around the corner as I do have to head back to work and by the time you read this, I'll be at there.

But for today, I'm lazy.

In fact I am so lazy, I realized I put my elastic-waisted capris pajama pants on backwards last night.  There was so much more fullness in the front but I just crawled into bed.  This morning I realized they were on backwards and I didn't even change them around for the first hour that I've been up.  Laziness....

Now that I've been up for a couple of hours, I have switched the pants around which when I write that, will let you know I'm still in my pajamas!  And I just might stay in them all day. 

I made a pot of coffee this morning...eight cups of coffee.  I've been up for almost three hours.  I just poured that last cup of coffee from the pot.  That was scary.  Realizing how much coffee I've gone through already!

That coffee has helped me throw a load of laundry in the washer, pack Kidlet Three's lunch and get him out the door for school, upload pictures from my camera to the computer, listen to a sermon on my ipod and now, write this post.  Oh, and switch my pajama pants around.

So I have not been entirely lazy this morning.  I've emptied a pot of coffee!

Lazy days are amazing!

Happy 2nd Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Kidlet One and Favorite-Son-in-Law!

Today is your second wedding anniversary!  What a glorious day we had celebrating your becoming "one". 

In celebration, here are photos to remind us of the beauty and love shared that day.

We are so very proud of you and wish for you, years and years of anniversaries to celebrate!

You both are loved very much!

Happy Anniversary!