Category Archives: Faith

Enough already!!!

Oh my goodness! It’s been a solid flippin’ day of this!! I know I shouldn’t whine, but…. WAH, WAH, WAH!!!!

Fortunately, Saturday we got all of our chores and running around done because we knew it was going to be this way today. Mass this morning was fine and then about noon, the skies opened up and really haven’t stopped. This my friends, is a tropical storm. This my friends, is me sticking my tongue out….:P yes, I look just like that!

I thought I’d be so excited to sleep, it’s such a constant sound. And yet, 12:23 a.m. sleep eludes me. I have work tomorrow, TS Debby! Do you not care?!?!? No. She doesn’t.

Sadly, I am like this every time we get a bad storm blowing through. I’m certain it’s due to the trauma of 2004 when we moved back home and were socked with 4 hurricanes within the 1st month. It’s a testament to God, Himself that I didn’t completely fall apart during that time. Truly. My stomach hurts just thinking back. So on that note, I think I’ll try to head back to bed and grab those last few hours of sleep!

on a bright note, I only have about 18 mos of blog posts left to move over to WP! so there’s that…

I hate moving…..

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Apple you confound me. It’s a love/hate thing. Really. So easy to work with, such pleasant employees, intoxicating stores; I sing your praises often. (although, I have lots to learn and my Hubby does not share my love of Apple products necessarily, especially when he asks me how to do something on my laptop and I say “yeah, I don’t know….google it.”), anyway….really I love Apple. However, right now they are my “S List”. That’s right. The Sucko List.

They are discontinuing their iWeb service (and a few other things that I don’t really use….) and that caused me to have to uproot my prior blog to new and less precarious pastures. The problem is….unlike many of their other services, they didn’t really have a super clear and/or EASY way to move the iWeb blogs to other services. I could use a big red Staples button here. Really. Not kidding.

easy it ain’t!!

Last summer I started looking around for other blog homes and decided on an unnamed site that could move my blog easy sneezy, had pretty good directions (even for me), however, I ended up calling IT support and between the two of us they could NOT move my blog. Something in the version of my laptop or the iWeb I have is hindering progress, so I came up with a big fat ZERO!! Very frustrating. In the meantime, I decided to cease and desist any further bloggage on the iWeb and I moved to WordPress with my new blog (which, incidentally is working for me so far) and deal with the move later. Much later.

In my infamous procrastinator-fashion, I have truly waited until the bitter end to move that B. I currently have 7 6 days to move a little over 2 years and 3 months. I’ve moved 9 months of blogging in the past 3 days. It’s a cut and paste nightmare. Screenshots for pics that aren’t crossing over on the cut and paste. I’m a little fried. Wondering if I’ll actually get it done. The worst part is….my hard drive crashed a few months ago and guess what didn’t get backed up….yep. iWeb. the bane of my existence right now. So, I don’t even have the blog on my harddrive to just pick and pull when I feel like it. Which is probably best. Because in all reality, under pressure is my best work and I will get it done. Under pressure, I turn into a focused Type-A person. Once crisis averted, I’m back to my laid back procrastinating self. It’s a vicious cycle.

Either way. You might not see much blogging on my end for a few days. I guess it’s good we are getting a lot of rain today, I know what I’ll be doing. And at least for the next 7 days in between. After that…I must say…I fully plan on recycling some of my old posts. There was some good stuff in there. I’ll keep my second WP site private, it’s very personal and emotional (in fact, I am working diligently on NOT getting sidetracked re-reading old posts….it’s HARD!!), but I will recycle and update them to share with you as I pour over them. My heart will be on my sleeve, but WOW was God working over-time in my life those 3 years–He still is now, but when you look back you can see His presence so vividly. It. Is. AWE-some!

Well, time for coffee #2 and a little breakfast before Mass! C ya!

Blessings!

Summer time….work ethic in progress

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Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s off to mow we go….

He’s not always this happy to get going….but there was a nice breeze that day!

Gassing up to get it done!

Companions to the workhorse lawn mower

Big Blue. Crucial accessory to summertime outdoors activity, whether it’s cutting the lawns, skateboarding or hitting the beach. HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!!

Our boys’ summer. Once a week they have 4 lawns to take care of. 3 they actually get paid for in cold hard cash or check. The other is paid for in food, lodging, love, laundry, food, privileges, hugs, food, guidance, boundaries, kisses, security and food.

Hubby helped them to procure the jobs last year and though they don’t always enjoy the work aspect of the jobs (please, I’m grumbling every Monday so I can’t exactly fault them here…who REALLY loves work versus recreation), they DO enjoy the payment aspect of the jobs. (They do these jobs year-round, not just summer) They are learning the value of a dollar, taking pride in a job well-done, interacting with the public, working for a difficult boss, honing their communication skills, team work, and it passes the time at least one morning each week during the summer.

Realistically, we can’t provide for their every whim and fancy. We have four children. We work full-time. Their little whims and fancies are getting progressively more expensive as they age. Out of necessity comes valuable life lessons in work ethic, saving, tithing and communication. We hope to add volunteering to their summer plans to further grow their hearts and spirits to a spirit of serving others and taking the focus off of “self” (a lifelong effort for us all, isn’t it?).

And so, coming across this quote on Facebook yesterday by John Talpene (though I’ve not been able to fully verify it is from him–the message is SPOT-ON!), I feel even better about encouraging their lawn business because maybe, just maybe, we are on the right path….and THAT is encouraging!!

John Talpene quote, image from HERE

This quote has been running around Facebook for a few months and though I can’t actually verify if this principal is the one who quoted it, I must say the message is OUTSTANDING!! I fully plan on printing this out and sharing with out kiddos. The crux of the message is old-fashioned values don’t go out of style (much like Audrey Hepburn’s LBD). You can’t go wrong here, in fact we’ve often gotten so far from this message in our “instant gratification” society that it’s not so difficult to see the difference of the fruit born of the polar opposite styles in parenting of the message below and today’s “I-want-it-all-but-I don’t-want-to-work-for-it” generation. A generation that WE are cultivating.

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Martha, your enterprise is safe. For now….

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Our youngest turned 9 last week and since I had the day off for her birthday, I agreed to make the cake she requested: Red velvet with cream cheese icing AND chocolate with chocolate icing….layered up. OK. No prob. I am sure her vision was something like this:

OK, maybe we watch too much Cake Boss….besides she knows me too well. I don’t even have a tiny square pan like the top layer!!

**image by yumsugar.com

More likely, her visions were of this type of cake…(just imagine some chocolate layers between the red velvet….)

I actually HAVE made a few layered numbers sorta, kinda similar to this. Really. I just can’t find the pictures right now…..
Image by southernliving.com

Off to Publix I went. And lo and freaking behold, there was not ONE red velvet cake mix. WTHeck!??! So, I went on my phone, pulled up a recipe (which took FOREVAH–the signal is lousy in that store!) and procured the ingredients. Confident of my preparations and time frame, back home I went.

Turns out, between the two cake batters I had enough for cupcakes, too! BONUS! This was going to be a spectacular cake.

When I began to smell burning cake (8 minutes before the timer went off) I quickly removed the pans and checked for done-ness. With the exception of one pan, everything was ready.

The problem was that the red velvet layer cooked too quickly on the bottom. So I brought out my serrated knife to cut off that portion. The cake itself was moist and lovely, hence…the darn thing began to crumble as I cut off the burnt portion.

Crumble-palooza, Summer 2012!!

The issues continued as the second pan didn’t QUITE come out intact (apparently I missed a spot with the spray…)

I decided on making the best of it. I cut the red velvet layer in two, turned it upside down and began to frost. Then layering with the chocolate layer and “gluing” it together with frosting–there is no such thing as too much frosting, by the way. Topped it with the red velvet layer and then used cupcakes to hold the darn thing together and up (as for some reason it was now leaning to the side…).

As I surveyed the ~~damage~~ final result, I pondered running back to Publix and purchasing one of their ready-to-go FANCY SCHMANCY cakes, but my husband said, “it will still taste OK.”

As our daughter arrived home from VBS, I Happy birthday-ed her to death, oohed and ahhed over her 9-year-old self and buttered her up for the sell. She paused as she took in the confectionary conundrum, listened to her sister as she assisted in the sell (God LOVE that girl!!!) and turned with the biggest smile ever, “That is so COOL!!!”. Phew. Crisis averted.

**on a side note, my girlfriend recently revealed to me that she often enjoys “Cake in a bag”, the result of an ALMOST thrown away iced cake (can you even IMAGINE such a travesty!?!?!) and that yes, indeed, even if it looks awful, it DOES still taste good. I was clinging to that hope.

So. For now. Martha Stewart has nothing to fear. Give me time and perhaps a little patience, attention to detail and a concern about what other people think…..and look out. So, until then….VOILA!

ZEE Masterpiece, non?

Throw a bunch of candles on it and there you go! Smiles!!

The leftover carnage….and yes, it was AWESOME! (especially the red velvet part)

To recreate this baking WONDER, I pulled the Red Velvet recipe from HERE. As for the rest. Any chocolate cake mix. And throw all your cares out the window and let ‘er rip! Bon Appetit!!

Galations 5:22 -23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Running away….for 26 hours!

making the trek

Trekking through life: Faith, family, friends and a whole lot of coffee!