A Search For Authenticity

We live in a culture that is driven by image and appearance.  Where people strive to portray a life of flawless success in careers, relationships, hobbies, parenting and just about anything else that can be showcased. Social media is a brag list full of accomplishments, magazine-perfected images, and carefully selected highlights of daily life right down to the food we ate last night. Because of internet and social media, we now have access to information about all kinds of people we know, have known in the past or have never even met. We can instantly share information and connect with people in a way we have never been able to do before. We can follow our favorite celebrities on Twitter, like their Facebook fan pages and learn the juicy details of their personal lives- fictional as they may be. We can look up our old high school friends to see who got fat, who lost their hair and who married and divorced who. Where we used to have to wait for a class reunion once every decade to see how we measure up to our former classmates, we now have a window looking right into their lives. We also have a broad audience of people from all over the world to notice us with just a click of a mouse.

 All of this causes a temptation to compare, compete, and for some there is an overwhelming temptation to just withdraw and give up because they feel like they are the only ones struggling in a world of thriving success. In all of this mess of confusion there is a cry for something genuine and real. We keep hearing this word “authentic” get tossed around as people seek to relate.  To uncover what is real and expose what is merely a facade.

On one extreme, threre is a frustration coming from people who are tired of seeing these images of so-called perfection. They are angry about the way it makes them feel to see the constant display of “polished lives” while they are empty, broken and hurting so deeply in their own lives.  For these people, the images are a constant digging reminder of their perceived failures, shortcomings and their pain.  On another extreme, there are those who are stuck in the rat race of competition so deeply that they don’t seem to know what is real in their own lives, and they are missing the enjoyment of their own experiences because they are so busy documenting everything to impress other people. Are these images wrong and offensive? Maybe a little embellished? Are these people fake and phony? Are they insensitive? Maybe, and maybe not.  After all, everyone wants to put their best foot forward and show their best side for polite society. In spite of the trendy bed-bead and messy bun hair styles, most of us wouldn’t roll out of bed and go out into public without brushing our teeth, brushing our hair and for goodness sake, putting on some clothes! Interestingly enough, there are those who are willing to do just that… both physically and figuratively speaking on social media. They vent their every dislike, every frustration and exploit their own private family matters and intimate details for a mixed crowd of acquaintances, friends, coworkers, friends of friends and random strangers. Some would argue that they are just being “real” but is this really “real” or just real disturbing? 

Obviously these are two dramatically extreme examples So what is this word “authentic ” and what does it mean? According to an article on psych.com the meaning is “to come from a real place within. Authentic is when our actions and words are congruent with our beliefs and values. It is being ourselves, not an imitation of what we think we should be or have been told we should be.” If you think this definition rings familiar it is because the bible is full of scripture commanding this very thing. We were never intended to play the part or be anyone else. God loves us exactly as we are and he loves us enough to cleanse us so we can glorify him in all of our unique beauty. Authenticity is not posting your vulnerabilities, weaknesses and flaws for all to see. Those things are intended for God, who loves you and is for your good, and for the circle of people in your life who love you, hold you accountable and have earned the right to be an intimate part of your life. Authenticity is having the character to consistently display the same set of values internally and externally at all times and with all people. James 1:8 says “a double minded man in unstable in all of his ways”. If you want to be authentic, heed this warning and be the same person everywhere you go and when you are alone.

Embrace the Season

  1. Message: Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in close quarters with the stench of poop because of other people’s sin. The scenery doesn’t change and we go through a wild through the storm for a season. When it’s over, there is another season of restoration and recovery that often takes so much longer!!
  2. Command: Season 1-Build a boat, gather your family and the animals. Season 2- LEAVE the boat with your family and RELEASE all of the animals.
  3. Promise: “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and het, summer and winter, day and night.”
  4. Warning: God will allow us to go through these kinds of storms but we can’t get anxious to end the season before it’s time. Imagine if Noah exited the boat and released the animals before everything dried up!
  5. Application: Don’t despise the boat. It’s close quarters, it’s smelly and it’s the same view for what seems forever, but it’s also our shelter and protection from what God has unleashed. I had never paid close attention to the fact that this chapter is about what God did to the LAND and not what he did to the people. The curse was on the land, but when they patiently endured he changed the land
    scaping and they eventually thrived. My personal application for this is to embrace the season I’m in and not to ask God to change it so quickly.

It Takes Two to Trust

This week I was listening to an audio book by John Maxwell when this quote about trust hit me right between the eyes! The funny thing is, this was a leadership book, not a relationship book per se, but John Maxwell is famous for discussing the important personal integrity qualities that equip us to lead, so naturally, relationships are involved. This quote caused me to contemplate for several days that there is something very dysfunctional and wrong with the way most of us process trust in our relationships. Not just intimate relationships, but also friendships, business relationships and even the trust we choose to give or take away in our hearts towards people in positions of authority that we likely have never even met face to face.

Most of the time when we think about trust, we place the majority of the responsibility of “earning” or maintaining our trust on another person, while considering ourselves the potential victim of what the other person may or may not do to us or for us. On one hand this puts us in a high and mighty sort of position when we believe we can be the judge to decide whether or not someone is “worthy” of our favor, support or continued trust. On the other hand, it also sets us up to see ourselves as a powerless victim of the outcome if things don’t go well. In other words, we are handing over a whole lot of emotional power to another person, and failing to take responsibility for much of it, if any at all.

To complicate things further, we also tend to tie in our respect with that trust so if we believe someone has lost our trust, they have most likely lost our respect as well. Since we are also somewhat skewed as a society on the topic of respect, the tendency is to observe behaviors (and/or rumors) and treat people accordingly. The problem with this is that we are not all-knowing so our system fails us when we mistreat or elevate the status or “value” of someone based upon our limited knowledge, or perceived experience of trust or reputation. Yeah, go ahead and re-read that! We don’t know the whole story, or the fine details about anyone or anything so we don’t have the ability to judge the value of a person based upon our experiences. This works both directions and we have all experienced the pain of being misjudged or even defamed by someone who simply didn’t know all of the facts. There is only one who knows all and he has placed his value upon every single human he created. Yes, even the ones who have done horrible, unthinkable things (-that’s all of us if you’re paying attention).

Most of us are familiar with 1 Corinthians 13:7 of the “love chapter” that says “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things”. I struggled with the “believes all things” portion for a long time because it just sounded so naive! We all know of situations or have experienced situations where somebody believed someone that continually lied to them and they looked like a fool, were cheated out of, cheated on, taken for granted, abused or used. What I didn’t understand was that the bible wasn’t teaching a gospel of co-dependency and that this scripture passage is not about denial or living in a pretend world. How did I come to this conclusion? I read and read and read about the life of Jesus and I took note of how he handled people who loved him, as well as those who opposed him. I noticed that his only agenda was to follow the plan he and the father had purposed for him to accomplish on the earth. He was not swayed toward any other agenda- regardless of how noble it could have been. This often caused conflict for those who wanted to influence his purpose to something else. I watched his responses and found myself completely amazed at the things Jesus did, said, and often the things he didn’t say! I noticed that Jesus often didn’t feel obligated to answer “loaded” questions that were hurled at him and he usually answered those types of questions with a question of his own. This usually exposed the motive of the person asking, and sent them away in their own shame.

If you want to know how Jesus handled the issue of trust on a very personal level, read Matthew 26. Jesus had 12 disciples walking with him for his 3 years of ministry. They were a tight group and although he had crowds of thousands following him around everywhere, these 12 men were among his inner circle. They were always together and he always seemed to know what they were thinking- so much so that he often responded out loud to things they were only thinking internally. It should have been no surprise to them when they were eating the last passover supper together and Jesus announced to them all that one of them was going to betray him. I think it’s funny that none of them asked Jesus *how* he knew. Instead they were all shocked and concerned asking “surely it isn’t me?” So Jesus further explained the severity of the betrayal and said that not only was the betrayer one of his friends seated at the table and eating with him at that moment, but that the offense would be so bad that it would be better for that man to have never been born. Judas, who was in the middle of a betrayal deal with the chief priests and elders was at the table pretending to be as surprised as the rest of them. When they all started questioning Jesus “surely it isn’t me?”, Judas chimed in with the same question, trying to appear just as sincere and genuinely concerned as the other disciples but Jesus looked right at him and said “You have said it yourself”. Can you imagine what Judas felt at that moment? He was completely exposed! He had no way out of that and Jesus didn’t have to say anything else. Jesus simply pointed out the truth that somebody there was going to betray him, and allowed the truth itself to draw out the lie and the liar. What really strikes me here is that Jesus knew Judas was betraying him the entire time, but he still allowed him in the fellowship of the group and he treated him no differently. He didn’t secretly hold a grudge, or even keep a short leash of mistrust on Judas. He allowed the full vulnerability of the offense and treated him like a friend the entire time. He did, however, fully acknowledge the betrayal without pretending he didn’t know. This part is SO important!! This is what changes the situation from being one of co-dependent, enabling, “look the other way” naive, kind of denial relationship to a fully truthful, fully aware and fully vulnerable kind of relationship.

Jesus looked at that betrayal right in the face, acknowledged it for what it was and allowed the full vulnerability of it to happen without any self-preservation type of behavior.

I also find it interesting that Jesus didn’t make himself a victim in it. Obviously we all understand that this needed to happen in order to get to the cross, but this still would have been a painful thing for Jesus because he treated Judas like a friend in his inner circle for three years. When Jesus spoke about the severity of the consequences he talked about what this betrayal would do to Judas and not how hurt he was by the betrayal. This is a perfect picture of love. Later on when Judas showed up at the garden of Gethsemane with a large crowd armed with weapons, he gave Jesus the famous kiss of betrayal, and Jesus said to him “Friend, do what you came for”. This is more powerful than we realize. Jesus was not naive, he was not silent and he was not a doormat when he looked at Judas in the face during the very act of betrayal and still called him “friend”. I really believe this is why the guilt of this betrayal was so difficult for Judas that he returned the silver he was given to betray Jesus and ended his own life the very next morning.

Love is not love without full vulnerability and love is not love without full honesty. In order to fully give and receive love, we have to do it with the full acceptance of that vulnerability. If any of our relationships are struggling it is pretty much a guarantee that there is a deficit in the area of honesty or trust, but probably both. We can’t have love on any level without honesty and trust. Trust means that I take you at your word up to the very point that you betray me with it. When that happens I do not pretend it didn’t happen and I don’t make excuses for your betrayal. I love you in the face of it and allow you the opportunity to see it and make it right without overstepping my place by trying to devalue who you are because of what you did. You are still made in the image of God and the betrayal did not change your value. This is so important because the same scenario flips around when I am the one that is the betrayer in the relationship. (Notice I did not say “if”). Next comes forgiveness, and although this is a whole different topic, we can’t complete this relationship cycle without talking about it. We don’t have the luxury of holding back our forgiveness. We extend it, even when we don’t feel it and the responsibility of the betrayal (or offense) stays with the person that did the wrong.

We have to understand that withholding honesty, trust or forgiveness will not protect us from getting hurt. It will only ensure that we have no opportunity to experience real love and intimacy because we have denied the vulnerability that makes love valid.

By now you may be wondering how to apply this to something you have been going through for a long time. Me too! I want to be careful that I don’t portray this as a quick fix, magical remedy. Some of us have been managing relationships like this for years and years, and have developed, or learned a long pattern of co-dependent behavior. This pattern is not going to suddenly turn around with one honest conversation. This is going to have to be an intentional and very vulnerable choice made over and over again to reverse a pattern we made with not only ourselves, but with others.

We are the “other person” on the other side of our relationships, and we are going to have to be honest and vulnerable with ourselves and in our relationships without exception. This can only happen if the person that is face to face with us can trust us as well, and know that we love them enough to be fully honest and fully vulnerable in our relationship with them, even in the face of betrayal.

Spice Up Your Kitchen Organization

This summer I accidentally happened upon a genius find while grocery shopping one day! As I was browsing the kitchen gadgets I found some magnetic spice jars on clearance. I had never seen anything like this before and I couldn’t believe what an amazing solution this was to my ever frustrating problem of digging spices in and out of my cabinet every time I needed them! Naturally, I grabbed every single one of them and promptly went home to organize all of my spices. Originally, I had planned to chalkboard-paint  a cookie sheet or tray, pen a clever little quote on it, and display it on a mini easel stand on the counter top so my spices would be on display at hands-reach on the counter. I still think this is a super cute idea, but I just don’t have the extra space on my counter tops! I decided to “temporarily” put them on my refrigerator until I could work this out and I ended up loving it so they are still there. I labeled the sides of them but since most of the spices are recognizable through the little window I find it SO convenient to grab the few spices I plan to use each time and then quickly and easily put them back. I can’t believe I cooked for so many years with a complete nightmare of a spice cabinet! My only problem is that once I started filling the jars I was totally hooked and I realized I needed more! Yikes! They were a clearance item and I bought them all out! Amazon to the rescue and sure enough! I found them on there. For those of you would like to try these jars, here is the link!

                                                                             

Most Eggcellently Hard Boiled

So this summer I joined the electric pressure cooker craze. I promised my husband I would ditch my crock pot if I bought the pressure cooker. I did give up my extra large crock pot without looking back, but I did keep my smaller ones and so far I haven’t needed them. I’ve used the pressure cooker for all kinds of things and have been absolutely loving it! It still boggles my mind that a pot of beans that used to take hours in the crockpot can be done, (and very tender) in less than an hour. It almost feels like I’m cheating! As if I didn’t need one more reason to love this thing, I started hearing about people  steaming their eggs in them and getting perfect, easy to peel eggs every time. I had to give this one a go, and sure enough they were not only cooked perfectly, but the yolk was nice and creamy, and not at all dried out like sometimes happens when hard boiling them. With a quick rise under cold water, the egg shells slid off in large pieces like a dream. 

My pressure cooker is not the popular Instapot. Mine is the Power Cooker so the settings will be slightly different. Also, I don’t have a bottom steam rack. Mine sits toward the top and it fits 18 eggs perfectly. I was a little worried that the lid wouldn’t close or would smash the eggs, but it is a perfect fit. I found that 4 minutes cooks the eggs perfectly so I use the vegetable setting (of 3 minutes) and then add a minute on. It takes longer to build up pressure than it does steaming the eggs but it is SO worth it. What I always have to remember though, is that once the cycle is done the pressure cooker automatically switches to the hold/warm setting and will not begin to release pressure until you hit cancel. This means they continue cooking in there and may overcook if you forget about them. I have forgotten for a few minutes and not had any problems but I would hate to leave it on more than that. Now that I have discovered this I have been on a deviled eggs kick and I’m thinking egg salad sounds pretty good too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Mason Jars

Mason jars are as old as the hills but they never seem to lose their popularity as a household item. They are not only great for canning and drinking from, but they are great for decor in every season and for almost any event. At our house, they are used for all of the above! Honestly, I’m a fan of jars of all types, but mason jars just have that appealing country home look. 

This week I chalk painted these jars and gave them a little festive Christmas look. If you would like an easy diy chalk paint recipe, you can find it here. Before applying the chalk paint I spray painted the outsides of the jars with a nice Christmas red color so that I could distress them later and bring out the red on the lettering. The spray paint I used also doubles as a primer, which not only helps the chalk paint stay on, but it gives it a warmer undertone. Since I already had the red paint out, I decided to go paint happy and paint the little bells deep red to match. A few more little wood pieces and some twine embellished these jars just right with one single wreath accent piece sitting on top. It was a cheap and easy little project for making in bulk. I made nine of them for our church coffee shop tables.

His & Hers Accessory Tray Project

I hate unorganized countertop clutter, but I understand the need to keep certain items out for easy use. I thought these fun little accessory trays were a great solution for the small odds and ends that end up on the bathroom counter. The best part is that it only cost me a few dollars at the dollar store and a few minutes to make my designs using my Silhouette Cameo 3 cutter. If you use a Silhouette machine and would like to make your own set you can download my design files below.

The items you will need are obviously, the two trays. I chose to use two different styles just for fun but it would also look cute to use matching trays of either style. You will also need the drawer liners. This is the foam type of liner and again, I thought it would be cute to use a feminine style for hers, and a more masculine looking one for his. The hardest part of this project was cutting the liners into the right size and shape (which was not that hard). I did this by flipping over the trays, laying the liner over them and following the indent lines with my scissors. You will probably have to trim and even out your shape, unless you are better at cutting than I am! The last thing you will need is to cut out the designs on some adhesive vinyl. You can grab the free download files below, or create your own.

His Design File Download

Hers Design File Download

Enjoy!!

American Flag Wood Wall Art

Wood Art Displayed on My Hutch

With Independence Day coming up I decided to make a wall art project to display some patriotic song lyrics that are not commonly known but are very powerful. The lyrics I chose came from the third verse of America the Beautiful. The picture I posted makes the art piece look a little smaller than it actually is so the words may be difficult to read. Here are the words:

“O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife. Who more than self, their country loved and mercy more than life. America, America may God thy gold refine. ‘Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine.” 

What I really love about this stanza is that the value of character is placed ahead of the value of acquiring wealth or success. Personal sacrifice is honored above personal gain or comfort. This is how our country began and the sacrifice made for the greater good of others is honored so well in this verse.

The project itself was so simple that I made most of it within an afternoon using very inexpensive items simply because I was feeling lazy and I didn’t want to have to go drive anywhere to buy anything. I used my Silhouette Cameo 3 to type out the words and cut it out onto sticky vinyl. If you don’t have a cutting tool but you have a steady hand you could do this with paint, a permanent pen, or paint markers.

The wood I used to make this project was just a package of shims I had in my craft room. If you aren’t familiar with shims, they are slats of wood used for all kinds of home projects. They are about 1/4 ” thick on one side and they taper down to probably a millimeter. I took two pieces going opposite directions and used Elmer’s glue to turn the two pieces of wood into one even piece. I would have used the Elmer’s Wood glue, but it was dried out at the top, and well, laziness continues. Since I knew I had nine lines to the stanza I would be featuring, I did this process nine times. Then I stacked all of the glued slats into two piles and tied the ends with zip ties to keep the glued slats pressed together while drying. I had to move quickly and even reapply glue on a few of them because as the glue was drying, the pieces wanted to start warping in the opposite direction. *This probably wouldn’t have been a problem had I used the wood glue 🙂 The zip ties did a great job of keeping the pieces pressed together and all of my slats dried evenly overnight.

The next day I took the zip ties off and divided the slats unevenly (since I had 9 pieces) to be painted red or white. I had some old bottles of acrylic paint in my craft room with the perfect dull, rustic shade of barn red I was after. Unfortunately, my white acrylic paint was dried out so I found some off-white spray paint in a satin finish that I had from a previous project. I high-fived myself for still not having to go to the store for supplies. Yes! Laziness prevails. I wondered if the white pieces would have more sheen than the red pieces and decided it would actually be kind of a cool effect if it did. It didn’t end up having more sheen. Not noticeably anyway. While the paint dried I went swimming, played with my dog and watered my garden. About an hour or more later I came back to my Arizona sun-dried slat pieces and they were ready to assemble. I had a wood art wall hanging that I had previously picked up from the thrift store. It was the size and shape of a painting canvas and the previous art was just glued on paper so I peeled it off and glued my painted slats on in a striped pattern with gorilla glue. As the pieces were drying I also began transferring the vinyl cut words. Yes, I’m impatient AND lazy but I was so close to finished and I just wanted to see it all completed. I’m pretty happy with my project so I plan to make some other cool wood signs the same way.

 

Repurpose a Pickle Jar For Dog Treats

My family kind of has a thing for pickles so we go through tons of jars of them. The jars are all great sizes so I never want to throw them away when the pickles are gone. I have an extra large one in my laundry room holding all of the socks that are missing a mate, we have jars with coins or hardware in them and I have used others to store sauces or other food products. The only problem is I still have an abundant collection of empty pickle jars sitting on top of my refrigerator just waiting to be repurposed in a project. After a while I get sick of the clutter so I tell myself I need to decide to do something with them, or just break down and throw them away. Since I already took the time to wash the jars and peel the labels off, today I decided to decorate one and use it for a dog treat jar.

To decorate my jar, I first took one of the clean jars and sprayed the outside with a primer. (Some people paint the insides of jars for decorative projects so the outside keeps it’s shiny appearance, but since I am putting food in this jar, this has to be painted on the outside. Primers come in several different colors so I like to choose a color that will look good coming through the paint when the jar wears and scratches. I like the worn look so on some of the jars I intentionally sand and scratch them to bring out the primer color underneath. This effect especially looks good on mason jars that have raised print on them. Since we are using pickle jars today we won’t go into that.

I love the look of chalk paint so I have neutral colors of homemade chalk paint stored in containers just for projects like this. If you are interested in the chalk paint recipe, you can click here.  I paint on two thin coats, letting the first layer dry before painting the second layer. You can put on as many layers as you like. Just make sure the layers are thin and dry in between each coat.

Next I used Mod Podge to glue some fabric around the lid. The easiest way I found to do this was to paint the glue onto the top of the lid, then lay the lid directly onto the piece of fabric. Then I cut around it giving just enough room to fold into the inside of the jar. I painted the sides and just barely over the edges, folded the fabric over and then screwed the lid on while it dried with the fabric pressed up against it. I created the graphic with my Silhouette Cameo 3 and used a stick on vinyl but if you don’t have a cutting machine to create with you could decorate your jar with scrapbooking stickers for fun. When you are finished, be sure to use a clear coat finishing spray to seal your paint in and protect it. Those come in different sheens so if you like the chalky look you can choose a flat or eggshell sheen on it. If you like a glossier look there are semi-gloss and full gloss sheens as well.

If your dogs are anything like mine, they want to be anywhere you are. This certainly includes my craft room and when I spend a significant amount of time in there they just find a spot to nap. Because of this I have a big dog pillow bed on the floor and a bench seat so they can nap while I work on projects. Now I also have an adorable treat jar for them in my craft room as well so you could say they have officially moved in!

Shop Geopetric Here

Keeping Your Furbabies Summer-Safe

Hot dog! It’s summer time! Summer plans, bar-b-ques, good times and baseball are all in full swing, and for most of us, the regular routine activities of life must continue as well. Despite the heat, healthy living enthusiasts can be found walking, running and biking as faithfully committed as they do throughout the rest of the year, but with a little added precaution. Living in the Arizona desert, heat safety education is constantly being promoted to protect people from emergencies like heat stroke and dehydration. These situations can escalate very quickly and can become fatal to even the most fit and healthy. We understand the importance of water intake, and we pay attention to which hours of the day are safer for exercise, play and laborious physical activity. We even adhere to heat advisory warnings for temperatures that are considered unsafe without the proper precautions. But what is considered safe for our furbabies?

What do I need to know to protect my furbabies in the summer heat?

Most of the conversations we hear about pet safety in the heat have to do with concern for the pads of their feet burning on hot surfaces, or the dangers of leaving them in a hot car. While this is incredibly dangerous- especially here in the desert, many people are unaware of other heat dangers. There seems to be a misconception that our furbabies have a similar tolerance for heat as we do, but so many loving pet owners don’t realize the risk (and the misery) they are unintentionally putting their four legged companions through.

How does my dog regulate his body temperature?

Humans sweat to cool off and because of this, we are able to tolerate not only being in the heat, but we can also tolerate a fair amount of physical activity in the heat, as long as we stay hydrated. Dogs, however do not sweat. They pant in order to cool down by circulating air through their snout, but even among dogs, not all breeds are as effective at cooling down as others. Dogs with shorter snouts are unable to cool down as well as those with longer snouts. So while exercise and playtime is vitally important to the health of our dogs, it can be dangerous for them in warm weather, and even more risky if they are a breed with a shorter snout and are unable to cool down.

How can I keep physical activity safe for my dog in the heat?

You may be able to run your dog for miles in cool weather, and you yourself may be able to tolerate running in weather upwards of 100 degrees, but for dogs, temperatures as mild as 85 degrees can be a problem if they aren’t able to cool down, or if they don’t have access to a source of water to drink and get their bodies wet. Young puppies, older dogs and overweight dogs are considered at risk and need to be watched for signs of heat exhaustion. Humidity level is also a very important contributing factor so even if the outside temp is in the low 80s, a high humidity level can make the temperature feel like it’s in the upper 90s. In these situations it’s very important to pay attention to the behavior of your furbaby and err on the side of safety. When it’s hotter than 85 degrees, try to choose water activities to exercise your dog. If you still feel the need to walk them, don’t go very far so that you can return home quickly if they get too hot. Carry a spray bottle to help cool them (and yourself) down and always make sure your dog has water to drink even if you are just sitting in the heat.

   Get the friends & fans discount. Click here to shop!

How does my cat regulate his body temperature?

While you don’t typically see anyone walking a cat, (I know there are always exceptions) it’s important to note that they can also be at risk if they are left in the heat and are unable to cool down. Just like dogs, cats don’t sweat either, but their cooling process is actually very similar to the process that sweating works to cool down humans. Cats cool down by licking their fur and the evaporation process of their wet coat cools them down. Cats don’t pant to cool down like dogs do, but a cat will pant if they are in heat distress. Unfortunately, once they reach this point they are already in danger and likely require immediate medical attention.

Summer is a great time for outdoor sports, fun and family time. There are lots of fun things to do to beat the heat and many people enjoy bringing their pets along to enjoy the fun. Just make sure that everyone in the family stays safe in the heat!

 

Five Steps to a Summer Garden in the Desert

I live in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona where summers get so hot that we boast of our ability to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Not that anyone would really want to eat an egg off the sidewalk, but we can do it! People have also been known to bake pans of cake batter or cookie dough in their hot cars to show that the sun truly bakes more than your skin. Needless to say, the summer desert is a tough place to survive but it is completely possible to grow a productive garden and enjoy watching it thrive and produce lots of home grown vegetables all summer long. Here are 5 basics for those of you have always wanted to try growing a garden, but didn’t know where to start.

1. Timing is Everything

While other parts of the country (and the world) are still freezing their tails off in February and March, us desert dwellers are beginning to see signs of spring approaching. We start enjoying weather in the 70s while some of our friends and family are being rained out and shoveling snow. This is also the time of year that we enjoy bragging that we are wearing shorts and grilling outdoors. Ha ha suckers! It is also precisely the time to get your soil ready for a summer garden.

2. Preparing the Soil 

Because we live in the desert, the ground is hard and the dirt is like clay. Nothing will grow in our clay dirt without some work. Before doing anything, the ground has to be tilled up and mixed with some vegetable garden soil. We used to have a dedicated garden tiller, but my husband had to work on it every year just to get it running so we bought a tiller attachment for our Ryobi weed eater. The first year we started the garden my husband tilled up the hard dirt first and then gradually added bags of vegetable garden soil until there was a nice mixture of both soil and native dirt.   He also built a basic bottomless frame out of 2x4s to contain the garden. This is helpful for watering as it keeps most of the water contained inside the garden area. That is if I don’t accidentally flood the garden. #gardenhack :if you don’t stay out in the garden while you’re watering, write yourself a quick reminder note or set a phone alarm so you don’t forget you are watering! Ask me how I know this 😉

3. Planting

As soon as the garden soil is prepared you are ready to plant. As long as you start early enough in the season you can plant some things from seed. I plant some items from seed and others from starter plants. Seeds are usually sold in one location with a mixture of seasonal relevance. Pay close attention to the charts on the back of the seeds to make sure you are planting things in the appropriate season. If you are buying starter plants, find out which ones are ending their season and which are beginning as sometimes there is a crossover in the availability of plants sold in nurseries as the season changes. Things like spinach, lettuce and celery are winter vegetables and will not do well in the warmer weather. Some summer plants include tomatoes, strawberries, melons, corn, peppers, eggplant and onions. Before you put anything in the ground it’s a good idea to plan and map out your layout. I usually just set the starter plants in the spots I want them and move things around as I work out my plan. Read the instructions on the back of the seeds or on the information stick that comes with the plant to make sure you allow plenty of room for growth. Most of these plants start out really small but they spread out and grow very large. Some things are best planted in rows like corn and carrots. You will also want to pay attention to which plants like direct sun and for how many hours per day. Those that don’t like as much sun can be planted in a shadier area or strategically planted under the overgrowth of something much larger. You will also want to pay attention to which plants will be climbing vines or grow in long strands that you will want to keep off the ground. Cucumbers grow in a long strand so I use a shepherd’s hook to allow the plant to wrap around and climb up to protect the leaves and fruit from laying in the dirt. I have also seen some pretty nifty hinged wood pieces on Pinterest that allow the cucumbers to grow up and over and something else to be planted underneath the shelter. Melons and grapes are climbing vines so it’s a good idea to put them against a fence or on a trellis. Another clever idea that my husband came up with is planting a row of corn along the edge closest to the house in order to protect the garden from the heat of the summer sun reflecting off of the house. The same idea could apply for block walls as well.

4. Watering

It’s very important to keep the garden moist (sorry to those of you who aren’t fond of that word) without over-watering. In the early part of spring you will only need to water a few times a week to keep the ground from drying out. Once the weather is hotter the ground will dry out more quickly and you will need to water more often. I have found that if I water each area more slowly it allows for a better soak into the ground and it takes a little longer for the ground to dry up. A garden hose bubbler attachment like the one pictured here allows the water to flow evenly without eroding a hole in the soil around it. I’ve attached a quick link from Amazon below because sometimes they are hard to find in the store.

The best times to water are early morning before the heat becomes intense and evening when the sun is going down. It’s also very important to mention that you don’t want to spray the leaves or get them wet. Especially in the daylight hours as the sun will fry the wet leaves.

 

5. Patience

The hardest part is when you have some healthy plants growing and you can see little flower blooms all over but not any fruit quite yet. As you water them and examine for fruit and growth you will need to reinforce some of the branches with stakes and if you have tomato plants you will need tomato cages to support your growing plants.

Do not skip this step in the early stages as you will not be able to easily put a tomato cage around your plants without damaging them. This year we ended up with some monstrous tomato plants that are well over my head. Of course, I am only 5’3″ but that is still a pretty large tomato plant!

Once production begins it is usually pretty steady. Be careful harvesting your veggies as some of the plants are prickly and irritating to your skin. Enjoy and check back soon for some summer recipes for preparing your homegrown food.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Frame Upgrade

 

Give a frame mat a little color or texture by using contact paper or even wall paper. In this photo, the mat I had was an off-white color and it looked horribly boring in contrast to the photo I was framing. I layed out a piece of corkboard, took a piece of wallpaper and placed the photo mat on top. I used an exacto knife to cut the inside portion out. Once out, I mixed some Elmer’s school glue and mixed it with a little bit of water to form a thin paste. I then painted the paste all over the matte, pressed the wallpaper down on top and trimmed the outer edges. Just like that my frame had a nice splash of color and texture to better compliment my photo. Continue reading →

What to Do If You Find a Baby Bird

As summer approaches, the sound of birds can be heard more than usual and during this season you can also hear the tiny peeps of baby birds. Unfortunately, this is also the time of year that baby birds are often found in vulnerable places because they either fell or (as sad as it is) were kicked out of their nests.  We adopted and raised one such baby bird several years ago when my son found him featherless and hungry laying on a hot sidewalk. He grew up to become a full grown dove and bonded with us so well that he became part of the family. He was also very independent and able to fly away for adventures and come back whenever he wanted. Since then, we have also had parakeets who have had numerous clutches of babies so I quickly became known as the bird lady. Though I am certainly not an avian expert by any means, each year at about this time I get tons of texts, calls and PMs from friends who have found baby birds and are asking what to do.

I found a baby bird all by himself and he can’t fly.

This is probably the most common thing people contact me about. I usually answer this with a few follow up questions. It’s very important before you even consider moving the baby that you first know for sure whether or not the bird actually needs to be rescued. Behaviors that are a very important part of their learning and growing process often look like abandonment and struggle to us as humans. As tempting as it is to try to rescue them, interrupting this process can be detrimental to the development of their survival skills.

Does he have feathers?

Baby birds are hatched with no feathers. They may have see-through skin and look very similar to ET, or they may be covered in fuzz. It doesn’t take long for their feathers to grow in and they grow in size at an incredibly fast rate.

If he doesn’t have feathers:

 

The photo on the left is a wild baby bird just days old. The photo on the right is a baby parakeet just starting to grow feathers.

  1. He probably fell out of a nest or was booted out. Mama birds sometimes kick out a baby if she detects something wrong with him. It’s sad, but it’s nature. Look for a nest nearby and if at all possible return the baby to the nest. The common belief that the mother bird won’t care for her young if they are handled by human hands in not true so don’t be afraid to do this. Be aware that the mother will be extremely protective of the nest and the other babies if she is there when you return the baby. She will probably get mad at you so just be ready for that. If you are iffy about birds you might ask someone else to do it so you don’t drop the baby when mama gets mad. Of course, most people that are iffy about birds would probably never pick up a baby in the first place! Featherless babies are not very attractive.
  2. If you absolutely can’t find a nest or the nest is way too high up in a tree that you can’t reach it you can contact a wildlife facility near you to take the baby in. This is a last resort since the baby is best cared for by his own mother. It is possible to hand feed the baby but this is not recommended unless you really know what you’re doing. Babies this young are fed by the mother eating and regurgitating into the baby’s mouth. There are replacement formulas that can be fed to them but it is very easy to accidentally  drown a baby bird while feeding them.

If he does have feathers:

This photo is of our baby dove at fledgling age. He is perching but doesn’t quite hold up his own weight. He flaps his wings but doesn’t quite fly yet .

  1. If he does have feathers there is a pretty good chance you have found a fledgling. A fledgling is a baby bird at the “learning to fly” stage. At the beginning stages they mostly hop around on the ground while they try to figure it out. Although he looks like he’s abandoned, mama bird is usually very close by watching him. She keeps her distance but flies around squawking at him for encouragement, and occasionally drops in to feed him. It’s best if at all possible that he be left exactly where he is. Eventually he will return to his mama. If there are dogs or cats nearby that might get to him you can put him up out of reach but you really don’t want to move him for than 100 feet from where you found him.

He looks injured. He’s just hopping around but he can’t fly.

This photo is of our baby dove at the fledgling stage. He looks full grown but can’t quite fly yet.

As I mentioned before, a fledgling hops around on the ground while he figures out how to fly. Sometimes this process can look like he is injured and he may be on the ground a few days. Rest assured that his mother knows where he is and will make sure he is fed and hydrated. If he is truly injured and appears to be fully feathered, it’s ok to house him in a cage for a few days with water and birdseed while he heals so that nothing can get to him. Make sure you don’t house him too long and be sure to give him the opportunity to try to fly away when he is ready. Independence is always the goal since these birds are wild and need to be able to survive on their own.

I hope you found this information to be helpful. Please feel free to share it with other animal lovers out there and if you have any questions you can email me at info@bitingmythyme.com or just leave a comment below.

 

Hope

Hope is a poweful thing. It allows us to suffer long and endure when life gets tough. It gives us the strength to inch forward another day when circumstances don’t otherwise look good. Hope fuels our will to do what is necessary and what is right when our current situation doesn’t show any signs of improvement. We have an amazing tenacity for suffering as long as we have just a glimmer of hope and our pain has a purpose. Because of this, we have to be very careful with whom or what we put our hope in. If we put our hope in people, situations, dreams or even our own ability to accomplish things, we set ourselves up for heartache and disappointment because although we can work hard and do our best to make the right choices, we truly have no control over life circumstances, and though some of us may try, we certainly have no control over other people. When things don’t happen the way we had imagined, or when people don’t cooperate with the dream we had envisioned, this is when our heart becomes disillusioned and our hope faulters. Often times this becomes a root of depression which can lead to all kinds of other things including suicide, self-harm overeating and substance abuse because we are mourning a loss of control in our lives and these things put us back in the driver’s seat…so it seems. Until once again, we lose control and are given over to be controlled by our impulses and cravings.
If we put our hope in God, we can trust that He is not caught by surprise by anything we encounter. When we choose to put our lives completely in his hands, he promises to never leave us or forsake us. This does not mean we are guaranteed a smooth, flawless road, but it means we have the comfort and the direction of the only one who not only knows what lies ahead, but has our best interest in mind even though we can’t see the whole picture. God is very intetested in our goals and dreams, but in order for us to be successful, he is interested in making sure we have the chatacter, strength and integrity we will need when we finally reach that goal. This is why it’s so important not only to ask God for direction, but to actually ask him what it is that he has planned for us. It is so much easier to put our hope in God when we are following HIS plan for our lives and not trying to manipulate God into following ours. When God is truly in charge it takes the burden of responsibility off of us to fix what goes disastrously wrong. We can simply surrender it to God and ask him what the next step is in his plan. Often times we will have to step out into the unknown before we will know if we are even heading the right direction. It can feel terrifying and exhilarating all at once but the whole point is that God wants us to follow him, seek after him and hope in him for every step. It is our nature to want to know a secure plan up front, five moves ahead so we can feel secure and in control. God doesn’t work that way. If you read about how he led his people through the wilderness to get to the promised land he was teaching them to trust him, obey him and honor him. Your hope process can be as painful or as fulfilling as you choose for it to be. Lean in and put your hope in God. Make him your everything. Just try to remember that your goals are not a final destination. They are just tiny stops on a long journey so learn to enjoy the journey!

“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary” Hebrews 6:19

Poached Eggs Over Cheesy Corn Tortillas

 


Recently I was visiting with some family and we were discussing the art of poached eggs. It’s one of those should-be-so-simple-to-do things that if you’re like me, you watched your grandma do it countless times, but it’s no longer such a common breakfast item made at home. I have noticed, however that it’s making a comeback in restaurants with all kinds of awesome variations. You can still order a traditional Eggs Benedict, but I love all of the creativity and style along with it. I am a pretty big fan of eggs. I eat them for pretty much any meal and I love to add them on top of some of my favorite meals. They are a great source of protein and I’m not going to get into the cholesterol discussion 😉.  This morning I was craving something cheesy and flavorful so I poached two eggs and put them on top of two cheesy fried corn tortillas topped with salsa and avocado. The poaching instructions are as follows:

Poached Eggs Over Cheesy Corn Tortillas

Print
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp White Wine Vinegar
  • 2 Corn Tortillas
  • 1/2 c Shredded Cheese
  • T tbsp. Salsa
  • 1/4 Avocado, Sliced
  • 1 tsp Chopped Cilantro
  1. Heat a shallow non-stick pan with 1.5" of 190 degree simmering water. Use a thermometer to make sure the temperature is right and stays consistently just hot enough that you can stand to put your fingers in.
  2. Add a tsp of white wine vinegar.
  3. Add 1 tsp of salt. 
  4. Crack your eggs into small custard dishes for easy transferring.
  5.  After a quick stir of the water, carefully place the egg dishes into the water and release the eggs to float in the water. 
  6. Cover the pan with a lid and let them poach for 5 minutes on the timer without removing the lid or checking on them.
  7. While the eggs are poaching fry two corn tortillas in some butter.
  8. Flip them over, add some shredded cheese and fold in half.
  9. Fry them to a light crisp until the cheese is melted and then set them aside on a plate. 
  10. When the 5 minutes is up for your eggs, use a slotted spoon to remove each egg from the water. You can lay them on a paper towel and cut off any excess pieces if you are able to pick them back up without breaking the yokes. I am that klutzy person so if you're like me just place them on your food or plate and trim the excess from there.
  11. Top with salsa, fresh avocado, cilantro and any other delicious toppings you have on hand.
  12. Enjoy!
  • Preparation time: 10 minutes

 

L♡ve is

​

Have you noticed that there are a lot of memes out there descrbing what we expect or desire to gain out of a relationship? Even as we view these biblical attributes of love, how many of us, if we’re honest would say we immediately looked at what we could gain in a relationship with someone who would love us this way before looking inwardly?  These traits are difficult and should put us all on blast, but this is how God loves us. Let’s make this a challenge for the month of February. That instead of looking for someone to meet OUR needs that we read these attributes and strive to BE that person no matter HOW others act or respond.. The tricky part is doing it without expectations in return. The truth is, people generally don’t know how to respond to real, healthy love so don’t be surprised if people respond a little rough and question your motives. Don’t forget to pray and ask God to do this work in your heart first. We have no purity of heart on our own so if we try to do this apart from God we might succeed at being nice for a short time but we will not have a lasting and genuine heart change. Who is with me in this challenge?

What is Love?


Love is the most sought after, yet the most elusive thing of all time. Not just romantic love, but love of all kinds. We were all created to need love and our desire to fulfill that need causes us to seek it out in any way that we think will scratch the deep itch within us. We often hear people say things like “If you really loved me you would ___”, or “If you really loved me you wouldn’t ___”.  It may not be said it in those words. Some of us might be a little more subtle in our approach, but in true human form, we strive to try to pigeon-hole other flawed humans to meet our needs by setting up certain parameters or conditions for them to meet. Everyone has an ideal list of how we wish to be treated. A sacred “do & don’t” list of ideals that we internally expect others to follow in order to make us happy. We fool ourselves into the delusion that if others would just play by our rules we could finally be fulfilled and happy. If that’s not crazy enough, we recognize that we don’t want to be held to anyone else’s standards, so we excuse our own failures by saying things like “nobody’s perfect” when at the same time we are holding a double standard by actually pointing the accusing finger at each other for doing the same things-completely blind to our own ways! What a set-up for utter disappointment, and so the cycle goes…

What is love really though? If you have ever been at a wedding, most likely you have heard a reading of 1 Corinthians 13, aka, “The Love Chapter”. Because of the association with weddings we tend to think this passage is about romantic love, but really the Apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthian church about their love toward one another. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails”. This is only 4 verses of the entire chapter and that right there is enough to wreck us all! These are the attributes of love. It takes some maturity and self-honesty to read through this and examine our own hearts but it is also a very liberating thing to deal with our own heart issues and finally stop running away from them. The very first thing that jumped out at me through this passage was the pesky little line “it is not self-seeking”. Well, there goes my list of rules! That takes us right back to the beginning where we talked about the common “If you loved me you would___” and “if you loved me you wouldn’t ___” conditions. We are all guilty of trying to place expectations like these around someone’s neck like a noose. The truth is, whether we actually vocalize our expectations to someone or just inwardly resent them, holding expectations as an entrance or exit to our love is self-seeking behavior. If we are not willing to love that person freely, and assume the risk that they may not return love to us on our terms, or may not do what we want them to do, we are not actually loving them at all. We are simply making an agreement or contract with them, or holding them under emotional blackmail. This is why we come up feeling empty.  Having said that, this also does not mean that in order to love someone we have to tollerate undesirable or unacceptable behavior, nor choose to be around it. It simply means we do not let (good or bad) behavior  or conditions determine, influence or change our love. More simply put: we love (value) someone for who they are and not how they are. They can’t add more value by behaving better, nor can they lose value by behaving worse. Therefore, behavior may change some circumstances, and it may certainly bring consequences, but love does not allow us to change the value of a person based on their behavior. 

So what are we afraid of? We are afraid of emptying ourselves out and being left humiliated and empty in our vulnerable state. We’re afraid of being used up of the best of ourselves only to be unloved in return. In our fear we try to give only part of ourselves, but we hang on to the rest because the desire to try to protect ourselves is so overwhelming. Unfortunately, our attempts to protect ourselves actually cheapens the value of our sacrifice. When the sacrifice is cheap, so is the reward. This is why we are unfulfilled. It actually has nothing to do with how we are loved, and everything to do with how we are loving. Jesus himself, set the standard in his ultimate sacrifice. While the entire world rejected him, hated him, spit on him, tortured him and even his own closest disciples denied and betrayed him, Jesus took on the sin of all humanity and faced the epitome of being used up and completely “alone” when even the Father was forced to turn his face away from him because of our sin. He loved at the greatest cost with nothing in return for him. He loved us first with no expectations. Even if we never choose to love him in return (many don’t and unfortunately many never will) he will never stop loving and pursuing our hearts. We were created  with the need for God’s love. Without it, our relationships will be out of balance. We will fill our lives with things and come up empty until we truly come to know him.  The tricky  thing is most of us feel like we could do a little better in our relationship with God, but we are really good at telling ourselves we are ALL IN with our relationships with people. We are masters at deceiving ourselves. This is why it is critical that we have a daily walk with God, we need to read his word every day and ask him to show us the deceitful things hidden in our hearts. The word of God and our relationships with others is the  indicator that shows us where we are at with God. We can’t love God without loving people, but we desperately need God in order to love people. It’s funny how God made those two things so interdependent! There is just no getting around this and the most frustrating part is that other people actually reveal the selfish tendencies inside of us. This is not to say that other people will not do things that violate our trust or hurt us, but the amount of emotional turmoil we allow ourselves to entertain has everything to do with the amount of responsibility we are taking in our relationships, and how much we are blaming on others. Love recognizes pain as an indicator that we need God to change our own hearts, and in order for God to work change in us we have to be willing to surrender our will, our desires our attitude and yes, even our feelings. Our feelings will scream at the injustice of laying ourselves down unselfishly. Our feelings will always point blame the other way before accepting responsibility. Even if we feel like we are the only ones in the relationship accepting fault, or even if we feel our part is the smaller part in the equation, the moment we complain- even to ourselves, we are no longer sacrificing anything. The moment we expect something in return, it is no longer an act of love but an act of barter. When those feelings rise up and we instead ask God to help us, he can work in our hearts and do in us what we can’t do on our own. We can only take responsibility for ourselves and we have to trust that God will fulfill us when we do that. It doesn’t guarantee us that others will respond appropriately, but they stand a better chance this way, and most importantly, we become free from the empty cycle. 

I want to be very clear. I am NOT describing, nor condoning an abusive or co-dependent relationship. Love does not mean saying yes to everything or being manipulated to do things against our will. Healthy boundaries are vital in a healthy relationship so if someone you are in relationship with is trying to manipulate you, that is self-seeking behavior, and giving in to it is not loving to them or to you. Jesus is our perfect example of love and even he did not allow anyone to push their own selfish agenda. In fact, those who had a selfish motive around Jesus caught a shockingly aggressive side of him. He sharply rebuked them and made it clear that he was there only to fulfill the will of God and not man. Even the  sacrifice he made was the will of God and not man although it was fulfilled through man. 

 A beautiful thing happens when we lay our expectations down. The other person now feels the incredible freedom to choose  to love in return and because they chose it without anything  expected of them, there is now a genuine purity of their love to be enjoyed without any doubts. That is the most fulfilling kind of love there is, and is exactly what Jesus came to teach us. “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

How Can I Bring Change to a World in Need?


  • Recently God showed me two very important things about prayer. The first was that prayer is not about begging God to do something he doesn’t really want to do. When we are praying for things that align with God’s word sometimes it can feel like we are literally begging God to care. The truth is, when we invest our hearts outside of ourselves into something enough to pray more than just a one-time prayer, our own compassion grows. God fuels this process of tension and frustration to build within us so that we will continue to pray and our love and compassion for those we are praying for grows. It is not us changing the heart and mind of God toward people, but God, through our prayers changes our hearts and minds. God called us to prayer because without it we become self-absorbed and without purpose. Unfortunately, for many of us our prayers sound a bit like Christmas wish lists. I’m not saying it’s wrong to ask God for things, but if our prayer time is centered around a desire for comfort for ourselves and those we love we will be self-centered, empty and without purpose. This is a very selfish and unbiblical approach to prayer and is unfortunately, why so many have not found a real connection with God. We were called to be like Jesus, and to be like Jesus is to step out of our own world, care for whom and what God cares about and be partners and partakers in God’s work. In many cases God has already said “yes” to some of our prayers and it may already be written in his word but he needs us to get on board and get motivated. This happens when we pray because when we petition God we become infused with God’s love and God’s power. The second thing God showed me is that often times during this process God will allow enough tension, frustration, love and compassion to build in us that he can then finally use us to take action. If he had asked us to to do it before we started praying, we wouldn’t have had the heart for it. We might look at the situation and think, “how sad, someone should do something” but after we have invested our hearts into praying for it, our hearts are changed and we see things we hadn’t seen before. God then begins to give us vision and courage to do things we may feel like we don’t know how to do but because we see a need, God’s love provides a confidence in us to do what must be done. These aren’t always big, dramatic things. Compassion is given away one small act at a time. Ask God to open your eyes each day and show you people around you who need compassion in any form. Commit to step out of your own world and give encouragement to the down trodden. Or simply meet an obvious need that might be right in front of you. This is what Jesus did and what he has called us all to do.

Continue reading →

Distressed to Beauty

​

I love the look of distressed furniture and I’ve really come to enjoy the art of distressing my own pieces. But when I really think about it, what is it about taking something and intentionally making it old that we love so much? With real antiques (which few of us can afford to collect) the idea of “aged” makes us nostalgic, the story behind a piece is romantic, this makes it unique and therefore beautiful. The colors between the scarred layers make us wonder where it has been. The flaws and markings of something made by hand increases it’s value and the fact that you will not find two identical pieces makes it special. 
We are like those antique pieces and our lives tell a story marked with pain and scars that display the beauty and uniqueness of who we are. The very flaws and irregularities that we love so much and seek out as rare or special in an antique, we foolishly spend an entire lifetime shamefully hiding about ourselves. I’m not talking about character flaws that we need to address. We are accountable for how we treat people and we need to be in constant pursuit of God to work change in our hearts, but those petty flaws about ourselves that we hide, or perhaps even some deep emotional or physical wounds. When we embrace these layers as part of our story they become a beautiful display of art. We were created with unique purpose by a creative God who loves us.
This time of year can be very difficult for so many. While it is a time of family and celebration for many, it can be a very broken, painful, distressing and lonely time for others. Today I am very mindful of broken and hurting people. We have all been there at some point so if you know of someone who needs some encouragement, please share this post to let them know they are loved. If you would join me in praying for the broken this season, please comment and let me know that you are praying with me. ♡

 

Meal Planning Tips

thanksgiving-kitty-in-the-kitchenThanksgiving is almost here and even though we have an entire year to prepare, it seems like I am always down to the wire those last few days trying to get my grocery list together and tackle the dreaded grocery store! I do love to catch the good sales that happen right at the last week and the majority of my shopping list are fresh items anyway so I don’t want to shop too far in advance. For our family, Thanksgiving is more than a turkey dinner. I make a ton of appetizers and we snack throughout the day before we eventually eat Thanksgiving dinner and dessert. Then for the next several days we enjoy a feast of all sorts. Not just basic reheated leftovers, but creative creations of turkey melts and appetizers, turkey pot pie and any other culinary creativity we can come up with while we relax, sit by the fire, binge watch movies, play games, eat some more, maybe do a little black Friday or cyber Monday shopping. All of that to say, my grocery list is huge!! Because I have been doing this for so many  years, here are a few organizational things I do to reap the benefits of shopping as late as possible, while keeping my plan from becoming a procrastination nightmare.

  • I keep a Thanksgiving Menu saved on my laptop. Really! The main dishes that are non-negotiables. You may think you won’t forget about those mashed potatoes but when you go to write your list you’d be surprised what you accidentally forget to write down!
  • I keep a side list of possible appetizers and sides that I can choose from. (also saved in the same place on my laptop)
  • I keep a typed “Needs” list of all of the cooking necessities I will possibly need to cook the food I have on my lists. This is an inventory check so I can write my grocery list based off of this.
  • You guess it! I also keep a saved grocery list. This may seem silly, but most of the items on my list are going to be on my list next year too.  Having the ready-made list means I can  simply cross things off that I already have in stock and the rest is ready to go once I add the sale items and any new recipe or appetizer ingredients I may be trying for the first time this year.
  • Shop during early morning hours or late night hours when the crowds are dwindled down. Unfortunately this means you will be shopping with the stock crew, but this is also beneficial to you because you will tend to get the fresher items as they are being restocked, and the items that employees that can help you with items that have depleted on the shelves are right there too. Just make sure to show them some extra appreciation for their help.
  • If you really don’t like to people at all, or you just wanna rock it millennium style and show Grandma how it’s done “these days”, you can do all of your shopping online using one of the grocery store “click & pull” services by going online and selecting all of the grocery items you want and paying for them online. Somebody else goes through the store for you and endures all of the things about grocery shopping that you are trying to avoid, and you get to show up about an hour later and load your groceries into your vehicle. If you’re funny about picking your turkey size and/or your produce you can do a combination of both. This is precisely what I have tried for the first time this year. I purchased my turkey and some produce. You usually have to spend a minimum of $25 to get your turkey at a sale price anyway. Since this year I will be traveling almost 3 hours to my daughter’s house, everything else will be purchased online at a grocery store near her house so I don’t have to haul all of the groceries, or shop when I get there. Whoever invented this service is amazing!!
  • Print the Menu. This helps keep me on track on Thanksgiving when I’m preparing appetizers and getting the big meal underway.

With a little bit of organization, your Thanksgiving is sure to go smoothly. The only thing you can’t prepare for is the unexpected uncontrollable, but you can be mentally prepared to adjust. The craziest Thanksgiving experience I have ever had was the year my oven decided to quit on the night before Thanksgiving. I went to put my pies in the oven and it was cold inside. Thanksgiving day I prepared an entire meal in an electric roaster, a toaster oven and a BBQ grill. Although it was tough, I saw it as an opportunity to flex my muscles as a cook. The meal came out beautiful, and was timed perfectly with no delays. I saw this as a win! The very next week I bought a new stove with double ovens!

Whether or not you have double ovens, check out this handy multi rack tower for your oven! This cures the problematic game of tetris around the big bird. This is Genius!!! An absolute must for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

 

« Older posts
Newer posts »