Living Well

"What fits into your schedule better? Exercising for one hour a day, or being dead for 24 hours a day?" Author Unknown

I have been consumed with very important and necessary things- like work- and have been unavoidably absent from my Weight Watcher meetings for the past month. But tomorrow I will return, and I will run into the regular members, some of whom have become my friends who will be concerned about me, and I will hear about whats new and exciting with everyone else, and I will be cheered up and cheered on and I will get new determination to resist that Oreo, to continue to walk the dog, and to generally choose to live well. Then I will return the following week with better news for myself.

Visit others choosing to live well here

In his book, do one thing differently,( New York, Quill 1999), Bill O'Hanlan tells the story of a wealthy, elderly lady who had withdrawn from life, including her church life, partly because she found it too difficult to circulates in her wheelchair. She had become depressed and was hinting at suicide. Her only interest was her hobby of growing African Violets in her large greenhouse. She was visited one day by a psychiatrist, Milton Erickson, at the request of her worried nephew. Erickson looked around the place. She admitted that her depression was becoming a serious issue. Erickson told her that it was clear that her problem was not depression, but it was that she was not a good Christian. She was taken aback and bristled until he explained, "here you are with all this money, time and ability to grow African Violets, and its all going to waste." He encouraged her to search the church bulletin each week for birth announcements, marriages, funerals and illnesses and then take an African Violet to the people involved and offer encouragement, congratulations, or condolences, as the case may be. She agreed that she had been falling down on her Christian duty and decided to have her handyman drive her around to make deliveries. When she died 10 years later, her funeral was attended by thousands who had come to pay their respect to the charitable and caring lady known as the African Violet Queen of Milwaukee.
Sandra Felton, from her book, Organizing for Life

I'm cooking with Paula

I've been busy with the latest issue of Cooking with Paula Deen that found its way to my mailbox this week.



I have such big plans!

The Fried Okra Salad! The Broccoli Chicken salad! The Fresh strawberry Salsa!

And these:

Southern Cornbread Salad: Cut cooled cornbread into 1-inch cubes, and place cubes in a large glass bowl. Layer 1 can of kidney beans, 1 can of drained corn, 1 medium vidalia finely chopped onion, 1 large green chopped bell pepper, and 2-3 chopped tomatoes. Top layers with 1 bottle of ranch dressing and sprinkle with 2 cups of Cheddar cheese. Chill, covered, 2 to 3 hours, until ready to serve. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and parsley and serve with additional ranch dressing, if desired.

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake: Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease two round 9" pans. In large bowl, mix 1 box of white cake mix, 1 small (3 oz)box of strawberry gelatin, 1 package of frozen strawberries in syrup (thawed), 4 large eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup water. bake for 20 minutes. let cool for 10 minutes, then spread on cream cheese frosting. To make frosting: beat 1/4 cup butter with an 8 oz package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of frozen strawberries in syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry extract and gradually add 7 cups confectioner's sugar.

AND the best news of all... Paula is opening a buffet restaurant in Tunica, Mississippi- which is only 5-6 hours from me!! Still a little way to travel for dinner- but far closer than the one in Savannah, Georgia which takes all day to drive to- (don't ask me how I know that....)

12th Annual Ladies lunch at Church

This table's theme was chocolate!

This hostess made the coasters for her table's theme of time-


Look at the little silver tea pot on another table:


My wedding china came to the party:


The cheese and grapes appetizers were a big hit, as well as the mini cheesecake and mini brownies (I was at Wal-Mart at 11:00p.m. the night before picking this up...)

Another update to Prayer request for Heather

One of my oldest friend, the one who introduced me to my husband many years ago, got the most dreaded phone call in the middle of the night. Her oldest daughter was hit in a head on crash by a drunk driver. Heather, who is 19 years old, had to be cut out of her car and was taken to the ER unconscious. Thankfully, unbelievably, she does not have life threatening injuries, but the tests are still being ran, she is in a lot of pain and is facing a long recovery. She is expected to be in the hospital for the next 11 days. Please pray for Heather's complete healing as well as for her parents, and the teenage drunk driver who hit her.

**** Updated*****

Heather has a bruised heart, bruised lungs, a torn liver, and torn spleen. She also has internal bleeding and may need surgery to fix. She is still being monitored. The drunk driver also had drugs in his system. I saw her wrecked car and it is unbelievable that anyone could have survived that car crash. Please continue to pray for Heather and her parents.

**** UPDATED********

Heather underwent surgery today to heal her internal bleeding. The surgery looks like it was successful. However, she is still experiencing problems with her breathing due to her bruised lungs. Heather is expected to stay in the hospital for the next three weeks. As you can imagine, this has been very stressful for her parents. Please continue to pray for them. Thank you!



************* UPDATED***************

The good news is that Heather is out of ICU. The bad news is that she has pneumonia and, after a week and a half in the hospital, they just discovered she has a broken foot! But, she is able to get out of bed now and sit in a chair sometimes and is generally doing better. Every day is a little better than the last one. Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to remember her and her parents. She has a very long recovery ahead of her. All because a teenager was drinking and driving.

Thrifty menu planning

Visit more menus here.

I love being thrifty. I love to save time, energy and money- most especially at dinner time. It makes me feel like I am really doing a good job at home.

One of my favorite things to do is to make one meal then turn the leftovers into two or three completely different meals.

My next favorite thing to do is to look around the house at what I already have and need to put to use before it turns stale or is otherwise unusable and make meals from that. I am not as good at this as I wish I could be, But, this is what I am doing this week:

Sunday:
Clean out the fridge salad
Lettuce with chopped tomato, cucumber, cheese, diced ham, diced egg, dried cranberries and a chopped apple with vinaigrette dressing. (Basically, I clean out my fridge and put it all in a salad)

Monday:
Hamburgers with home made fries (Make two hamburgers using first part of large ground beef package and leftover buns before they turn stale as well as potatos that also need to be used. Garnish with left over salad fixings of lettuce and tomatos)

Tuesday:
Pork Chops with mash potatoes (using all potatos)

Wednesday:
Salisbury Steak (last half of large ground meat package)
Mix ground beef with Lipton onion soup mix, form into four patties, mix one can of beef broth with one can of cream of mushroom soup- pour over beef patties. Cook on low heat for one hour, turning occasionally. Serve with rice.

Thursday
Pork chop sandwich (left over pork chops with remainder of buns, lettuce and tomato)

Friday
left over Salisbury steak.

Look! Spring has come to my backyard!

Is there anything better than finding flowers blooming in your own back yard that you did not plant and never expected?! It is a little gift from God.

Why should we have a nice house?

Why not have a lovely home that encourages all who enter? Why not be among those who are thrilled to have people over at the spur of the moment? Why not be the person to whom people say, "your house is so lovely!" Why not have people over for meals with out working yourself to death to get ready? Why not have a house that raises your self esteem rather than tears it down? Why not have a house that is filled with your favorite colors and accents? Why not have a house that reflects the peace and grace of God so others love to come over to hear about Him? Why not have a house in which you can read or pray without feeling guilty because you are not cleaning? The real question is not why should we have a nice house. The real question is why not?
Sandra Felton from her book: Organizing for life

UPDATED prayer request

One of my oldest friend, the one who introduced me to my husband many years ago, got the most dreaded phone call in the middle of the night. Her oldest daughter was hit in a head on crash by a drunk driver. Heather, who is 19 years old, had to be cut out of her car and was taken to the ER unconscious. Thankfully, unbelievably, she does not have life threatening injuries, but the tests are still being ran, she is in a lot of pain and is facing a long recovery. She is expected to be in the hospital for the next 11 days. Please pray for Heather's complete healing as well as for her parents, and the teenage drunk driver who hit her.

**** Updated*****

Heather has a bruised heart, bruised lungs, a torn liver, and torn spleen. She also has internal bleeding and may need surgery to fix. She is still being monitored. The drunk driver also had drugs in his system. I saw her wrecked car and it is unbelievable that anyone could have survived that car crash. Please continue to pray for Heather and her parents.

************ UPDATED******************

Heather underwent surgery today to heal her internal bleeding. The surgery looks like it was successful. However, she is still experiencing problems with her breathing due to her bruised lungs. Heather is expected to stay in the hospital for the next three weeks. As you can imagine, this has been very stressful for her parents. Please continue to pray for them. Thank you!

Dear Mr. Green Lizard

Dear Mr. Green Lizard,
I wanted to take this opportunity to formal extend to you my deepest thanks for all you do around my house. I am not sure how you do it, but you manage to keep my dog entertained for hours. And when you hid in that pile of lumbar on my back patio! Well, that was just about the cleverest thing I have ever seen. You held the dog's interest like no chew toy or rawhide bone has ever been able to do. In return for all your valuable entertainment services, I will agree to avoid stepping on you, I will not swat at you with the fly swatter, or generally try to kill you in any way. You cant get a better deal anywhere in this neighborhood- so its in both of our best interest for you to just hang around and keep that dog entertained. Thanks again!

finding time....

Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. --Earl of Derby

See who else has something to say about living well here.

Please pray for Heather

One of my oldest friend, the one who introduced me to my husband many years ago, got the most dreaded phone call in the middle of the night. Her oldest daughter was hit in a head on crash by a drunk driver. Heather, who is 19 years old, had to be cut out of her car and was taken to the ER unconscious. Thankfully, unbelievably, she does not have life threatening injuries, but the tests are still being ran, she is in a lot of pain and is facing a long recovery. She is expected to be in the hospital for the next 11 days. Please pray for Heather's complete healing as well as for her parents, and the teenage drunk driver who hit her.

**** Updated*****

Heather has a bruised heart, bruised lungs, a torn liver, and torn spleen. She also has internal bleeding and may need surgery to fix. She is still being monitored. The drunk driver also had drugs in his system. I saw her wrecked car and it is unbelievable that anyone could have survived that car crash. Please continue to pray for Heather and her parents.

Sunday Chores

Typically, after church and a nice meal out, Sunday Afternoons are then devoted to chores around the house. The laundry room is right off the kitchen, and I am able to keep up with doing several loads of laundry while cooking. A cold front is expected tonight, and it is already much cooler and breezy. I opened all the windows to air the house out. I changed the sheets and added a blanket to the bed. I have swept and generally tidied up.

But my favorite Sunday chore is cooking. Most Sunday afternoons you will find me in the kitchen- putting up groceries, making a big dinner, sometimes baking, generally getting ready for the upcoming week, and today has been no different.

My brother in law asked me to make him some cookies. His request was accompanied by the statement that I make the best chocolate chip cookies that he has ever had. This was very smart of him since it practically guaranteed him some cookies.

I am a sucker for someone who appreciates my (limited) cooking skills.

When I am in the kitchen on Sundays, I always think about my father in law, who lived with us for a year and a half before he passed. He was a big fan of mine, took great interest in all my cooking and looked forward to every meal. Of course, my husband also appreciates my cooking, and has his favorite dishes that he requests and I happily make, but his father was uncommonly interested in food in general, and what I was cooking in particular. (He use to say that my chicken pot pie was "exceptional").

Today, I was able to do something that I had hoped to do for some time- that is to freeze home made cookie dough into individual cookies for later use. How do you do this? Spoon the dough onto the Cookie sheet just like you were going to bake it, instead of putting in the oven, put it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so. Then take the frozen individual cookies and put in a zip lock bag. When you want a cookie or two- there they are.

I wish I could take credit for that brilliant idea- but I read about it here.

There are so many projects left to do with this house,(the entire upstairs has yet to be painted, the small bathroom is still awaiting its wallpaper, the garage is still not unpacked) but its nice to stop doing the big projects and just focus on getting the everyday chores done.

Prayer request for Heather

One of my oldest friend, the one who introduced me to my husband many years ago, got the most dreaded phone call in the middle of the night. Her oldest daughter was hit in a head on crash by a drunk driver. Heather, who is 19 years old, had to be cut out of her car and was taken to the ER unconscious. Thankfully, unbelievably, she does not have life threatening injuries, but the tests are still being ran, she is in a lot of pain and is facing a long recovery. She is expected to be in the hospital for the next 11 days. Please pray for Heather's complete healing as well as for her parents, and the teenage drunk driver who hit her.

I went shopping again

And got these three shirts at Ann Taylor Loft:







I know, they are not all that exciting.

All the exciting things did not work out. The cute navy wedge heel shoe? Didn't have in my size. The tall denim trousers? Not tall enough. The long, flowing white linen skirt with the green border? Not on sale. So, I was left with three not so exciting shirts to add to the work wardrobe.

But, the three basic shirts that match everything in my closet will suddenly be a lot more exciting at 7:30-ish one morning when I have two minutes to get dressed and am blindly grabbing something to put on and run out the door, but not look like I blindly grabbed something and then ran out the door.

Signs your having a bad day

First you have trouble getting up


Then you have a stiff neck


You washed your hair and cant do a thing with it


You feel like you have a hangover and you have not even been drinking


Your new hat looked better on you at the store


Your breakfast doen't agree with you



Then you got caught in the rain

I'm sick and I'm going to bed

IF I had my life to live over again, I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
Erma Bombeck

There has to be a way for me to get free honey out of this

The beautiful 300 year old oak tree in my back yard has had some suspicious activity in and around it recently. While clearing the underbrush to install a long awaited fence, we noticed some bees have moved in. Because we have so many important things to worry about other than swarms of bees in the backyard, and getting this fence built, and we are a little bit lazy, we have yet to buy bee poison - or bee dope as my maw-maw would say. (If there is even such a thing?) I did hear some talk of kidnapping a mosquito control employee and forcing him to spray our back yard, but somehow the opportunity never presented itself.

But, after our Saturday morning breakfast, while looking around the farmer's market, we saw fresh honey for sale, and a sign that said- I catch bees for you FREE. Imagine running into a bee keeper- exactly when you have bees that need to be kept! The bee keeper came to inspect the situation, then confirmed, we do indeed have bees.

We have 20,000 bees.

We.


Have.


20,000.


bees.

Yes, 20,000 bees in my backyard. Apparently, the State's entire population of bees have taken up residency in my back yard.

The good news is the bee keeper will gladly do whatever it is he does to take them off our hands- and it will only take 5-6 weeks to somehow lure them out of the tree and into his... whatever he has to keep them in.

5-6 weeks to get rid of 20,000 bees. Sounds completely reasonable to me.

I am no Martha Stewart... but...

This weekend, I did turn an old tablecloth from my Aunt into two kitchen curtains:



Then I tackled another neglected spot in the yard.

A forgotten flowerbed beneath the kitchen window, (before):



Is almost a new flowerbed. (after):


I know Martha would have finished the job, but I was forced to stop for the weekend. I had so many bug bites on me that I was pretty sure I needed some emergency medical attention. My husband had to calm me down with Advil, cortisone and a fried pork chop for dinner.

Live Well Wednesday

Those professional baseball players know a thing or two about getting back to the basics. and I am onto something...

Oh, I'm still having trouble getting all the veggies/fruits in. Really, there is just no where for me to put them after I eat the whole pan of brownies.

That would be funny if it weren't true.

What did I really do different?
I was mindful of trying to eat 5 fruits and veggies each day. I did not make it on many a day- but I did make an effort.
I drank a lot of water daily.
I walked my dog for 1 mile four times a week.

AND.... I have a 1.4 pound loss to show for my efforts.

See who else is living well this week: look here:http://www.christianwomenonline.net/live_well_wednesdays.htm


PS: Everyone always asks what we actually do at a Weight Watcher meeting. Today it was a great meeting. The topic was emotional eating and the speaker was excellent. It was about emotional eating. In a nut shell, there are reasons that we eat other than hunger. Maybe you eat because your angry. After you have those cookies, you are still angry, the cookies did not solve your problem and now your feeling guilty and angry. So you now eat some cake.... and it keeps going....

Look who got a Spring haircut