I Wish This Were True....

This is in response to Ornery's Wife, who posted her super hero super power today.

Your Superpower Should Be Mind Reading

You are brilliant, insightful, and intuitive. You understand people better than they would like to be understood. Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details. You figure out what's going on before anyone knows that anything is going on! Why you would be a good superhero: You don't care what people think, and you'd do whatever needed to be done Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now

What Should Your Superpower Be?

Wedding Countdown #1

As of this past Thursday, it is six weeks till LovelyDaughter's wedding. SIX WEEKS, y'all.

And today-- today we brought home The Wedding Dress.

Oh, is it pretty.

I'd sort of forgotten already, while the dress languished in Layaway; and the pictures we took when LovelyDaughter tried it on at the store just don't do it justice. In person, it's lovely; and of course, lovelier still when it's ON LovelyDaughter.

But no pictures for you yet. JD is being kept strictly in the dark on this until THE DAY, and this is the INTERNET after all.

So for now, we'll just smile and rub our hands together gleefully.

It's Childishly Simple-- Or Is It?

From Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis:

"...Christ never meant that we were to remain children in intelligence: on the contrary, He told us to be not only "as harmless as doves," but also "as wise as serpents." He wants a child's heart, but a grown-up's head.

He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate, and teachable, as good children are; but He also wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first class fighting trim."

I like that: a child's heart, but a grown-up's head.

Loving, forgiving, trusting; smart, confident, mature.

Being someone who knows to plan ahead, but also be spontaneous.

Knowing how to get along with others, without letting others negatively influence you.

Transparent and honest, but also tactful and wise.

Hmm. Good thing God promised us help with that.

Cooking Up A Storm

Once again, I have been in the kitchen all day today, this time working on the 10 gallons of apricots someone gave us. (These are new and different, not the ones we got from Swede.)

So now we have even MORE apricot jam, and I forgot to count how many jars, and by now they're all on their nice shelf in the pantry.

In addition, we canned several quarts of whole apricots and some of apricot puree.

Also, we took care of the gallon of cherries in the fridge, turning it into jam.

And now, as I wait for supper to come out of the oven, it is pouring rain outside.

Like this:


What a blessing-- after a beastly hot day in the kitchen, the cool air this storm is bringing is a great relief. And even though the wind is blowing sprays of rain in the window over the sink I leave the window open while I do dishes.

Just Doing The Next Thing

I made up my mind the other day that I was going to stop worrying so far in advance about stuff, but rather just put my mind to doing whatever the "next" thing is.

So yesterday I began.

Instead of trying to think about "all the stuff I have to do in the next six weeks," I just thought about what I should do Today, Right Now. Which meant we sent off bills-- the kind where other people need to pay US, which is nice.

And we ran errands, and bought groceries.

And we went to Swede's house to pick apricots, because they were READY.

And that meant that today we made apricot jam. All Day.

I remember now why I got burned out on home canning and preserving. Trying to manage an enormous fruit project and make meals at the same time, with several people in the kitchen at once, is just a little nerve-wracking.

And there must have been other people feeling on THEIR mettle today, because I'm pretty sure the phone rang every half hour most of the day. In fact, there it goes again...

Okay, I'm back.

Where was I?

Oh-- making jam. Yes, we now have 27 pints of apricot jam on the island, and two gallon buckets of pitted apricots in the freezer for another day.

Also, a gallon of un-pitted cherries, but that's another project

And now, while I wait for my pans of tweiback to raise so I can bake them, I want to leave you with some recipe ideas I found in an old cookbook I picked up at the thrift store.

First, this:


















Please don't tell me those are green beans on those sloppy joes.

Oh, they are. Because those are "Barbecue Green Bean Bunwiches".

Seriously?

Okay, how about this one:



















The cookbook calls this "Please-a-Teen Pizza Burger", but I don't think it would please any of my teens.

There is a very fine line between Gourmet and Garbage.

Just had to share the wholesome goodness.

Note To Self: ONE Thing At A Time

Okay, this is getting really old.

I'm still tired, and I still have a Large, Annoying Headache.

However, there are a few things I can be glad about.

One, on Friday when I felt a rising panic because my head hurt So Bad, LovelyDaughter took one look at me and rose to the occasion to help me. It felt so good to be mothered I almost cried.

Two, last night I asked Hubby to pray for me, and when he did, the agitation and anxiety I'd felt for over a week finally lifted, and I slept like a baby.

Three,... um, ... my breakfast of chocolate milk and toast was very satisfying.

On the negative side, I've been fighting with WORRY WORRY WORRY. It's better, now that Hubby prayed for me, but still.

That reminds me--

I read a little something by Steve Chandler recently. He insisted that much of our worry comes from trying to do too much.

Most people don't create great things in their day. They are too busy doing too many things at once. Most of the people I coach start each day with too many things to do.

I started coaching Renata by asking her how her life was. And she said too many things to get done and not enough time. That's a formula, I said, for a very miserable, frustrating life. She asked why and I said it was because she was trying to live in the future.

Like a fly bouncing against the window pane trying to get into the house. Did you ever see the horror film "The Fly?" That's how most people live. Buzzing and pounding against the glass trying to get into their own future. They think it's a better place. Peace and quiet and open air. Wait for them, somewhere.

But now? Now is a mess. Now is chaos. Now is a million things to do as Renata fumbles with her cell phone in her car not noticing the light had changed. She blew her mind out in a car! All from having too much to do. And not enough time to do it.

But true mastery (not to mention happiness) comes from not having too much to do. It comes from only having one thing to do. Just this one thing.

I think MY worry comes from WORRYING TOO MUCH.

It's not even that I personally have that much to do. I just find myself worrying about what EVERYONE ELSE is supposed to do. *SIGH*

So, I think my job today is to find ONE thing to worry about DO today, and concentrate on that.

Hello, My Name Is...

And that's all I'd better say....