Good Morning! Thanks for your patience for the last few days! Hubby and I left on a wonderful little mini vacation on Saturday morning and I tried to start writing the post on Wednesday in our hotel room, but the hotel wi-fi was so slow that I couldn’t finish it. I had to wait until we got home to include it with Thursday’s post. We had a lovely time in Leavenworth, Washington – one of my very favorite places in our beautiful state, a couple of days having a belated Christmas with my son and his family, followed by another night in Leavenworth before we headed back home to the real world again. The weather was stunning, we had lots of decadent, delicious food that was TOTALLY not on our plan – but that’s what vacations are for, right? – and wonderful hugs and kisses, stories, laughter and more hugs and kisses with Miss B and Big Brother E. My heart is full, I have a smile on my face, and I am ready to get home and back to real life.

Verse of the Day

March 14, 2018

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

—2 Peter 1:5-8

Thoughts on the Verse of the Day

Wow! What a message. God wants us to be productive in our lives. He wants us to have more than just head knowledge, he wants us to put it to work in our lives and be effective and productive with it. But for me, I’ve got to put out some effort and try to grow in these qualities. Peter is saying, “Okay folks, God wants you to get after it and make a difference through your life!” I’m ready! Let’s begin today.

March 15, 2018

It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth… Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

—Acts 4:10-12

Thoughts on the Verse of the Day

“Jesus, there’s just something about that name!” The words to the song are right. Salvation from what is warped and broken in our world is found in no one else. He is our Savior because he was willing to come to this world, bear our limitations shame and sin and then triumph over them.

www.verseoftheday.com

Food for Thought

Monday evening we had an interesting conversation with Miss B and Big Brother E. Miss B was hugging Grandpa and buried her face in his neck, sniffed a big sniff, giggled and said he smelled really good. Grandpa looked a little surprised that a three year old would even notice such a thing. Big Brother came over, got up close and sniffed, then he sniffed me when he gave me a hug, and said, Yeah. You smell good, like it smells when we come to your house. I bake a lot, and Grandpa wears a nice, natural after shave that doesn’t choke me up and mess with my allergies. We never thought about how that would smell to the kids, but it makes sense to me. Kids absorb life through all of their senses and the sense of smell is no different. I can close my eyes and summon up the scent memory of being at my Grandma K’s house. Her house always had the aroma of ham, fresh cinnamon, cherry pie and this powder she wore called Tweed. Grandpa always smelled of coffee, and the outdoors. Those memories are precious and I hope I never allow them to fade. I also hope that knowing that these memories I am helping my Grandchildren to create will carry them through to their adult lives, to the time when they have children of their own. I pray that the memories that we create together will put smiles on their faces and that the lessons learned through conversations at our table over fresh baked goodies and cups of hot cocoa will give them peace and guidance as they walk the winding path of life, wherever that may lead them.

Wednesday – March 14

International Ask a Question Day – How many questions can you possibly think of to ask on this day! What? How? Where? How? Why? HMMM? Today you ask the burning questions that have been just hanging out in the back corners of your mind. Since we’ve all heard that there’s no such thing as a stupid question (I disagree, but it wasn’t my saying), go ahead and think up the craziest, most bizarre question that you want to have answered and ask! It’s also a good day to bring issues up that you may have been reluctant to bring up – so get to asking!

Learn About Butterflies Day – My first thought when I saw this was – HOW COOL! Then I thought, why in March? It’s still cold. I kept reading though and found out that there’s some logic to it. As we approach summer we get outdoors and become busy with all our different activities. It’s better to do the learning now so that when you actually come across the butterflies later, you’re ready when you see one! The way to keep in the spirit of this celebration is to learn a little more about the wide range of butterflies. Maybe buy a butterfly identification book, or look some up online, so you’ll know which butterflies may possibly be living in your backyard. Even better, learn about what flowers you can plant that will attract them to you! Most of all, appreciate their beauty when you see one – they are such an amazing example of what an amazing artist God is!

MOTH-ER Day – There is so much natural beauty all around us, and we notice beautiful creatures such as butterflies and anything cute and fluffy, but how many of us pay attention to moths? Moths tend to be feared, disliked and even ignored, but today moth enthusiasts wish to change all that. Today is a great day to learn about them, study them with kids who will be fascinated with learning the life cycle process of egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and moth. Honestly, I’m one of those who isn’t fond of moths. I am not scared of them and can’t even say I dislike them. They just seem to be everywhere at certain times of the year and get inside the house whenever I open the front door. Truth be told, some of them are quite pretty!

Pi Day – (as in math = 3.14159265) – This is the day to celebrate Pi, a mathematical concept and a number that never ends….at least no one has found the end yet. Often, it is rounded off to 3.14. If you are a mathematician, this is the day for you, since National Pi Day is a celebration of mathematics. And, more specifically…. it celebrates “Pi”. Today is also the day that Albert Einstein was born on March 14th, which of course is also represented as 3.14! Odd, hm? It’s very likely that Pi Day was settled on this day because of both Einstein’s birthday and the numbers of the date, but Pi was around LONG before Albert Einstein was born.

Registered Dietitian Day – There are so many different food choices in our markets today that sometimes it gets confusing which ones are healthy to eat, and which ones aren’t! Advertising speaks to our emotions, so when we get to the store to get what is on our shopping list, and foods to prepare for the family, it can get confusing. We are not a healthy nation on the whole, with so many processed foods, chemicals, GMO foods, etc, what do we eat??? One of the ways to clear up the mystery and confusion is to consult with a Registered Dietitian . . . they can untangle all of the knots and help us manage our health and weight through healthy eating, tell us what suitable nutritional intakes would be, and help us manage a variety of ailments and disorders with changing our diets. Celebrate Registered Dietitian Day today by setting up a consultation to ask how to boost your health and improve your lifestyle.

Save a Spider Day – We all know what spiders are, and many of us are very afraid of them. The eight legged creepy crawlies have fangs that inject venom into their food and enemies. As of 2008 there were at least 43,678 species of spiders listed. That’s a LOT of legs even if you just had one of each! I’m not going to go into a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo from the research I did on this one. If you are fascinated by these critters you are more than welcome to do that yourself. Bottom line is whoever set this day up – and I don’t know who that would be – decided that it’s a good idea to save these guys instead of killing them off, and I suppose they do have a purpose besides creating fear and discontent in people. Personally, I’m fine with them if they stay outside of my house, and if they don’t string a sticky web across my doorway so I get my face all webby when I leave in the morning. I will do a serious, flailing, screaming, looks like I’m having a seizure dance the instant that happens. The neighbors already think we are strange, don’t need them thinking insanity lurks at our house too. Spiders just stay away and you’ll be safe, but saving you is NOT my priority if you invade my space.

Thursday – March 15 –

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day – Oh sure, your kid is probably pretty good. But, my kids (and grandkids) are absolutely incredible! As a parent, I am going to take full advantage of being the author of this blog to exercise my bragging rights, and to let you know that my kids are amazing, and they are both with incredible spouses and raising wonderful, incredible kids themselves. If the meaning and purpose of this day escapes you, even after reading the 1st couple of sentences of this section, then I’m guessing you probably aren’t a parent yet. When kids start arriving, trust me, you will use this special day to full advantage and profess to the entire world how incredible your kids are. Of course, that COULD mean they revert back to being maybe less than amazing the next day, and some kids will go from incredible to bratty – depends on the kid! You probably know that baby goats are called kids . . . I suppose some people could think this day is about really incredible goats. Nah, never mind that, celebrate today by letting your children know that you think they are wonderful and how much you love them.

Buzzard’s Day – There is an old Wyandot tribal legend that tells of a squaw who was hanged for witchcraft below the ledges of the Rocky River in Ohio. They say that her spirit still remains and beckons thousands of buzzards to return each year on March 15th to that very spot. It was named Buzzard Day by the locals in Hinckley Township, and the event marks the coming spring and people for many miles around celebrate it. The buzzards though, they are actually turkey vultures, and they are very interesting birds! Here are a few things I bet you didn’t know about turkey vultures . . .

* Turkey vultures have bald heads so that dead meat doesn’t stick to their skin like it would to feathers.

* Turkey vultures are the only scavenger birds that can’t kill their prey.

* During hot summer months, turkey vultures . . . um . . . poo . . . on their feet to help keep them cool. (If I were a turkey vulture I would be humiliated that all of you now know that)

Dumbstruck Day – There are just people in this life who are overwhelmed by everything around them. The events they face just leave them dumbstruck. It’s ok to be dumbstruck once in awhile – hopefully not too often though – but it can be somewhat embarrassing. Today though, is the day let all of that go, have no guilt or shame and just be dumbstruck if the need hits.

Everything You Think is Wrong Day – Have you ever had “one of THOSE days”, when it feels like absolutely nothing goes right? Me too! All the time actually! Today is a special day that recognizes that everyone has a bad day now and again, and it can even happen to you, hopefully not very often though. If you think everything is going wrong today . . . give it 24 hours. Tomorrow everything should be right again.

The Ides of March and Brutus Day (they are connected in a way) – “Beware the Ides of March!” Chances are you remember this famous line spoken by the soothsayer to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” The words were a warning to Caesar of his impending death on March 15. The Ides of March — or March 15 — was just a day chosen by Shakespeare. Prior to that time it was not associated with any type of bad luck or doom. “The word ides comes from the Latin word “idus,” which means half-division, and in the Roman calendar refers to the approximate day that was the middle of the month. Ides was also used for the 15th day of May, July and October”. Brutus Day is celebrated to remind us of all the real life “Brutuses” we encounter in our daily lives. Maybe your Brutus is a jealous coworker or vindictive ex. We never know who might be out to get us, so on this day you should watch your back and trust no one! A good way to celebrate this day is to watch the 2011 movie “The Ides of March” starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney.

True Confessions – Have you ever kept a secret from someone and felt guilty about it? It can be very stressful and strain relationships if the secret is a big one. Sometimes, confessing your feelings to someone could start a beautiful friendship. This day was set up to inspire people to have a day of honesty and confess their secrets. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that confession is such a big part of many religions, allowing us to cleanse our hearts of our burdens and move forward with our consciences clear. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a big secret such as this – something that would cause this type of stress – but I will never forget when someone who is now special to me came to me to admit that she had hurt me badly and to ask if I could forgive her. I won’t go into what she did to me now, but you can trust me when I tell you that it wasn’t something easy to forgive. The truth is I gave her a bit of a hard time about it, pointed out all the reasons why she didn’t deserve my forgiveness, and because it took a lot of courage to ask, I did forgive her. I count her amongst my friends now, and though I will never forget, I was able to release the anger and forgive. I am so grateful that God doesn’t do that to me . . . give me a hard time over things that I have done wrong. When I ask Him for forgiveness, He does because He loves me. He doesn’t point out all the places where I could have made different choices. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all could do that for each other? Human nature is a tough nut to crack though. It is something we can work towards though.

This Day in History –

March 14, 1794 – Eli Whitney patents the Cotton Gin.

March 15, 1932 – George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company, commits suicide rather than facing the ravages of cancer.

March 15, 44 B.C. – “The Ides of March” Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus.

Food Celebration of the Day

March 14 –

Potato Chips – The world loves potato chips! Americans alone buy more than $3 billion worth of them every year. That is a LOT of potato chips!

Interesting facts about potato chips:

The 1^st potato “chips” appeared in 1853. They were served at the Lodge at Saratoga Springs, NY and referred to for decades as “Saratoga Chips”.

Native American Chef, George Crum, is credited with creating and serving the first Saratoga Chips. He created it after becoming annoyed by a customer’s complaint that his French fries were too thick.

The average potato chip is .04 – .08 of an inch thick.

During WWII production of potato chips stopped because they were deemed to be a non-essential food. I tend to agree, no matter how good they are.

In Great Britain, and many other parts of the world, potato chips are referred to as “crisps”. To them chips are French Fried potatoes.

It takes 1,000 pounds of potatoes to make 340 pounds of potato chips.

Reuben Sandwiches – I love a good Reuben Sandwich. This day was declared to be National Reuben Sandwich Day on this date in 2013 by the city of Omaha – the birthplace of the Reuben Sandwich. There is more than one story about what could be the history of the Reuben Sandwich. One is that Reuben Kulakofsky, who was a Jewish Lithuanian grocer invented this sandwich in the late 1920s to serve at his weekly poker game with friends. The tasty combination of a grilled sandwich on rye or pumpernickel bread, filled with generous portions of corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian or Thousand Island dressing (the only difference is that Thousand Island has pickles in it). These games were held in the Blackstone Hotel, and one of the owners played poker with Reuben and his other friends. He added the sandwich to the hotel’s lunch menu and it quickly became quite popular. It became nationally popular when a hotel employee entered the sandwich into a contest during National Sandwich Month. Another story says that a man by the name of Arnold Reuben, the German-Jewish owner of the Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York. He did an interview in 1938 with a writer with the Federal Writer’s Project, detailing his creation of the Reuben Special that was made with roast beef, not corned beef. He also says that he created the concept of sandwiches being named for celebrities. The evidence about who actually came up with the Reuben sandwich falls heavily on the Omaha creation story, with Reuben Sandwich Day being declared officially by the Omaha mayor in 2013.

We are back to eating low-carb this week after our food free-for all over the last few days. We are going to forego the bread and have Reuben Salads for dinner a day late – I’ll post pictures when I have them.

March 15 –

Peanut Lovers Day – There are several days celebrating peanut butter, but what about just peanuts? Well, this is the day. I’ll put a few roasted peanuts into our lunch today to make sure we celebrate at least one thing in a nice, simple way. There are a few things about peanuts that I found to be interesting. Nuts are most healthy in their raw form – which I think we probably all knew already. The reason is that over 15% of the healthy oils are lost in the roasting process. Studies show that people who eat nuts regularly live 2-3 years longer than people who don’t eat them. Allergies to nuts are one of the most common food allergies. When coffee was hard to get during the Civil War, roasted nutshells were used as a substitute. Half of the nuts of the world are either inedible or poisonous to humans. Peanuts account for 2/3 of all snack nuts that are eaten in the USA! Grab a handful of peanuts today and enjoy!

Pears Helene – In 1864, Auguste Escoffier created a very special dessert and named it after “La belle Helene,” an operetta by Jacques Offenbach. The dessert — Pears Helene — consists of pears that have been poached in sugar syrup and then topped with vanilla ice cream, crystallized violets and chocolate syrup. Yum! There are a lot of desserts that feature pears, so maybe try some of these! I’ve included a recipe that I found for Pears Helene. Enjoy!

Vacations come and vacations go by far too quickly, and the work days must start again, so with that, I am heading off to the office to see how deeply buried my in-box is! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Back From Vacation and Ready to Celebrate

Verse of the Day

Food for Thought

This Day in History –

Food Celebration of the Day

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