Food, Energy, Geezers, TV

3.5 sticks of butter.... what happened was I made those 'Bitter Sweet' cookies and I really couldn't handle them. Just way to bitter.  SO, I took another bag of milk chocolate chips and added more butter, more pecans to the dough because often I make up a huge thing of dough and only bake a dozen or so at a time and refridgerate the rest of the dough.... so for the next batch I could say "would you like a little batter with your chips and pecans"?  These cookies just absolutely melt in your mouth...melt.

This is my morning get me going juice... its high powered energy.  If you haven't ever tried it, go grab a box at your local Walmart and lemme know if it supercharges you.  It comes in lots of flavors but I like orange.  I can be dragging my feet and then just pour 2 pouches in a little glass with a little water and down it and within minutes I can feel it surging through my veins for a really great pick me up.  It says to mix it into an 8 ounce glass of water but, ew, thats just way to watery for me.  I put 2 packs in about 3 ounces I guess.  Its very strong but, thats how I prefer it.

Annah gets a packet a few times a week... I don't think she needs so much C in her day but, she loves it too and she rarely gets sick soooooo... perhaps there is something to it for little kids too. 

This looks like a chocolate type crumble cake but its actually an apple cobbler.  It was SO easy... I  didn't even have to boil the apples first, just peeled and sliced about 5 large apples and then poured the ingredients over it. Although it was way to sweet for my taste... next time I'll half the brown sugar...I don't think I will eat much of this but, I am really glad to discover a fast way to make a cobbler.  Of course an even faster way is to just throw a yellow cake mix over a bunch of apples and add some butter... thats what I'll do for tomorrow nights potluck for sure. 

  Sometimes things like this just really remind me of one of my favorite bloggers ever, Mr. Old Geezer and his wife...Mrs. Old Geezer over at OLD GEEZER BLOG.  

And if your interested in LAST WORDS of famous people, visit: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Last_words

I like to read their last words and then follow the links... fascinating to me.  

I haven't been watching TV.  I seriously gave it up. Well, I didn't take a hammer to it or move it out of the house because I do like to watch the news and since news is pretty much on 24 hours...I limit myself to the 10 o'clock news and Nancy Grace...only one hour of Nancy Grace because she's on alot too. I can't believe a whole California family of 4 just disappeared. authorities found their car right by the Mexico border.... Please pray they be found!!!

 Adios for now!  Fixing to go jogging. Have I mentioned I just really don't like jogging in the cold. I just don't but I can right...I can jog. I can so I will. Okay no complaining. Somebody reach out and slap me.  
 Remember, when you can't hear God, when it seems like He has just gone away from your prayers, turned His ears from you, go ahead and praise Him... praise Him through it all....  You'll meet up with Him again, He's there. He's always there.  It just doesn't always feel like it sometimes.  But I promise you He is there.  

  Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him, and expect help from Him, He will never fail you. - George Mueller 

And the answer is..........

The answer to the question "What is the one thing you can not do in Heaven...."...is  Evangelize...Witness.

This is a powerful book by Mark Cahill.... here is his website. 

I keep having to leave this posting and come back to it.  Stuff going on. :) 

Fixin to go jogging.   I have to do the 28x up and down my driveway because the ground is all muddy and icky.  Either way, its 5 miles, 50 minutes.  I prefer to go 6 miles, 60 minutes but thats about all the time I can handle jogging such a boring route.  The other day I was so bored with my jogging route that I went into an area I have never run through ever ever because I imagine its not safe. I could disappear and no one would know or hear.  I do have my Doberman but, I always figure a gunshot wouldn't even be noticed around here.  You hear them all the time in the distance...people hunting and stuff.  As I was jogging I was thinking..."Okay dummy this is how people get killed".... but the ground was thick enough with grass that it wasn't muddy and the dogs loved it....they even found this really big bone...That was a really exhilerating run...not sure if from the adrenal fear rush or because I finally got out of my hamster ball or what... but I went that route 2 days in a row and enjoyed it... albeit I had my antennas up a mile high and my eyes searching behind every tree and bush.  I could jog to the store which is 5 miles up the road but I really hate...and hate is a very strong word... so I am using the word hate on purpose...I hate jogging on streets near cars and houses and such... I guess if we ever move and its my only option I will certainly do it but I seriously don't like it. When I jog these days, I am one with nature...vultures hover, hawks fly, birds tweet, bunnies scamper, snakes slither and I never see anyone.  Thats how I like it. :)


Good day to you and may you see a miracle!  :)

Question

I am posing a question.  

What is the one thing you can't do in Heaven?

House Churches

After posting that I attend a House Church, Mike over at Christian Cognition posted that he too attends a House Church and suggested we both post what we feel (pros/cons) about going to a home  church etc.... I read his blog today and figured I should just copy and paste a lot of what he had to say but, I will go ahead and post some of my own stuff.


Our past two churches we attended were very good at nurturing fellowship and relationships within the church so that is not anything that we have ever lacked...so when I say I love the intimacy and fellowship, transparency and closeness the house church has its not something we have lacked in the past but yet still have it here.  There is a strong bond of unity that has occured within our group and not just within the adults but the children as well since they are amongst the group and not separated.  This would indeed be a con for some families (no children's programs)  but for us, its perfect and the time of our church is in the evening so by the time we fellowship, worship, pray and move on to the rest of the evening Annah  is very well tired and usually falls asleep. 

Whereas many house churches begin small and ultimately grow and then go and find a building or a church to rent or buy, our group has maintained the desire to stay a bonified true house church and when the group exceeds about 20 people we will then form another house church and so on.

We meet Saturday evenings and so while I love this and prefer meeting Saturday nights there will be events and functions that arise that we will not be able to miss and will have to miss church because while Sunday is an accepted day to go to church..most events are avoided being planned on Sundays due to church but Saturdays is fair game. :)

While it may appear as a life group or care group to some, the difference would be our leaders, teachers, preachers, evangelist etc...are all together at the same time. :)

Its so cold.  I don't like the cold... well, I love the cold but  I don't like running in it. But I tell myself...thank God I can run. Thank God I have health to run, legs to run...  I remember when I was spending days in the hospital visiting a family member and when I would walk out and smell the air, walk in the sunshine...I vowed to always be thankful to be healthy and to not grumble ...So anytime I begin to feel like I don't want to go out and run, I tell myself to be thankful I can and to run because I can.  

One egg. Thats all we got from our 7 hens. Thats because they are all getting to old. They are really just pets at this point. I plan on getting a few more in the Summer.  We used to get about 15 eggs a day.  The difference between a farm fresh egg and store bought, even organic... is very noticeable in both appearance and taste.  When we have been forced to buy eggs I usually buy the most expensive organic, free roaming...hoping for the same quality but it doesn't even come close.  With farm fresh eggs the yolk is bright orange and very rich in taste.

Bitter n Sweet

Well so you can't really see the dough under the bag but, I made up another batch of my triple butter chocolate chip cookies but, this time I decided to use healthy chocolate. These chips are made with 60% Cacao.... bitter rich. Intense chocolate but with a bite... bitter bite. However, that was just from eating the dough... when it was actually a cooked cookie it was pretty good... a little bit too dark, rich, bitter but, just a little.  I managed to eat several.  I take the regular Tollhouse cookie recipe, add almost 3 sticks of butter instead of 2, add oats and nuts and the entire bag of chocolate chips and then some white chocolate chips for diversity.... usually super rich and yummy.... I'm not sure if I will ever use such a high cacao content again though... I had to make these tonight, no delaying because my Valentine chocolates are all gone and as I mentioned in a previous blog, I get seriously ....what would be the right word....nervous.....when I don't have chocolate at hand.

The Cookie Thief A woman was waiting at an airport one night With several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shop bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see That the man beside her as bold as could be Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.  She munched cookies and watched the clock As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.  She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by Thinking "If I wasn't so nice I'd blacken his eye". With each cookie she took he took one too And when only one was left she wondered what he'd do. With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh He took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half as he ate the other She snatched it from him and thought "Oh brother, this guy has some nerve and he's also rude Why he didn't even show any gratitude". She had never known when she had been so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called.  She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.  She boarded the plane and sank in her seat Then sought her book which was almost complete.  As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes: "If mine are here" she moaned with despair "Then the others were his and he tried to share" "Too late to apologize she realized with grief" That she was the rude one, the ungrateful, the thief.

Nooma - Rain

My family goes to a house church. Different huh? I love it. We eat, fellowship, laugh, cry, pray and sing, praise... ....we meet on Saturday evenings...thats different too. :) Anyhooos, last night we watched this short clip called "Rain".... If you have a moment, you might really like to watch it below. There is an entire series of 10 minute DVD's with a theme. This is the first one I have watched but, I am thinking it would be really really good to show at our jail ministry or any sort of outreach. I think. Of course, actually.... alot of times I have met people who have had tragedies in their life that perhaps led to them making bad choices in life because or due to also having had pretty messed up home lifes. So a God who is called "Father" or is being portrayed as a loving Father does not connect well for them. Many times we tend to view God as we have viewed our earthly Father... if he was abusive we may see God as abusive...unfair... etc... and this particular clip ...if you understand the love a father or a parent has for their child then you can completely understand what the message is but if you do not have any comprehension of such a great love then it would be difficult to see the beautiful story this tells. My favorite part of this clip is when he talks about how when the son is all grown up and he may look back and say " Why did you let me go through that storm".... and the father says "But thats when I held you the closest and the tightest".... Its a beautiful clip. I really don't usually watch clips on blogs... not usually.... but if your the curious type and maybe even interested in new ministry resources you might not be disappointed. :)



Annah caught me putting on my mascara. I try to avoid makeup, I really do. It takes to long to mess with it although my face could probably benefit more from the correction of makeup than it needed when it was more youthful. But there are some things makeup just can't correct. :)




What a beautiful smile.

Clutter

I've been spending this day going through clutter drawers ... I don't have piles of stuff laying out in the open around my house, I tend to stick stuff into little bins and drawers and forget about them. I also do not save stuff that is just 'stuff'... if you were to go through my clutter boxes you would find functional stuff but it would be an unorganized mess... you would find a box of matches, thumbtacs, a DVD, lots of pens and glue... stuff like that... all useful just stuffed in a box usually quickly to get it off my table or wherever.

And I need to take some time to eat all my boxes of chocolate. I've gotten one down.

So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year. --John Quincy Adams

Maybe it runs in the family?????

This is my son preaching although I believe he is starting out in prayer, doesn't he sound beautiful. Isn't that just amazing. I mean seriously.... amazing. I have no idea what he is saying. I only know that I hope I can sound like that someday. He was born and raised in TX. Yet there is no hint of a Texas draw or accent.

Eat More Chocolate

One of my Valentines was a delightful box of Spanish candy sweethearts. :)

As a Vegetarian, chocolates and candies fit well into my diet.

Hope today was extra sweet for you !!!

Snowfully Gleefully and Oddities

Record breaking snow hit Texas today with almost a foot !!!! By the time Tiffany and Annah got this snowman built the day had almost passed and the snow melted to mud mush but, wow, it was a treat to wake up to a winter wonderland. I've been here all my life and I can't even describe the inner glee.... I even went jogging in it with my holey tennis shoes... I was smiling with the sheer joy of jogging in snow... but I had this fear I would fall through the earth or something because I couldn't see the ground.... :-) I know, strange.... I kinda have issues I think...I mean seriously...who would be jogging through one foot of snow and have a fear of falling through the earth.... me. I don't need help, please don't try to help me...I'm fine.... and I bet if your honest with yourself, you could confess some little oddities... I have never ever jogged in snow. It was like being in the unknown... felt unknown... the fact that I took it to another level and feared falling through the earth because I couldn't see the ground is indeed an issue but once again... I have to believe I am not the only person who has very strange thoughts. And if I am.... I still don't want help soooooooo, no emails about it okay...what is said here, stays here.





















Tiffany had one last attempt at making a snow man. Isn't it so cute! Probably the last one for years. I ran into a guy at the store and he said he left Wisconsin to get away from this type weather and felt surely Texas was the place to be ... I told him not to worry, tomorrow its suppose to be 50 degrees outside. We will probably all be in shorts and mowing or something.

"Ignatius, when he heard the clock strike, would say, "Now I have another hour to answer for."
(Eph. 5:16)" --John Piper

Coinkydinkies

I read this somewhere recently and I absolutely love it and absolutely agree with it:

"When I stopped praying, coincidences stopped happening."

Have a great day!

No Habla Espanol....

*SIGH*.... so I had my very first Spanish exam today....examination of my knowledge.... actually, the exam itself didn't go to badly... I had to leave a few blanks because no matter how much I pressed my brain I had no idea what the question was. Can you imagine an entire test in Spanish .... anyways...it wasn't so much the exam that got me...it was after.... the teacher had told us to get 5 folders for turning in our homework to which we would do on exam day and she speaks in Spanish so I assumed the 5 folders were to divide up all my tons of homework and organize each part into a folder... it seemed practical if your the organized sort... but then I noticed nobody else had ALL 5 folders being turned in.... thats because it was 1 folder per test period where you hand in all your work into that one folder...and then the next test all your homework goes into another folder... duh... the children kinda laughed... one guy said "you tried to get all your homework into 5 folders????" it didn't sound mocking but rather he seemed amused that a person would actually do that. And then... of all the numbers in the Spanish world of numbers, I have an issue with 40 and anything in the 40's and 7's. I can't pronounce Cuarenta or whatever it is and I can't remember how to say 7 if my life even depended on it. So of all the questions in the world she had to ask me in front of the class she had to ask what day is my birthday which just happens to be a 17..... not only did I say "Mayo" wrong... in my Texas 'MAYOHHH" thick draw ...but my tounge tied up and I just sat there unable to say 17.... she was nodding her head at me like 'come on'...and I just was going 'dieciiiiiiuh...dieciii... ".... But I'm not done. THEN, I suddenly realized I hadn't put my name on my test. I couldn't just discreetly and quitely go to her desk and begin rummaging through the test... I mean that would look really bad... so I had to boldy and confidently announce that I had not put my name on my test and needed to do so... ...more classroom laughter. And my thoughts of all this were that at the end of the class when we have to do our final project and I have to pair up with someone nobody is going to want to be paired with meeeeeee. I'll be the last one picked and if its not an even number .... I'll be the third wheel somewhere. But I'm okay with that. Really I am.
My mom and daughter Tiffany---the puzzle they have is of a painting of Italy that Tiffany painted while in Italy.
She got to sit down on the road in Italy and paint it. SO, for my mom she had the painting made into a puzzle. Such talent that bypassed me. Again, I'm okay with that. :)

So, I began to complain a little because the bathroom toilet seat is always cold...so I said I wish we had a heated toilet seat. The next morning I woke up and stumbled downstairs to the bathroom and there was a heater in the bathroom that Paul put in so that I would be warm. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever????

I actually won a blogger award. :-) Isn't it pretty! I was awarded this lovely award from "Running Commentary". She runs in the snow and maybe even blizzards... I like that.























See, I've been missing from blogging for a few days and now I can't stop talking.

Drowning discouragment with M&M's and Biscuits....

I went to the college this morning to my Spanish class and was suddenly overwhelmed. I can read it, write it and think it but I can't speak it. I just can't pull the words together and I also can't really understand so well when the language is spoken. And, I had the awful, awful, awful, awful, awful privilege of listening to myself speak Spanish... oh my gosh... can you even comprehend Spanish with a TX accent... just hideous. I'm the one who is always on time, sits on the front row, has all my homework typed to perfection and completed on time and yet when the professor ask me a question in Spanish I'm like a deer in headlights... 'uhhhhh huh'???? I think, seriously, I was the only one in the class who drew the blank... everyone else was answering back on que...but me... I got all hung up on if I was suppose to say "tu or su or tus or sus in my sentence..."..... *big sigh*

I came home from class and in an effort to drown out my discouragement ate many many Peanut M & M's and then made up a batch of biscuits from Bisquick and slathered them in butter and blackberry jam and ate several with a glass of whole organic milk. I feel a little better. Thats how people gain weight... eating to console. But since I jog daily I don't usually think to much about eating this or that. I tend to like good stuff most of the time although I need chocolate all of the time...daily. I seriously feel suddenly distressed if I discover there isn't chocolate in the house at my beck and call and whim and that really rarely happens ....me being out of chocolate. I will drive miles out of my way to pick up a bag of chocolate and a box of cookies to have and to hold.... I even have frozen snickers bars in the big freezer in the basement just incase there is some earth disaster and we can't get to the stores... along with my other stuff I have 'stored' such as water and matches...I have chocolate...frozen bars of chocolate... thats really about it of things I have stored ...water, matches, chocolate. Seriously.


..."Right now we are kind of low key because back there I was crying a little bit so I’m still trying to get over that. You say, “Well why were you crying.” It was a very selfish cry. Everywhere I go I look around and I see what God is doing and opening doors like this to us. And when I walk in it affects me. Because I know better than anybody that by all rights and means God should not use me. But He does and I’m extremely thankful. Nobody knows how thankful I am"...... Curry Blake

Mud, bikes, chips and God's will

Its been raining. and raining. and raining. My new shoes are caked in mud and so sludgy muddy icky that although I just bought them from Addidas in November....they have 2 slits in them. 2. And so when I jog down 'my path' .... its drenched in very cold water and mud and when I take off my shoes my socks are completely soaked in mud and my toes are...well muddy and typically rather frozen.My shoes dry overnight... and when I put them on they split.... so off to the shoe store again as I love to jog down my path around the lake...... I really do not like jogging down my driveway. I have to jog up and down it 28x to get about 5 miles. I listen to teachings on my mp3 player and it helps pass the monotony. Currently I am listening to a series by Curry Blake on healing...fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Its about 20 hours long and I am on the last 2 hours.




















I am SO amazed at my child. I mean, I am so amazed I can't even speak. I talked about how she was so determined to ride our old horse that she spent hours finding ways to crawl on her back... she'd lead her to the hay bales, to the truck, put on the lead rope all by herself etc... well, she did it again! Her little bike got a flat tire. It turned out to be a rather nice day today and she wanted to ride her bike sooooo bad... so all by herself she went into the barn, found another bike although it does not have training wheels... I let her do it... fully not expecting her to be able to ride it... I told her Paul would teach her...within the hour she was riding up and down the driveway without training wheels.... my goodness, I was just so proud!!!!!
And soooo my favorite snack of the day!!!! Organic Sweets & Beet potato chips!!! YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!!

And my favorite verses of the day...John 4:31 - 38.... I love how Jesus talks about the meat he has is to do the will of God and finish His work and then He goes right into telling the disciples to look out at the fields and see how they are ripe for harvest...He explains to them how in terms of a field to be harvested that we usually say we need to wait until the time is right but He explains that now the time is right...today, yesterday, tomorrow ..now... go... reap or sow but do something. I just love that! His work was to do God's will and so when we wonder what God's will is all we have to do is read the New Testament and see what Jesus did... He healed the sick, He cast out devils, he pointed to God, He taught about doing and going and taking care of people, loving people... preaching to all the nations... sending out people, taking care of widows and orphans and having joy... its all there in the New Testament...the new covenant.... simple...spelled out... when we wonder what to do... if its in the Bible... well...pretty simple...if you can do it, do it. If you can't do one thing, then do the other but do. :)

What will I be

This cartoon just somehow reminded me of The Old Geezer and his Mrs. Old Geezer......just somehow... someway....

In the meantime, in my own world...I ponder a question...what do I want to be when I grow up? :-) Where is God taking me..... where will I land.... or will I stay here and eventually give in to getting a white toy chiwahwah or a red toy poodle for Annah and just STAY...or will I go... or will something happen that changes everything or will nothing ever change and always be the same forever... and ever or never... those are my burning questions of the day. Tomorrow I move on to something else. Yet as I know and always do.... committing all my thoughts and plans to Him...to God... and yet still I jump up and down like a little kid trying to not be to annoying...yet ever so annoying --- I am so sure of it. I got that squeeky wheel thing down good... I'm the squeekiest...