New Friends and Blessings

I have been blogging now for a little over one-half of a month. I have met some wonderfully talented and certainly witty people. I have seen the homes I dream of having. I have read the lines I wish I could write. I am amazed that I went 34 1/2 years before I found the joy in blogging. What was I doing all that time?

As I pondered over about what my today would include I read some emails. I get a daily devotional from Crosswalk and one from Joel Osteen (smiling Joel, as I like to call him.) I also get an email on "Daily Tips For Being a More Generous Wife." I can't always seem to apply those tips as I would like, ha ha. But, as I was reading these emails this morning I thought of my new blogging friends. On the surface everything appears to be in order. Their lives appear fulfilled. Their houses appear beautiful. And their relationships appear to be thriving. But it occurred to me that sometimes the truth is hidden just beneath the surface. What if every day one or some or all put on a brave face and type as though they have no worries but in reality they're suffering inside? Is that possible? These well-put-together moms and friends and sisters. Is it possible that they're struggling with issues such as I on any given day?

Crosswalk's devotional today included a piece about Paul's letter to the Romans, ""Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." This passage calls us past the neighbor level, past the acquaintance level, past the "just friends" level, and up to familial devotion. It calls us to look at those around us and consider how we can honor them with our time and attention, as we would our brother or sister."

The email from Joel: "Your time is coming! The dreams and desires, the things you want to accomplish, the situations you want to see changed will happen. Just because it has taken a long time, or because you’ve tried and failed, don’t give up on those dreams. Don’t be complacent about pursuing what God has placed in your heart. I encourage you today — get your fire back! It may be taking a long time, but God is a faithful God. No matter how long it’s been, no matter how impossible it looks, if you’ll stay in faith, your time is coming. Every dream that’s in your heart, every promise that has taken root, God not only put it there, but He has every intention of bringing it to pass. Start declaring today, “My time is coming… God is working behind the scenes on my behalf… I will fulfill my destiny… I will fulfill the plan God has for my life!” As you declare and expect and wait for the appointed time, your faith will grow. Your hope will grow. And you’ll step into the destiny God has in store for you!"

I have often told my mother (Mommy of Nunnie's Attic) that God is talking to me. Once I whispered that to her in church and she whispered back: Right now? And we giggled a little. But I seriously believe that when you open your heart and your ears to the Lord that He will answer you. It may not come in the answer you were hoping for. Or in the designated time you prayed about. But it will come! And in doing so, listening for the word of God, you perhaps bend your ear to another. You tend to comfort people a little more. Rejoice with them a little more.

So again I think of my new friends. And I hope that their lives are as they seem in blogland. But I know that may not be the case for some or all for that matter. So I offer up this prayer for you. May you find courage, hope and peace in it:

Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and those that I care deeply for, who are reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace. Where there is need, I ask you to fulfill their needs. Bless their homes, families, finances, their goings and their comings. Amen.

Husbands

I love my husband more than anything. But that man can infuriate me like no other. After a night of self-imposed silence, I wake up tired, hurt and frustrated. All because he didn't call!

Dinner is always on the table when he gets home from work. He's worked a long hard day so I make sure that there is a nice dinner waiting for him. I agonize over it as mentioned in a previous tirade. Yesterday when he's a half an hour late, I call him on his cell. Was he still working? NO. He stopped at our best friends' on the way home. Granted he does pass their house on the way. And he and his best friend (Bill) do work together. And Bill has this week off so that he can put new cabinets in their kitchen. So was it a big deal that he stopped there on the way home? No. Was it a big deal because he didn't tell me that he would be late, YES! And yes, he apologized but this isn't the first time he's done this. So do I accept that apology, not really. This is a age-old problem that every wife (or dinner-maker) has faced. I know that I'm not special. But MAN - does that irritate me.

So this morning, I go about my normal routine. I get up when the alarm goes off. I come downstairs and get his lunch ready. I pour him a cup of coffee in his travel mug. And I kiss him good-bye at the door. I return the "I love you." And I go back to reading about the death of Luciano Pavarotti (sigh), sulking. Feeling more sorry for myself than I should.

So I decide to text message him. I'm not quite ready to speak yet but I have to get over it. I send him this long text message (and anyone who has ever done that knows it takes forever.) And I end it with: We're good. But you owe me. I tell him that I still love him even when he's an ass. And the reply I get from him is one of the reasons why I love him. It's a picture of some cartoon-looking thing blowing me a big kiss. "I love you" written below. Now how do you stay mad when this cute little character is giving you a big "MUAH" telling you he loves you?

It's hard for me to remember that he's not a woman and just doesn't always think the way I do. How does the saying go? Women are from Venus and men are from Mars? Or some junk like that? I remember Henry Higgins lamenting about why women can't be more like men, in My Fair Lady. Why can't men be more like women?

Shopping Excursion

Yippee Skippee!! Yesterday I went shopping at my favorite store: The Yorktowne Shoppe. It's this wonderful little store in my neighborhood that is stocked full of all things country. I wish she had a website so I could link it and you could see for yourself. After grocery shopping I realized that I had done pretty well in terms of budget. So, I took the extra $60 I had left and spent $30 of it. My husband thinks I spent $20. Well, actually $10 of that was my money so really I only did spend $20. How's that for justification?

Anyway - I bought little white, barn star ornaments to hang on my little tree in my living room. Because I can't make a bow to save my soul, she was nice enough to make me one. Pretty barn red gingham ribbon. With the lights on the tree and the new ornaments I am just tickled pink. The tree was originally a gift from my girlfriend. But it was decorated in a Steeler theme. Now, while I am a HUGE Steeler fan (GO BLACK AND GOLD!!) it just didn't match my interior obviously. And putting it on my porch posed too much of a risk of having it stolen, which wouldn't have matched either. So, it's now a pretty focal point in my living room.

And on my way out the door I found the cutest star-shaped wreath. And jutting out from every inch are red berries. I know that my description can't do it justice. But take it from me - it's too stinking cute. I even managed to get my husband to hang it already. I can't reach. Poor guy. He has to hang everything being married to a 5'1" wife. He's almost 6'. You do the math.

So yesterday was success! The grocery shopping got done. The laundry got done. Dinner was a hit! Stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes, yummy! And for my reward, I found a few more things for my home which I adore. Can't get any better than that.

Today I have to clean the bathrooms, sigh....

Meal Planning

I don't understand how I could love to cook so much but still hate to plan the meal. I have to go the grocery store today and I have started my list. I am wracking my brain trying to come up with meals for the week. Should we have chicken? No, we just had fried chicken last week. Well maybe if I make it another way?? Ok. Definite maybe. How about pork? Nah, just had pork "steaks" and ribs. Well I could get a pork roast. Ooh maybe with some garlic and apples...in a slow cooker.

This is what I go through every week. I have covered all the basics and meals in this house have consisted of: beef, pork, chicken. Corned beef, ground beef, roast beef. Pork steaks (I hate the bone in a pork chop), pork loin, ribs, sausage. Fried chicken, chicken and rice. I have about 1 1/2 pounds of shrimp in the freezer. I could make scampi. Oh maybe with some linguine. Stuffed peppers sound good. Maybe I'll make those.

We go through about 10 pounds of potatoes a week. If you have ever seen my son, Austin eat you'll know that is not an exaggeration. Beans, macaroni, rice, couscous. All consumed in this house. Thank goodness my kids love their vegetables. I'm talking any vegetable except eggplant (fools that they are.) I can put cooked carrots or lima beans in front of them and they're asking for more. They're all good eaters including my husband. I have even managed to convince them that cooking with anchovies is not the same as anchovies on a pizza. They now know that when you "melt" the anchovies in a hot skillet they take on a nutty flavor and not a fishy one. So, I really shouldn't complain. They'll eat anything I put in front of them.

I love to cook meals for my family. But I have to stay within a budget. I try to be creative. I try to mix it up. I don't even mind the planning of the meal so much. It's that lingering fear in my head that they're going to say: Chicken again?

Name Game

So I've been tagged by Counting Your Blessings in the name game. My full name is Julie Ann. So there are only 3 letters in my middle name. Should be easy or so I thought. "N" isn't the easiest letter to describe.

If you haven't heard, in this game the players must list one fact somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name (if you don't have a middle name you, lucky lucy, get to pick the name you wish you had) and then at the end of the post you also have to pick one person per letter to tag next (remember to tell them that they're tagged). {I borrowed these instructions from Polly}




So here goes:
A - Amorous, I love my husband and I could smooch on him all day!!
N - Nuts. People are always telling me - You're not right!
N - Naughty. Refer to "A"

So now it's my turn to tag 3 people. Decisions, decisions. If I tag you and you've already been tagged in the past - I apologize. Also, if you notice, I have a few "Places I like to Visit" listed on my blog. If you would like to be added, please let me know. And if you want, add me to yours. Thanks for playing and have a great day!!

I tag: The Life and Times of a Supermom
Cherry's Jubilee
Swaddle Cottage

Families and Blessings

I love reading the thoughts and reflections of other people. I try to put myself in their world for a minute and feel their feelings. This morning I got up early and went to 9:00 mass by myself. My children had gone last night with my parents. I enjoyed mass a little more than I normally do today. Father Jim was reflected on the gospel and about how by putting yourself last in situations you will be exalted to a higher position in the eyes of our Lord.

I read Polly's blog this morning: Counting your Blessings. And I loved it. Such a thoughtful and poignant post about the glory of Sunday. Truly Sundays are the day to relax and worship. Sundays in my house is a day of family. My mom and dad and my brother's family all come over after to church to have a cup of coffee, enjoy a piece of cake or pie and reconnect with each other. And when my sister is home from South Carolina the company we keep is a little larger. We find out what's been going on with each other during the week. We find out what's coming up for everyone. We experience family or at least what family means to us. I remember as a child when we would get together after church at one of my dad's siblings. Each week would be someone else's turn to play host. I laughed and played with my cousins while the grown-ups enjoyed a little bit of adult conversation. Our family has grown by leaps and bounds and we're not able to enjoy that anymore. So each family has started their own tradition of Sundays. Sundays are at my house in ours. My children, nieces and nephews will grow up with those memories just as I had as a child. So I reflect on family today. The Holy Family. And I wonder what their traditions were. Were Sundays a day of reflection for them?

A blessing for sure, thanks Polly for my trip down memory lane.

Geez, where does the time go?

I can't get over how time flies. Not just when you're having fun. Things have been so hectic around here lately. With school starting and my hubby's birthday to plan I seem to be like the proverbial headless chicken.

We had such a romantic evening. I dropped the kids off at my mom's. I had fixed for the 2 of us an assortment of cheeses, supressata and olives. A nice bottle of Pinot Grigio, chilled. And strawberries with chocolate. Some smooth jazz playing in the background. And peace and quiet. We enjoyed a little dancing - a lot of smooching and NO KIDS! Still in bed by 9:40 though. HOW PATHETIC!

And today starts the rat race again. I made him a variation of Paula Deen's gooey butter cakes. This one has a chocolate bottom and a nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread, OMG) filling. Drizzled some chocolate on it and called it a day. He wanted meatball sandwiches of all things for his dinner. I laughed at first because, geez oh man, I can make meatballs standing on my head. But that's what he wanted so that's what he got. And they're pretty darn tasty if I do toot my own horn for a minute.

We (meaning Kenny) hung our plaque over the front door - "May all who enter here know peace and love" - my "God Bless America" plaque in Americana color scheme and the cutest little "Home Sweet Home" shutter in the living room. And he finally went to Home Depot to buy wood for the trim in the kitchen he has to finish. We've only been in this house for four years now. But I hear the table saw going. These are all good signs!!

Enjoy the holiday everyone. If you must labor, labor a little less anyway!