Happy. Truly Happy.

This year for Thanksgiving, our church had a Devotional. 

As usual, there was only a small group who attended.

(But hopefully word will get out and it will get bigger…

This was the first one…)

It was the brainchild of our seminary teacher.

(Their ward back in Utah used to do it, and she loved the idea…)

She gave an excellent mini-lesson on thankfulness.

She is a great teacher – the kids are lucky to have her start their day each day!

One thing she asked us to do was focus on the first person who

Popped into your mind when she said the word “Happy”.

I know LOTS of happy people.

Specifically in my family.

We are a happy family.

We are absolutely NOT perfect.

If you look closely, each member of my family has issues.

Plenty of them.

But, without a doubt, the first person who popped in my head

Was my sister, Nancy.

(In this picture she is freezing, sitting on a bleacher, and suffering from

RAGING FOOD POISONING.

Do NOT order takeout Chinese in a strange city from a hotel…)

Typical of the other members of our family (and probably yours as well)

She has had her share (and more) of challenges.

But through it all,

She smiles.

Back to the devotional.

Sister Samuels asked us to each think of WHY that person was happy.

I immediately thought how blessed Nancy is to have a STRONG core family. 

And close friends. 

And the gospel. 

She makes sure to start each day with prayer and scripture and meditation.

And to touch base with each family member (multiple times)

and with her several friends.

And no matter what is going on in her life, she is always serving others.

But then, as we went around the room, Brother Samuels said something profound.

(He does that a lot…)

He said the person he was thinking about had NO reason to be happy at the moment.

But he said, this person had made a conscious decision to BE happy.

Hmmmmmm

Yup. 

I like that.

I know that, in my own life, that is a decision I made years ago.

Life is what it is.

You can focus on all the “wah, wah, look at what is happening”

Or

You can wake up each day and DECIDE that right now

In this moment

You are going to be HAPPY.

And Nancy is a great ambassador for that.

Way to go Nanc!

LOVE YOU!

update

The browser we use at work was invented in 1812 and no longer supports ... well nearly anything.

This amazing post is brought to you courtesy of my free 3g on my kindle.  Its a bit better than posting using my phone.  Which is a little better than a rock and chissel.  All this to say future posts will need to be done at home.  At night.  From my laptop.  Which means I wil try to remember to do it...

Meanwhile.  Happy Thursday!

Two finger typing is not as fun or efficient as one would think......

Oh yah...  And the girls have been on strike since the time change.  But it appeaars we have a Scab...somebody is crossing the picket line.  Hopefully she can talk some of her sisters into joining her.  One egg a day isnt really cutting it.

Sticky

We've been having some "preview to winter" weather here lately.

Yah, I know.

I shouldn't whine about lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's.

But for Florida in November.

That's COLD!

And with the chilly weather (and wind)

comes lower than normal humidity.

We usually have 80+ percent humidity levels.

But this week it's been more like 40-ish.

Not only are my lips feeling it,

but so are my horses.

After our great ride on Saturday,

The boys wanted to roll.

In the front yard.

Where we have several oak trees.

Who are losing their leaves.

Resulting in.....

Love static electricity!  

LOL

Back to "life"

The Thanksgiving (also known as "Eat Everything In Sight") holiday has ended.

Surprisingly, even with an 18 pound turkey

we don't have that many leftovers.

Which is a bummer.

I was hoping to get out of cooking for awhile.

LOL

HEY!!!  BIG NEWS!!!

Last night I made turkey noodle soup.

And it didn't taste like water someone waved a turkey over.

It was actually YUMMY!

Good thing, too.  I made a BIG pot.

Maybe the reason we don't have much turkey left is I got lazy.

I didn't feel like "picking" the turkey after the meal.

So I tossed the entire carcass in the stock pot.

Including all the back meat.

Simmered it on the stove.

For about 36 hours.

Maybe longer.

I'm not sure.

Last night I picked out all the bones.

Ended up with a gallon ziplock bag full of meat.

And skin.

And innards.

It's for the dogs.

Also a milk jug (washed out) full of turkey stock.

Also for the dogs.

I still have turkey stock in my freezer from the last turkey.

Also.

The gravy rocked.

Just saying.

Meanwhile - here's a video to make you smile.

Has nothing to do with anything.

And then he tried again.

This is what we do for fun around here.

Have a great Monday!

(I'm doing a little Cyber Monday shopping...)

Happy Happy!

We've had a busy couple of days.

First there was Thanksgiving.

We had a great time up at Tim and Angie's.

Unfortunately, Rod and Sabrina were both working.

So we did it all again Friday at our house.

Kyle went to work at Samuels.

Jim and Rod went to Tractor Supply to buy fencing stuff.

And Sabrina and I cooked up a STORM.

I tried something new.

I always bake my turkey in a bag.

It's faster, easier, and moist.

But I'm getting a little uncomfortable with cooking in plastic.

Wonder what it leaches into the food.

And besides, I forgot to buy one.

LOL

So I did it the good old fashioned way.

I used a nice big roaster pan with a rack in it.

Poured some chicken broth in the bottom.

Added some poultry seasoning, onions and celery.

Stuffed some butter up under the skin.

Rubbed poultry seasoning all over the outside.

Covered it with heavy foil.

Put it in the oven.

And then we went outside and sat in the sun and enjoyed the beautiful weather while reading books.

(Oh yah, I went for a horseback ride earlier in the morning.  Rod was sleeping...)

It was GREAT!

Moist.  Tender.  Yummy.

The kids wanted a "traditional" menu.

That means

mashed and gravy.  (Sabrina and I ROCKED the gravy this year!)

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

Green bean casserole (yuck - but they like it)

Broccoli and cheese.

Stuffing.

Cranberry Jelly From a Can!

We broke the patio table we usually use when we eat at a table.
Guess I've drug it across the patio too many times...  LOL

So we used the kitchen table.
It wasn't big enough when we had 2 little boys.
Now that we have 5 adults... its cozy!
But luckily we have a LONG counter in the kitchen.
so we served buffet style.
And then we sat and ate and talked and talked.

And then we put up the tree.

Let the Christmas Season BEGIN!

Soup and more Soup

So I had a couple of requests for the soup recipe from yesterday.

It was VERY well received at our pot luck thing at work.

So, here it is.

With all credit going to BYU.

I attended for summer term and fall semester.

Then I recognized I was wasting my parent's hard earned tuition money.

And I went home.

Where I got a job in an industry I was already well equipped for.

And have been in, in one way or another, ever since.

This is just about the only thing I remember from of my stint at BYU.

(although I DID weave an awesome pillow cover on a huge floor loom...)

(and retrained a champion barrel racer {horse} who had gone sour and would try to kill anyone (specifically the director's daughter) who rode him into an arena with barrels in it...)

(and discovered that my thyroid quit working, thus causing me to gain a gazillion pounds)

BYU Broccoli Cheese Soup

serves 4

1 stick butter

1 cup velveeta, cubed

4 cups milk

1/2 bag fine egg noodles

Normally I make it on the stove top in a pan.

Yesterday I doubled the recipe and made it in a crockpot - high for 3 hours.

It was good!

It would have been a little better if I had a REAL spoon to stir the noodles with so they

didn't turn into a blob.

************************

When I got home from work, Sabrina had a huge crockpot full of

Crockpot Potato Soup

cooking.

Can I just say.

YUM!

We went grocery shopping for the big feast on Friday.

We are going to family on Thursday, but since Rod and Sabrina are both working and will

miss the big feast, we are doing it all again on Friday at our house. 

Just for us 5.

By the time we got home, put everything away, and fed the animals,

Kyle got home from working outside all day (outside).

We were chilled.

And hungry.

And that soup HIT THE SPOT.
(And there was lots left over - some in the fridge for Rod's lunch today, and
some in my lunchbox for lunch for ME today.
And some for anybody else who wants it for lunch today...)

HAPPY HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

What is WRONG With These People???

Last night Kyle and I went to our local Walmart

to get some groceries.

My office is having a "Thanksgiving Feast" thing today.

I'm making BYU Broccoli Cheese Soup.

So I needed some "stuff".

They were playing Christmas music.

Now, they played some of my favorites, and I was hard pressed not to sing along.

But in the back of my head, I just KNEW I was going to be sick unto death

of this music by the end of December.



Old ad - this year it's Nov 23.  But whatever.
I love the sentiment.



PEOPLE.

Christmas season does NOT officially begin

until Santa crosses the finish line

at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Sheesh.



Weekend

Third weekend of the month - which means Orlando weekend.

I left a little early and got to my hotel in time to stop next door at Panera Bread.

Got a bowl of broccoli cheese soup and a half turkey/avocado sandwich to go.

Sat in my hotel room and had a YUMMY dinner and then to bed early.

But when I got to school on Friday morning

it was quiet and dark.

Inside as well as outside.

I got out all my supplies for my class.

It was still quiet.

At 7:45 (class starts at 8) a car drove up.

And a single student came in.

A few minutes later another student came in.

And that's how it stood at 8:45.

Which is when I called my boss and cancelled the class.

The checkbook won't be happy about it.

But I caught a cold.

So I was actually kinda pleased to have the weekend to get better.

Stopped by the office on the way back into town and did about 4 hours.

And then home.

Poor Rod chose to sleep on the couch so he didn't get sick.

It's kinda going around the family.

So far he and Kyle are safe.

I've been taking mega doses of D3 and Oil of Oregano.

And I'm doing MUCH better.

Poor Sabrina has pneumonia.

And Jim has a bad cold.

So we are trying to keep our germs to ourselves and get better before Thanksgiving.

But enough about that.

Thursday afternoon Kyle and I went for a nice long walk in the woods.

The "thing" on the trail is our Jack Russel, Ozzie.

And, of course, Kyle had to go off trail and "climb" a tree.

The "bicycle people" built a new boardwalk through the old "Faith Trail" section.

It's a nice trail.

Even if the entire section (not just the wooden path) is closed to horses.

Don't get me started.

In fact they closed an OLD trail we've used for, 12+ years?

What's interesting is, it's not even their property.

Belongs to a friend of ours.

Anyway.

(rant rant rant)

It was a good walk.

A beautiful afternoon.

I hate winter.

The sun goes down WAY too early.

It really cuts into my "outside" time.

Speaking of outside.

Saturday was a GREAT outside day.

Our fabulous neighbors hired Kyle to manage their animals on the weekends.

And also offered to let the guys borrow their tractor (for just a fuel refill!)

NIRVANA!

Their horse, Slider, was endlessly fascinated.

Rod spent a couple of hours and smoothed out the back pasture.

It looks so much nicer out there now.

Plus he fixed the old swimming pool spot.

The boys hooked up the little seeder and did a

gazillion laps of the property,

spreading winter rye.

I supervised.

It's what I'm good at.

Kyle handled quality control.

It should be all bright green out there in a week or so!

We celebrated by burning a bunch of the old, rotting wood

the previous owner left piled up against the back fence.

Yes, we are pyromaniacs.

Why do you ask?

New Outfit

You know how a new outfit always makes you feel great?

Sometimes you need to get one because you've lost a little.

Or gained a little.

Or you just wore out the old stuff.

Hopefully this guy feels good with HIS new outfit.

He appears to be eating plenty of rats/mice/whatever...

Good job Slinky!

(I only catch a glimpse of him once in a long while.  He lives under the hay room and slips out in Andy's stall on a warm, sunny morning.)

Lollipops

I don't know if you have noticed.

But I have.

We have this tree.

It shows up in my sunset photos. 

It makes me happy.

I've not decided if it's a lollipop.

Or a doughnut.

But either way.

I like it!

(Why yes, I AM dieting.  Why do you ask?)

Punkin Chunkin

Yah, we live in the south.

It appears there are no "g's" in the south.

Livin'

Lovin'

Punkin Chunkin'

Never heard of Punkin Chunkin'?

Well, officially you build a giant catapult and see how far you can chuck your pumpkin.

But we don't find that necessary.

See.

We are rednecks, but let's not get carried away.

Alright?

So we just stand on the roof and toss.

It's great fun!

It works better if the pumpkin sits on the patio for a couple of days

so it's a little on the mushy side.

But not TOO mushy...

or you won't be able to do the next part!

If you look behind Kyle, you'll see another hunk-a-punk

with a big black divot in the ground next to it.

He hit the ground FULL FORCE with his scythe.

Which is why he's still swinging, but swingin' high. 

It kinda hurt.

And bent his scythe.

And now there are little chunks of punkin all over the yard.

Which, sadly, the bunnies don't seem to find yummy.

But the chickens are slowly finding them and pecking away at them.

And when we let the horses out in the yard tomorrow, I'm sure they'll finish cleaning it all up.

Thanks guys!

Aaaaaaaaah, the joys of livin' in the south!



Two Posts in a Day?????

Yup.

I just can't stay negative.

It's who I am.

And who I try to be.

Last night we went to a great little Relief Society dinner.

There were only 36 sisters there.

(We have a pretty small ward...)

As the "closing song" we all sang the following together.

Sing it!

Sing it LOUD!

It WILL brighten your mood.....

Count Your Wrinkles

(to the tune of Count Your Many Blessings)

Verse 1:

Hello, Welcome everyone, you're looking great

You don't look a minute over 98!

What have you to show for all the sweat and tears

And the smiles and laughter of these many years?

CHORUS:

Count your wrinkles; name them one by one

Counting wrinkles can be lots of fun.

Don't you pity people who have none?

Count your many wrinkles, see what time has done.

Verse 2:

Count from top to bottom or from left to right.

Counting wrinkles one by one could take all night.

If you're in a hurry here's what you can do

Count them all on one side and then multiply by two.

CHORUS:

Count your wrinkles; name them one by one

Counting wrinkles can be lots of fun.

Don't you pity people who have none?

Count your many wrinkles, see what time has done.

Verse 3:

Some might say that naming wrinkles is insane

Fred and Sue and Benjamin and Mary Jane

Each and every wrinkle is a special friend

They will all be with you to your journeys end.

CHORUS:

Count your wrinkles; name them one by one

Counting wrinkles can be lots of fun.

Don't you pity people who have none?

Count your many wrinkles, see what time has done.

SMILE!  It'll give you HAPPY WRINKLES!

Buckle Up!

It's gonna be a ride!

We got four more years.

I'm trying to be positive.

(Ignore the fact that I'm dressed in black, from head to toe...)

I am Positive.

I am positive we will not get rid of Monsanto.

I am positive we will not get rid of Obamacare.

I am positive we will not start drilling our own resources.

I am positive we will become even more socialist.

I am positive our dollars will be worth less.

I am positive food and fuel prices will go up.

I am positive this is going to be a ride.

So anyway.

This is what the sky looked like last night.

While it was falling.

I'll be back tomorrow with an Actual Positive Attitude.

But today I am mourning.

Twins!

Remember that GIANT egg from a week or so ago?

I like to let them sit for a week or so, otherwise when you hard boil them,

they are hard to peel.

I boiled it up and then cracked it open.

Yup!

Doubles!

Kyle thought it would make a great deviled egg.

But I just sliced up an avacado and ate it up.

YUM!

Aaaah/Aaargh

Saturday night, after teaching a 5 hour class to an 18 student class,

I went to Red Lobster and had a pound of Snow Crab legs.

And a cup of New England Clam Chowder.

And a salad.

And some corn on the cob and red potatoes.

Aaaaaaaah.

It was REALLY yummy!

(And I had my favorite server - she does a GREAT job...)

Then I headed back to my hotel.

Poured a couple of drops of Oil of Oregano on a damp washcloth and disinfected the tub.

Because, Eeeeeeuuuuuwwwww, hotel tub.

(But OoO is a powerful disinfectant.)

Then I FILLED the tub with nice nearly hot water.

And dissolved 2 cups in Epsom Salts in there.

Epsom Salts are also pretty powerful.

They work to draw out infection (which is why, when my horse gets an abscessed hoof,

I soak it in a bucket of hot water with Epsom for 15 minutes - or whatever I can get...)

They also work to draw out other impurities in your body, resulting in a great detox.

And it's salt.  So your skin ends up SOFT.

Plus, with the Oil of Oregano, it was kind of like taking a long, hot, soaky bath in a pizza parlor!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh

(There are no pictures, you are welcome.)

However.

Before I got in the tub, I dumped some diatemacious earth in my hand,

added some warm water,

and made a loose paste.

Then I spread it on my face.

THEN I got in the tub.

Set my phone timer for 30 minutes.

Propped my Kindle on the edge of the tub.

And soaked,

read,

relaxed,

detoxed,

loved it!

When the alarm went off, I decided I wasn't done.

So I turned it off and kept on soaking.

When I FINALLY got out of the tub,

I stood up, climbed out, turned around, and looked in the mirror.

Holy Kabuki Theater Batman!

I don't know why I was surprised it turned white.

But I was.

And it took all my self control not to break out laughing.

At least until I took a picture.

*********************************************

Fast forward to Sunday evening.

When I drive home from school, I often call and chat with Rod.

But his A/C in his truck is broken, so he was driving with his windows open.

We talked for awhile, but my voice was already worn out.

(I ended up with 22 students and they were NOISY...)

So we hung up.

I have always talked out loud to myself.

I remember yapping away, out loud, while mowing the lawn in Calgary.

Grant Pitcher came to visit and stood on the sidewalk just watching and laughing.

Until I became aware of him.

And died of embarrassment.

Anyhow.

I like to talk to myself when I drive.

When I first started teaching, I would pick a chapter, or a concept from a chapter

and re-teach it from memory.

Tweaking the stories, the jokes, the verbal visuals.

It's how I memorized 40 hours of material.

Now that I know my stuff

(sheesh, it's been 13 years... I better know it!)

I still talk out loud.

But I usually tell myself stories.

Last night, I was pre-writing this post.

Out loud.

With my Bluetooth on my head.

I mentioned T-Tapp.  (Someone on the T-Tapp forum told me about the DE face mask)

I don't know what I did, but when I said Tapp, my phone turned itself on.

(Maybe I bumped it? Touched a button? Who knows...)

In my ear, I heard my phone gnome say

"Call Teresa Tapp on Mobile"

Aaaaaaaargh!!!  What?  Wait!  NO!!!

1. I have Teresa's personal cell phone number because we spoke a few times before the PBS Special.

2.  I am NOT a member of the "inner circle" and have no excuse for calling Teresa these days.

3.  It was 9:00 (10:00 body time, first day of the end of Daylight Savings) on Sunday night!

I'm screaming, "End Call, Cancel, Stop!!!" while trying to punch the right button in the dark while driving.

Sheesh!

Meanwhile, I missed a call from Rod.

So I hit the button to call him back.

And the Phone Gnome said

"Call Teresa Tapp on Mobile".

Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

So, Teresa... 

FORGIVE ME!?!



November

Today is the first day of my company's Biggest Loser Challenge.

I'm all in.

(I took "before" pictures, but won't be posting them

until I have some decent "after" pictures to counter with)

So here's a recipe I'm going to try tonight.

It sounds really good!

Rod eats celery every night - this might be fun for him to take along.

And I've added celery as a snack at work.

Buffalo Wing Hummus

slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup tahini (if you don't have this don't worry)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp paprika
3 Tbsp calorie-free wing sauce ( Or whatever BBQ sauce we have at home)
2 Tbsp cayenne hot sauce (Frank's red hot sauce)
1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 tsp Kosher salt (you can safely omit this)

Directions:
Put the chickpeas, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, paprika, wing sauce, hot sauce, vinegar and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a food processor. Puree until smooth and creamy.
Yield: 12 servings (1/4 cup each).

Nutrition Information (per serving): 99 calories; 3.4 g. fat; 0 mg. cholesterol; 231 mg. sodium; 11.8 g. carbohydrate; 4.2 g. fiber; 4.6 g. protein

Result: The perfect zing! As much as I love hummus, this really takes things to a new level. If spicy is your thing, grab a few stalks or celery and enjoy! It’s rare buffalo wing anything can be enjoyed so guilt-free!