Do Overs

Do you remember when you were a kid and playing a game with your friends, siblings, or even your parents? If you didn't like the roll of the dice, the card you picked or the outcome of the current play...you would ask for a do over. More often than not, your parents allowed the do over. Do you ever have days or moments you'd like to do over? Mostly we want those when we mess up. Sometimes we want to have a do over day just because it was so great but more often than not we want to do a moment over because we didn't like the way it went down. I have lots of those. Moments when you say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing...react the wrong way. ...Pretty much blow your Christian testimony. I have no doubt that in the past I have lost some respect because of not controlling my thoughts and then my speech. I have had times when I wished I'd handled something differently or in a more caring and compassionate way. I wish that I'd have taught my daughter more about cooking and organizing as she was growing up. I wish I'd have spent more time learning and asking questions of my mom, grandma and aunts. I wish I could go back in time and ask my dad some questions (he died when I was 12). I have lots of regrets where I caused hurt to someone (sometimes unintentionally and sometimes intentionally). When we are hurt we tend to lash back...to try to hurt in return. I am learning to not do that now that my life is half over, but it is half over and unfortunately, we don't get do overs. Once something is done or said, it is very hard to take it back. The person can forgive but the wound and often scar is still there. Sometimes the wound and the scar run deep. I know alot about scars myself. You think you have moved passed an issue and then Satan will remind you of it. He will bring a memory back that stabs and stings as though it just happened. Often that memory comes at a very inopportune time! Often times, a simple statement or a rolling of the eyes or facial expression can cause more hurt than when someone says something hateful and mean. Sometimes hurt comes because there is no reaction at all. Everyone wants to be loved deeply and unconditionally. We want to be enough....more than enough...in all relationships. --as friends, as spouses, as children. Some kids never grow up ever feeling like they have approval of their parents, even when they are adults. Sometimes friends expect more than a person is capable of giving and then the friend moves to a new friendship and leaves you behind. Sometimes spouses leave because they think they have found something better or younger. Some women struggle with the way the look because their husband is always noticing other women. Some men struggle with this issue too because women either notice other men or ooh and ahh over movie stars. Face it...most people walking do not look like models or movie stars! Most of us have imperfections in our looks....praise the Lord LOVE covers these. It covers transgressions and flaws. When looking at another person with love, the love of Christ, we don't see the flaws. Call it the rose colored glasses syndrome if ya will. I have always said that I'm so thankful that God gives Bob different eyes to see me with. He loves me despite all the imperfections. ..There are plenty believe me! I reckon this post is just theraputic for me maybe...I have been struggling lately with some scars that have been reopened and I need to cleanse and find a way to close them up again.

Sharing Some Finds & Projects

Just sharing some pics today...

 

I found this at a 2nd Hand store today.

 

 

This is the revamping pic. It goes with my ice cream shop theme for my kitchen.

 

Goes with my desserts sign.

 

 

I found this antique cabinet to use in my bathroom for supplies & extra tp. It was all white & needed cleaning up. I added the golden yellow and the tin sign (gotten at Hobby Lobby). I love it!



 

Sweet Onion Dressing Recipe

I have a new recipe to share for your salads or even sandwiches.  We have been using this the past few days on our special diet:

Very Low Calorie Sweet Onion Dressing:
1 Cup Stevia in the Raw
1 teaspoon salt (I use sea salt)
1 teaspoon dry ground mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 splashes worcestershire sauce
1 medium sweet onion (red or vidalia)
1/2 cup cider vinegar

Put onion in food processor or blender and process til minced. Place in saucepan and add rest of the ingredients. Cook til well blended. Cool and store in container. Keep refrigerated. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

You may add 2 Tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil to help it better adhere but this will add calories!


**Get a good sweet onion because the onion can get overwhelming if it is hot!

A Healthier Path

Part of my journey path for this year is to become healthier by dropping a few pounds and making better choices about the things I put into my body system. It's not just about losing weight, it is about getting my system into chemical balance...ph and hormonal. Bob and I began a very strict diet process two days after Christmas. We got this program through our alternative doctor. It is safe tho many would have you believe it is not. It is the "Assist Diet" program. It is tough but already we have seen significant benefits and changes. There hasn't been just weight loss but balance in other areas. It has helped with liver and kidney function. It is slowly helping with cravings which lead to binging. I won't lie and say we have been perfect at sticking with it but we have not cheated enough to go backwards in weight loss. He has lost 10 or 11 pounds and I have lost 8 or 9. This program trains your body to burn stored fat and not just to burn recent sugars for energy. ...since there are no sugar or carbs to use!

We people of the United States have had such an abundance in our lives over the past 50 years, and things are made so much easier and quicker that we just don't realize the ramifications of these abundances and quicker things. Sure a can of soup or frozen dinner or "shortcuts" make things quicker and easier but the preservatives and abundance of salt and sugars and chemicals in them causes far reaching effects that go a very long way to our unhealthy lives! It is a big part of why the doctor bills begin to pile up all over the country. I believe it is a big part of the cancer epidemic in this land along with so many auto-immune diseases.

Now, I do have a certain mind set that says that death is inevitable unless the rapture happens and there comes a point in time when you just say "I want to enjoy some things" ..I want a piece of cake or pie and ice cream. And I agree, once Bob and I get through the diet program and move onto the maintenance program we will splurge once in awhile but we are hoping that once our bodies are chemically in balance that cravings of those things will be minimal. Coming from a country cook who uses heavily, fats and sugars, it will be a re-training process fer sure! I also enjoy meat and potatoes! We made the decision last night that taters will be limited to only once or twice a week once through the diet and so will breads. I will say that the recipes offered in the program have mostly been very delicious so far. As a matter of fact, I will probably never go back to fried chicken or chicken strips! This baked recipe is so good and tender and has wonderful flavor that I feel no need to stand at a stove and have grease pop and fly everwhere! :P

As a side note, I have already broke myself of drinking colas! I have had 4 colas from October 11 til present!! I have drank only a few caffeine free sodas (rootbeer, cream, orange or Sprite) til the diet began. I had been trying for quite some time and the addiction is so hard but it helped me to understand better those with drug or alcohol addictions! I do still have cravings for those but just fight the temptation...usually by singing Victory in Jesus or another hymn! :)

A Ruby in the Rough

I wasn't sure what to post as a "first post" for this new blog. Since it is a brand new year (2013) and we as individuals are often making new choices and deciding which paths to take and setting new goals or making resolutions, I decided to talk about how God is working on me. In Proverbs 31 a superb and Godly woman is described as the "Virtuous woman" (this is someone who many woman hear preached and taught about alot and whom they want to strive to become like but often feel they will never measure up). In the passage the virtuous woman is described as someone who has a price far above rubies...because she is so rare! Welp, the title of this post explains the point of my post. I am a ruby in the rough. Someone who God is chiseling and chipping away at and polishes at times to smooth away rough areas and things that should not be a part of me so that I can shine when he is finished polishing. All this is done to ultimately bring glory to Him.

The reason we ladies often get upset at the preaching and teaching about this woman is because she is so perfect and does so much in every single day that when we mess up or don't do all she seems to accomplish in a day, or have a bad attitude or any other number of "failures" each day; we feel bad and convicted and we feel like less....less of a woman we are supposed to be. Ya know we ladies have that sort of "Wonder woman, wife, mom" competition going! :) While we love and applaud one another, often deep down in a secret part of our hearts we want to be the best or at least better than so and so is doing! Or at least we want others, especially our husbands and kids to think so. But we should not fear the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs. We should see her as a role model (and we all have those in our lives whom we'd like to be like), an example given by God to strive for as a lady. Now, as a Christian the goal is even higher than the virtuous woman, it is Jesus. We will never fully arrive at this one but until God calls us home to glory, we should keep on keepin on towards the mirrored image of Christ!

On the days when you don't feel you measure up, remember that God is still chiseling and polishing on His gem. A ruby is precious and rare and to become a useful gem in a ring, necklace or other piece of jewelry, it takes molding and shaping and polishing to be fit for the job. Just never stop allowing God to work on you and you will eventually shine for Him!