For some reason I have a very difficult time falling asleep and staying that way on Sunday nights. I’m sure I’m mentally just stressed over getting up and going back to work, but it is really frustrating. Sunday I wasn’t feeling well, was slightly feverish all day, had weird heart flutters – not that those are new, but it’s been awhile – and for some reason the pain in my arthritic fingers was pretty intense. Needless to say, I was a bit cranky when I woke up yesterday, and pretty much stayed that way all day. The fever was gone, and my headache had receded when I was able to get a good crack out of my neck, but as the day progressed the fever returned, the palpitations grew more frequent and pronounced and all I wanted to do was to come home and go to bed. I did come home, but I didn’t go to bed. There’s stuff to do when I get home, like make dinner, clean it up, pre-prep lunches, etc. It is my hope that by the time you are all reading this, I will have had a great night’s sleep and be waking up feeling awesome.
I wanted to give all of you a reminder. God speaks to us every day. We have to REALLY listen for His voice, because often He tells us things in a whisper. Yesterday when I was at lunch, I heard that still, calm voice in my head tell me to send a message to someone who may be wanting to hire me to a better position soon. I’ve had one interview and was waiting for a call for a 2nd interview. I knew it would be awhile because she called me after our 1st interview to tell me that they were renovating their new office and would be filling the position afterward. The voice said to text her. I ignored it for a bit. The voice got louder in my head. By the 3rd time I knew it wasn’t my imagination. So, I did. Not 5 minutes later she thanked me for reaching out, as things have been really busy dealing with the renovations, keeping business going, and trying to get things done. I am now scheduled for my 2nd interview on Wednesday at 4:15! I wouldn’t be opposed to a few prayers because this job would actually have health benefits, vacation and decent holidays. I’m afraid to want it too badly, but oooooh, I do. The best part – as if it could be much better – is that it is half the distance from home to the new office. Don’t ignore the voice – seriously, great things happen when God speaks.
Verse of the Day
October 15, 2019
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Who are your closest friends? Good friends are hard to come by in a world of superficial acquaintances and shallow relationships. “Hanging with the crowd” can give us a false sense of belonging, but often leaves us wounded and alone in times of trouble. Open, honest, supportive, and loving relationships don’t happen without investment. Ask the Lord to lead you to close friends in his family. Minister to and serve those around you. Listen to their requests, faithfully upholding them in prayer. Spend time in Christian service with other servant believers. Join yourself to a Bible study or accountability group. As you do, trust that God will give you that “stick-through-thick-and-thin-friend.” Companions are easy to find but can be unreliable. Development of Christian friends is an investment of effort and time, but they are friends with whom we will share forever.
www.verseoftheday.com
I Love Lucy Day – How many of us have been raised watching, and loving, I Love Lucy? I can’t even guess how many hours I spent growing up laughing at Lucy and her antics with Ethel. Well, today is the 63rd anniversary of the much loved “I Love Lucy” TV show. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz broke new ground with their show, which first aired on this day in 1951.
*The show was filmed in front of a live audience in a time when most shows had a “canned” laugh track.
* The show was filmed with three cameras at once, rather than just one. This was so the director didn’t have call for multiple retakes of the same scene – which would have been difficult for a live audience. Even when the actors messed up their lines, they didn’t have a retake – they just played off the mistake for extra laughs.
* Desilu (Lucille Ball’s and Desi Arnaz’s production company) pretty much invented the rerun. When Lucille Ball gave birth to their two children, she needed a little time to recover before going back to work, so they showed episodes that had already been aired for a 2nd time and it turned out that they were very popular!
“I Love Lucy” was the most-watched show of its time and ended its run at the top of the ratings. It won five Emmy Awards, and was nominated many more times. It always appears on “Best TV Shows of All-Time” lists and is still being rerun all over the world. It is still watched by forty million people in the United States every single year!
National Cake Decorating Day – Up until a few years ago, I couldn’t bake a cake that didn’t fall or look like I’d mauled it, to save my life. I dreaded events that would require a cake because I knew how badly it would turn out. I couldn’t even make a mix cake without problems! I know! How sad is THAT? Well, one day I decided that I was going to take one of those cake decorating classes offered at Michaels. I loved it! I took two more classes and loved them too! The advice offered by my instructor – since they didn’t actually have us bake a cake – turned things around completely. I haven’t had a cake fall since then, and I’ve discovered how much I love creating beautiful cakes and cupcakes – mostly cupcakes though. I even was blessed with the chance to bake the wedding cakes for my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding, and last year, my daughter and new son-in-law’s wedding too! I’ve made cute cakes for the grandkids but am struggling to make a great one for Little Man R’s 3rd birthday. I’m trying to make it low carb so it is healthier, but it’s proving to be a challenge. If you feel like you are death to decorating cakes, maybe take a class, or even look for a tutorial online – there are some pretty great ones out there! Standing back and seeing something beautiful that you did yourself is truly very satisfying
National Grouch Day – I know for a fact that we all have a grouch in our lives. You just smiled as you thought of them, didn’t you? They drive us crazy with their perpetually irritated mood, but at the same time they give us something to laugh about . . . behind their backs of course. If you don’t have a grouch in your life, you may wish to look in the mirror because it is entirely possibly YOU are the grouch! Do the smallest glitches in life put you in a bad mood? Do people often accuse you have having gotten up on the wrong side of the bed? If your name often included in the phrase “______the Grouch?” Does everything just seem to go wrong in your life, leaving you in a sulky, grouchy mood? If that’s the case, you really MIGHT be the grouch in your life. If so, well, today is your lucky day because you can feel free to grouch about whatever you want since today is National Grouch Day! It is the one day of the year that you can be as grouchy as you want and everyone else just has to deal with it.
National White Cane Safety Day – This is an interesting one because very few of us have had the opportunity to see what it is like to be blind when we aren’t. My daughter’s ex-husband is visually impaired – he lost an eye when he was shot in the face in Iraq. Occasionally she would attend events with him where wounded warriors with either blindness, or limited sight, get together to compete in athletic events. She went, in part, to cheer him on, and in part to offer her assistance with the people who are completely blind. On one such occasion they were at a college campus where an event was being held, and the people she was helping wanted her to see what it was like for them, so they blindfolded her, handed her a cane after a quick tutorial, and following behind her to make sure she didn’t get into any trouble, she made her way from one side of the campus to the other. She said that the experience was one she will not only never forget, but that really gave her a perspective she never had before – not only what it was like to walk with the cane, but how other people perceive the blind, how the hearing is enhanced in that situation, and how incredibly challenging everyday life must be. This is an important awareness day, and one that I hope everyone gives some thought. On October 6, 1964, Congress signed a law authorizing the President of the United States to proclaim October 15th each year as White Cane Safety Day. The day is intended to raise awareness for the everyday safety challenges that the blind face every day and commend them for the extraordinary way they have met those challenges. The white cane is such valuable tool for the blind, giving them the freedom of moment that they may not have otherwise. If you know someone who is blind or visually impaired, celebrate this day with him or her! Here are some interesting facts about blindness: Worldwide, someone goes blind every five seconds; 80% of all blindness is preventable or curable; by age 65, 33% of all Americans will have some sort of vision-impairing eye disease. You can celebrate this day by scheduling your next eye exam for yourself and your family members.
National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day – Sadly, one in four women experience a miscarriage in their lives, and many experience multiple miscarriages. How many women do you know who actually talk about it though? Probably not very many. Did you know that every single day in the United States, 2,000 women lose a baby to pregnancy/infant loss? That’s 700,000 each year, a quarter of all females in this country. The loss of a child is something that has become a “hush-hush” subject in our society, and women often feel forced to suffer in silence. Alone. Today, breaking the silence could be the first step towards the healing that so many women never get. I had a miscarriage years ago. My daughter was two years old when I found out I was going to have another baby. Like most women, when they find out they are pregnant, they immediately begin to envision that child in their lives. Plans are made, and the excitement begins. That’s the way it was with me anyway. A few months into my pregnancy I went in for my regular appointment and was looking forward to hearing the heartbeat and possibly getting the first ultrasound. The moment I saw the doctor’s face, I knew something was wrong. He kept trying to find the heartbeat, but never did. We had the ultrasound, but my baby was no longer alive. There isn’t a way to express the feelings I had, knowing that this little life that I’d been celebrating was gone already, and in heaven. I didn’t know grief could feel that way. There are still days, all these years later that I think about my baby and wonder whether it was a girl or a boy, and what would he or she have looked like. My story isn’t dramatic, or even any different than so many other women, and I know that there are countless grieving mothers who lost many babies through miscarriage, and many who lose their little ones soon after they are born. Today, know that if you have lost a child, you do not have to feel alone. All of those people who offered you platitudes until you were ready to scream in their faces, they don’t get it. They can’t, unless they’ve been through the same loss. That empty feeling? That is something that you felt to your very core, and today by breaking the silence and talking to other mothers who have gone through the same loss, you can heal from the pain, and fill the emptiness with healing. From one mother to other mothers – God bless you and know that you truly are not alone.
Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity – I feel that this one is so important! Annually students across the country participate in the “Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity”, giving an outlet for students to promote their pro-life views without using words or participating in arguments. Pro-Life students forego speaking to honor, with their silence, the members of their generation – including anyone born after the legalization of abortion on-demand in American in 1973 – who were never allowed to be born. Students do NOT let anyone tell you that you do not have the right to do this, because you do. As a citizen of this country you have the RIGHT to free speech, or free silence, as the case may be. Here is the link for their website – and blessings to any and all students who participate. The most important thing you can do on this day is to pray. Use the silence of the day to pray on behalf of the pre-born, and their mothers, as well as anyone else involved in the decision and procedure that ends a precious life. God is the God of miracles and He will hear our prayers and bless anyone and everyone they touch.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Cheese Curd Day – For the folks living in Wisconsin, where this one was started, they know what cheese curds are. The rest of us may not. Cheese curds happen during the cheese making process, before a solid cheese is formed and aged. They can be plain or flavored, or be white, natural or yellow. They are soft and a bit salty with a texture that is slightly rubbery. I’ve had something CALLED cheese curds but based on this description, I’m not sure if they were real ones! Have you ever had them? Do you like them?
National Chicken Cacciatore Day – The term “alla cacciatora” is Italian for “in the manner of hunters.” Real-life translation: a delectable dish of braised chicken with saucy tomatoes, herbs and veggies. Hmmm . . . I was wondering what to fix for dinner – wonder if I have all of the ingredients? Nah, no time on a work night, but it does sound good.
National Mushrooms Day – There are many different species of edible mushrooms, but I admit to only being familiar with a couple of them. If you aren’t personally acquainted with mushrooms, they are the fleshy bodies of several species of fungi. Some are edible and used in cooking, and because of their nutritional content, valued by people who eat a vegetarian diet. Some mushrooms are cultivated, some harvested from the wild, but harvesting from the wild can be dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. It is easy to confuse edible mushrooms with toxic ones. Mushrooms are considered to be the “meat” of the non-meat world because of their high protein content. They also contain vitamins B and C, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sodium and zinc. We celebrated this last night without even knowing it, by having sautéed mushrooms on our steaks.
National Red Wine Day – This is another one we had last night with our steak! YUM! Did you know that one bottle of wine contains the juice of about 3 pounds of grapes? I could go on and on about the benefits and wonders that are red wine, but I won’t. Foodimentary.com had some interesting facts to say about red wine, and I figured I’d share this really interesting one with you. The ancient Greeks had a wine glass that ensured the drinker keep things in moderation – if the wine was poured above a certain level, the cup spilled its entire contents out the bottom. That’s pretty cool!
National Roast Pheasant Day – I’ve never eaten pheasant. It’s expensive, and not typically in the stores anyway. I hear it is delicious though, so maybe someday I’ll try it. The pheasant is a game bird that is native to southern and central Asia but has been introduced successfully to Europe and North America. It is well established in the United States now. They are also raised commercially. I read up a bit on cooking a pheasant and it seems to be very similar to roasting a whole chicken.
I’m ready to get this day started so I can get home and start all over again the next day, how about you? God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
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Celebration list sources:
www.verseoftheday.com www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com