Today is one of those rare days when I have absolutely nothing to say. There are things I’d like to talk about, but it would be premature. I’ll have lots to say in week or two or ten, but not today.
All I’ve got is this…
Eight cans of Progresso soup for .01 cent.
I think I drove the cashier in CVS crazy yesterday, but I wasn’t trying to be a pain. I promise. I knew I would take longer than the normal person, so I let two other people go in front of me. I wasn’t in a rush. Next time I shop, I’ll go at night when there’s a different cashier. The $5 extra buck that did not print pushed her over the edge. It was $5 though, so I had to ask for it. I was very nice, apologetic even and it wasn’t my fault.
I love you CVS cashiers. Really, I do!
My son is so funny about the couponing thing. He’s quite proud of the deals I’m getting. He says that one day, he’s going to tell his wife about coupons. I told him that maybe he should do the shopping for his future wife.
It doesn’t hurt to try and brainwash them young. His future wife will thank me.
You find any good deals lately?
BTW, I forgot to link yesterday’s Hello Monday post to Lisa Leonard’s blog. Sorry Lisa. If you missed it, I included two recipes that are worth trying.
Nice to see that you’ve brought us sunshine and summer skies. I am more than happy to shed my sweater for a pair of shorts.
Hello good morning shakes. You’re so much better than the chocolate/banana shakes McDonald’s had this summer.
You’ll need:
Pure Almond Silk in Dark Chocolate
Frozen Banana Slices
Blender
Mix them up and enjoy a guilt free treat. Pure Almond has fewer calories than milk and twice the calcium. The taste is absolutely decadent. A glass of this will make your taste buds quiver with joy.
You can thank me later.
Hello Pinterest!
I never expected you to help me become a better cook, but you’ve exceeded my humble expectations of being a pure time waster. My family thanks you.
image via Pinterest
Ground Beef, Black Bean, and Cheddar Cheese Taquitos – Recipe HERE
Seriously, you MUST season your meat like the recipe says. They were so very yummy. My son saw this recipe while I was scrolling through photos one day and asked me to make it. I’m so glad I did!
Hello Beth Moore.
I’d like to host a ladies Bible study in my home this winter, and I’d love to do a Beth Moore study. One catch – they are expensive. So, I’m going to throw this request out there…Does anyone (or anyone’s church) have a Beth Moore DVD study that I can borrow?
I promise to treat it better than my kids. I’ll tuck the DVD’s in at nice and give them hot cocoa for breakfast.
I will return the DVD’s the day we finish the study and send you a million thanks.
If you feel so inclined, please send me an email. My contact information is at the top of the page.
I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a good Monday.
I’m about to repaint the floors in my living room, because they are beyond gross. My brain must have been temporarily hijacked by chic little minions of colorless latex when I made the decision to paint my floors white.
I had a dog, two kids, and a husband who wears muddy boots. At least I’m hoping it’s mud, however, he does do a lot of electrical work on farms. I just choose to think of it all as mud. There is no dirt fighter-offer that can possibly lift the stains out of each porous crevis in my floarboards. It’s not gonna happen. Besides my floors are now a whole lot less chic and whole lot more shabby.
I no longer have the dog, but I still have the kids for at least another ten years, and FringeMan plan on sticking around longer than the kids, so…
I am going to repaint.
Why do I paint my floors you ask?
Well, when you live in a money pit, you got-sta do what you got-sta do.
I just need help choosing a color.
Should I go with a rich brown, the color of mud? Will it show every single little scratch and fluff of dust? I may be happier seeing dust than dirt. It’s a consideration.
The standard gray? Unfortunately if I use gray, I might develop a disorder that causes me to simultaneously sing The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow while grabbing a gun and saluting FringeMan.
A country redwood? If I paint the floor red will I suddenly have urges to eat baked beans and drive fire trucks? I’m concerned.
There’s always beige. This makes me think of old ladies. You know how they like their taupe purses and shoes? If I have taupe floors will I need to scatter fart cushions around the room and yell Bingo at regular intervals?
What other floor colors are left?
I went to the paint store this morning and picked up a nice sample book filled with vibrant colors. I don’t like any of them. There’s no telling what color FringeMan would pick, because he’s on a diet and I think the juicing has gone to his head. I just don’t want my floor to end up looking like a juiced moldy cucumber. No woman wants that. You know?
Today it’s all about controversy. I’m talking about church. Maybe you’ll agree with me, but it’s ok if you don’t. Please understand, this post is about “church” and “church people” in general. I’m not naming any specific denomination or peoples. I’ve never even mentioned what kind of church I attend. I think religion is something man makes up to try and please God. I pray I have something more than just religion. Lots of people have ‘religion’ and it does them no good.
See I told you this would be controversial. It’s on my heart though and I don’t think I can not write it.
I sometimes wonder if the way we do church today is the way God intended the church to be, to live, to act, to love. We run ourselves ragged hosting special classes and groups for everyone from the cry-babies to those on the express train to heaven. We entertain – we teach – we throw parties – we host special events – we bake cookies and make coffee – we invite – we try to always have something for everyone – we do, do DO.
In order to run all these programs, we plead for people to give more money. If they don’t fill the passing plate, we have fundraisers. You see if we don’t put on a good enough show, the families in our church will leave and go to the church down the road or in the next town. We can’t stay in a church that doesn’t have fun and exciting programs for our children. Can we? After all, those laser lights, catchy jingles, engaging games, and enthusiastic leaders help our children know God better. Without them, our kids wouldn’t like to come to church. If you’re under four feet tall, the last thing you should be doing is sitting on a hard pew or a cushioned chair and listening to the preacher. You won’t understand a word he’s saying. Will you? He only reads out of the Bible and that will put your kids to sleep in a heartbeat. Why, it even puts you to sleep almost every Sunday.
Attending a church with appropriate programs for the family is essential. Without the proper balance of Bible and entertainment, we’ll lose our youth to the wiles of the world, the devil, and lust. Of course, I had to throw lust into the mix. It always ends up there anyway.
We don’t want to turn the children away. We want them to be in church when they are eight, eighteen, twenty-eight, and seventy-eight. The only problem is that they are not in church. As soon as they hit eighteen, sometimes sooner, they walk right out the front doors and they don’t come back, except for weddings and funerals. No I’m wrong. Certain ones come back after they fry half their brain on drugs, serve seven years in jail, or have four kids from five different fathers (I was never good at math and I get more confused with every child).
What are we doing wrong?
We run all week-long and finish with a great big well-oiled show on Sunday. Why isn’t it working?
I’m not going to pretend to know the answer to that question.
What I do know is that God is more concerned about hearts than he is about our special singers and fourth grade craft projects. To be honest, and I may be going out on a limb here, I don’t think God really gives a hoot about what color we paint the sanctuary, or whether we have new toys in the nursery, or a scavenger hunt for the teenagers.
I really believe God just lets us run around doing our own thing while He’s waiting for us to do what He commanded us.
Mark 12:30-31
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Matthew 22:36-40
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Luke 10:25-27
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
I wonder if our kids are seeing love in the church, a love that goes outside the church walls and loves neighbors, meeting the needs of strangers. Real love, God’s love flowing in us and through us, doesn’t just hold classes on Sunday, but it’s a love that gets inside homes and bring truth to confusion. It’s a love that cries and rejoices. It’s a love that gives till it hurts. This love isn’t just a show of smiles and kind words during services, it’s more. It’s lifegiving and transforming. It’s real.
Somehow I think this love does more good than all the classes, performances, and great facilities. I think this love is the church.
We too often attend a church for what we can take from that church – encouragement, entertainment, practical life lessons, financial gain, friendships, babysitters. That’s not enough. Our focus is skewed, our perception of church twisted by culture and selfishness.
We, the body of believers that makes up the church, is failing. We’re not loving. I don’t think we’re making the difference we hope to make on this earth. I know we’re getting burnt out and frustrated. I know people are walking out the doors and never returning. I know we are hypocrites.
We desire to be used by God, but too often we think God can only use us in the church building, whether it’s to teach a class, make a craft with the kids, or be a greeter at the door. Only I think God uses us most often outside the church building. He wants to use us on the playground and in our community. He longs for us to show a little love to those trouble-makers on the corner, and help that couple down the road put their marriage back together. He wants us to cook a dinner for the single woman whose five kids are driving her to drink. God tells us to love Him and others like we love ourselves.
I’m just not sure that we (and I am talking about me too) the church are doing the right things. We’re doing good things, most of the time, but I don’t think we’re doing the best things – the things God commands.
Kids have an uncanny way of deciphering true love from Sunday smiles and fun activities. You may not be able to give them entertainment, but if you give them love, you’ve given them the best. Adults don’t need stained glass windows, enough rules to keep them on the straight and narrow, or music programs that could put paid artists to shame. They need love. From you.
If we have any chance of making a difference in our world, it’s not going to be by any harebrained scheme we come up with. It’s only going to be by obedience to the Lord who knows better than we do what people need. God already gave us the greatest demonstration of love in the gift of His son, Jesus Christ. Are we going to keep that love all to ourselves, or will we share it with others?
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Maybe through love we can become the church that God desires us to be. We can still make a difference. We have time. We have today.
1 John 4:16-21
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
I’ve been thinking about this lately, but wasn’t sure if I should write it down and send it to the internet to live for forever; however, I read this post bright and early this morning and knew it was time for me to share my thoughts. I’m not only writing to you, I’m writing to me too. If God touches your heart with any of these verses or words, don’t waste time feeling bad, just align your heart to God’s Word and love.
Fourteen years ago today, this trapping-hunting crazy man caught his prey. He threw me over his shoulder and yelped, “Yee-Haw! I got me a woman.”
Today I woke up to sunflowers on my kitchen island and this message on my facebook wall.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY – 14 years already! I truly love YOU more than life itself. Looking forward to many more years together!
I hear the collective “Awwwww”.
Tonight we get to go out by ourselves. Friends are watching our kids. (Thank YOU friends!) I’m not even sure where we are going yet, but I promise you I’ll enjoy it.
If you’ve never read our love story, I wrote it here.
I pray I get to enjoy many more anniversaries with FringeMan.
P.S. My daughter just looked at the picture and said, “Aww, somebody just got married.”
There’s something about waking up to crisp air and a house that greets me with a heavy thirteen year old robe and fuzzy slippers that makes me want to clean. It’s a phenomena I cannot explain. Not even in spring do I feel this internal urge to throw everything out and scrub my house with bleach. For me cleaning is a fall thing. The other ten months of the year my house wallows in dirt, spiders cast protective webs over the furniture, and uninhibited rats feast on dirty plates and rotting food.
Not really.
I always clean. It’s just that fall makes me want to go the extra mile. It makes me want to paint, wash curtains, and scrub my screens. It also makes me want to cast pumpkins around and light candles.
I’m never quite sure what to do on my fireplace. I usually throw a pumpkin up there and fill bowls with fake berry twigs. See last year. However, this year I discovered Pinterest, a place where inspiration runs over unsuspecting females like a river swollen with flood waters.
I discovered that less is nice, but if you want WOW, more is more.
Deep, huh?
So here’s more.
It cost my a trip to the dollar store (because I’m classy like that) and $18. I do have three extra pumpkin/gourds, so it could’ve cost me $15.
I’m happy with how it came out. It looks festive. I cleared everything off the top of the bookcases on either side, so it all looks pretty stark and this is the main feature. I guess I’m glad I didn’t find anyone to buy the rest of my milk glass, because it came it handy.
So this weekend, I embraced the change of season, although I do hate to wave good-bye to summer. I channeled my repressive Martha Stewart, and now I’m off to wash the curtains.
So I’ve noticed that for the past week, I’ve been blogging in this one-sided conversational style in which I talk about nothing significant, important, or helpful. I’m basically a chatter-box with a keyboard.
Sorry if you were hoping for a few deep posts. I won’t be imparting any spiritual truths or life’s lessons this week. There’s a part of me that wants to, I just can’t make words fit what’s rumbling around inside of me. And no! It’s not last night’s dinner that’s rumbling.
Today, since it’s freezing, I am going to give you visual documentation of true hat love. My kids seem to have developed an infatuation with head coverings, not the ordinary knit cap with a pom-pom on top, but the unusual, inventive, and often odd (only a kid could get away with it) type hat.
Example #1
The pink I’m down with the flower-power crochet skull-cap.
Example #2
The I wish you would buy me a horse and let me move to Texas cowgirl hat.
Example #3
The don’t let me go in the woods unattended because I eat gross foods and can be mistaken for a new species of zebra-striped bear hat.
Example #4
The I will take apart everything in the house with moving parts and steal batteries from my mother’s camera so I can invent something hat.
Example #5
The exotic bird lover’s hat that only a Do-Do bird with a pet eagle puppet would wear hat.
I feel like I should worry about their future fashion choices, but I don’t feel qualified to help them look more mainstream, especially after catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realizing I look like a cross between a thrift-store mannequin and a New England liberal arts professor.
Send Stacey and Clinton ASAP!
Tell me you and your children sometimes wear freakish outfits too? Please.
My daughter caught a mouse today at homeschool group. She made it a “habitat” and fed it crackers. I’m totally creeped-out by her love of vermin. I’d rather see them dead than alive and she’s hand-feeding them crackers. At least this particular mouse was not in my house. Mice in central New York must be extremely prolific. Not a good thing. Dang Varmits!
No I did not bring the mouse or “habitat” home.
Yes, she did ask, beg, and give me a poochy lip.
We’re expecting our first frost on Friday night. In some spectacularly ridiculous way I kinda feel very fortunate that we’ve made it to mid-September without a frost. That makes me think I should have a brain transplant. Frosts should not be in September. December – Yes. September – No.
I sure hope the cool weather doesn’t send the mice scurrying for a warm place to nestle between my loaf of whole wheat bread and the bowl of apples on my counter.
Side note: Apples are not safe from mice. Although they have a thing for Ramen, they wash down hard crunchy noodles with sweet apples. That’s truth.
Anyway, these cool mornings and evenings are making me consider my fall clothes. I changed four times the other day. All in the course of fifteen minutes. I really don’t know what to wear. My mother brought me a whole trash bag of hand-me-downs that she inherited from a coworker’s cousin. Now I have all these bits and pieces and I have no idea what to wear. Those little fashion inspiration boards on Pinterest make dressing look so easy. It’s not.Anyone want to come over, pick through my closet, and make me a few outfits?
pinterest via polyvore.com
You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. This girl needs help and a pair of jeans that really fit.
pinterest via polyvore.com
I hate jeans, but feel I cannot possibly live without them. All I want is one pair of jeans that fit all over. I need wide legs, full hips, no gap in the waste, short rise (so the crotch doesn’t hang half-way to my knees), and no puffiness in the stomach area.
Do you think that’s too much ask from a jean?
For me, trying on jeans is worse than trying on swimsuits. I’m dead serious. If any of you know of a brand that fits the above criteria, please do share. Add links and draw maps if necessary. A good pair of jeans is the one thing I must buy before the cold weather really sets in.
pinterest via Michelle Allen (I feel really bad becuase I don't know who this woman is! Obviously she's a blogger and someone pinned her picture, but they didn't share her site. So sorry!)
Now that I’ve whined about my fashion dilemmas, let’s talk about food. I made this chicken tonight and it was wonderfully, fabulously, delicious. Even my son enjoyed it. That’s saying something, because I think the only meal he really likes that doesn’t come out of a box that reads Mac & Cheese is my Chili. It’ll be nice for me to be able to make two meals that he doesn’t scrunch up his nose at.
This weekend on way back from New Hampshire, we took the kids to the USS Albacore, a WWII submarine. It’s kinda cool, so I’m adding the slideshow below. If you feel like taking a field trip with us, these pictures will give you a full tour without the claustrophobia. It is itty-bitty, some kinda tiny inside that submarine. The men on that ship must have had very disciplined minds or else they would have gone crazy. One crew was on this ship for over a year. I would have gone stark-raving mad. No doubt about it!
** The silly fashion inspiration photos got stuck in the slideshow and I cannot remove them. Sorry about that. I did want the slideshow to be all submarine. Oh, well. Pretend they are pin-up girls hanging on the walls of the sub.
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So have you tried any good recipes lately?
Have any fall fashion advice for me??
Visit any cool ‘field trip’ type places this summer???
My weekend seemed like a week. I laughed. I cried. I offered to give my son up to be a dishwasher in the Cracker Barrel just outside of Albany. At first the waiter laughed like I wasn’t serious. He’s young…no children of his own yet. He’ll understand by the time he finishes paying off his wife’s epidural.
My daughter ordered the fried shrimp and mashed potato plate off the children’s menu. While she popped shrimp into her mouth, she proceeded to tell us how shrimp throw up blue vomit into fishes mouths. They do this in defense of their very lives. Then the toddler two tables over began choking and vomiting. I lie not folks. Children certainly have a way of making you not hungry.
That’s a real bald eagle my friends.
This one is a puppet.
On Saturday we drove up to Maine/New Hampshire. It was like going home. I’m not sure why, because I’ve spent most of my life in New York, but ever since this day, Maine just feels like home. My kids feel the same way, but they were born there. They have ice-crystals mingled with their blood.
We stopped in Kittery, Maine to do a little shopping. It’s outlet central and I had been saving a 20% off coupon for The Children’s Place. FringeKid needed clothes for fall/winter. You can never begin buying winter clothes too early in the season. After all, we are only one frost away from loosing all our money on heating oil. I’m convinced that’s not the way life should be, but it’s a reality.
If you’ve never been shopping in Maine, you should definitely go to the Kittery Trading Post and L.L. Bean. They both have very large dead animals lurking around every corner.
Dead things make shopping fun for the men.
It’s a bonus that they sell guns. Lots of them.
So while I spend my husband’s money, he dreams of shooting big animals with the display guns. That’s how I’ve learned to keep my marriage happy in the last fourteen years.
This target almost makes me want to take up shooting.
It’s a scary world our there. It’ll get even scarier when all those chi-wa-wa zombies are on the loose.
So I’m having a difficulty segueing from little zombie yappy dogs to church, but let’s give it a go.
Our purpose for driving north was so that FringeMan could preach in a New Hampshire church on Sunday. This East Rochester congregation was made up of the sweetest people. Not only do they have a pretty fabulous church building (I snuck back in after service for a picture), but the women also get together once a week to exercise to Sweatin’ to the Oldies. I mean, that’s my kind of fitness program.
Notice the ceiling. It’s all tin. And the lights are really cool in a retro way. This picture definitely doesn’t do it justice. What I like is that the building is one hundred and forty-five years old, but it’s painted in a modern way and doesn’t look one bit dreary inside. I’m not a fan of dark, dreary churches. They give me the heebee-jeebies.
Yes, I suffer from an overactive imagination. There’s no known cure. Yet.
Anyway, one of the women in church baked us a batch of M&M cookies for our trip home. Bless her heart! And my tummy. They were the bestest cookies and hit the spot around four o’clock yesterday afternoon.
** I don’t normally talk about and photograph the churches my husband preaches in, because some people may not like that, but I guess I’m breaking my own rule today. It was the tin ceiling. I fell in love.
I can’t not show a picture of my daughter’s new sneakers. She really did not need sneakers, but how could I say no to these babies? Especially since after my coupon, they were only $20 bucks.
And that was my weekend.
I’d love to know about yours! Hope you’ll take a moment to leave a comment.
Before I finally let you go back to your life, here’s what I got today in coupons.
Cost = .41 cents (I had to pay the tax.)
Not much, but it was a good deal. My daughter has been going through tissues like her nose depends on it. unfortunately I forgot to buy a paper Sunday, so I have no new coupons. Yes, I’m still kicking myself for that mistake.
I stood in the kitchen and watched as the mouse in my house boarded his wooden trap and set sail through my laundry room. I waved Bon-Voyage and bid him farewell. He promised to return and finish off the Ramen Noodles.
If our laundry room, basement, and garage did not flood this week, I feel confident the vermin making themselves at home in my house would be dead. I just couldn’t stop the rain and flood waters long enough to catch the long-tailed pest.
I am so very thankful the sun is shining. We have a half-dozen box fans running at full speed and we’re the fortunate ones. Half of New York is swirling under four feet of water. So many lost so much. I really cannot complain. I’m just praying for dry weather in the Northeast and rain for Texas and other areas of the Southwest who need water so desperately.
I must be getting old. My posts are suddenly like weather reports. When I begin regaling you with tales of my ingrown toenails, send me to a nursing home. Pronto!
Today is Friday, blessed Friday. We survived our first week of school. I’d like to say we conquered it, but that’s a stretch of even my imagination. Did you know it’s possible to forget all your multiplication tables in eight weeks? An entire year of quizzing, flashcards, and study gone in eight weeks. Unbelievable. Surely they’ll be easier to learn the second time around.
Please tell me that’s true.
Even if you must lie to me.
Tomorrow morning we’re going to New Hampshire for the weekend. FringeMan is preaching in a church up there on Sunday. It will be a quick trip, too quick. I already told FringeMan that I want to stop at the Children’s Place outlet in Kittery, Maine on Monday morning before we drive home. FringeKid needs clothes and they often have smashing deals. Plus, I have a coupon.
I wish we could stay longer, but FringeMan must work and our kids must go to school. Couldn’t we just be on vacation forever?
Here’s the Banana Pudding recipe I forget to share. It was very good. FringeMan felt the love when spooned this concoction into his mouth.
Banana Pudding
I box Banana Cream Pudding
Milk (however much the box of pudding says)
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
3 or 4 ripe Bananas
Box of Vanilla Wafers
Vanilla Extract
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
Make your pudding according to the directions on the box and add the can of sweetened condensed milk. Mix well and refrigerate.
Whip the heavy cream and one teaspoon of vanilla extract in your mixer until it develops peaks (becomes whipped cream).
When the pudding is almost set, fold the whipped cream into the pudding. Line a 9×13 pan or pretty glass bowl with Vanilla Wafers. Pour half the pudding/cream mixture over the wafers and then line with cut up bananas. Add another layer of wafers and repeat. Leave the layer of bananas off the top unless you are eating it right away. Bananas turn brown pretty fast. You can dip the slices in lemon juice and they’ll keep longer, but I didn’t want to mess with a good thing.
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
