Good Morning from my first ever January/Birthday camping trip! Now that we have the motor home we have decided that we would like to go camping at least once a month. We stayed local, since when we booked the camp site there was snow in the forecast and we didn’t want to have to drive the motor home (I use “we” loosely, since I don’t personally drive the motor home) in inclement weather. As I write this I am enjoying my last cup of coffee of the morning, listening to the fire crackle happily (or hearing the water boiling out of the firewood is probably more accurate – it’s been so wet lately!) and enjoying the fresh air. I admit to being a trifle chilly, but it’s a good sort of chilly, not the sort that soaks down to your bones. It’s the chilly from being outside in the winter. I admit to being slightly disappointed at there being zero possibility of snow this weekend but we are having a relaxing time, no matter.
Verse of the Day
January 13, 2018
God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
The price has been paid. The ransom is provided. God’s judgment was averted, not because of anything we did to appease him, but by his own sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. If God has gone to such great lengths to reconcile us to himself and adopt us into his family, how can we refuse? We must not! Father God, we offer you our hearts!
January 14, 2018
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Love! The word can mean anything. Many in the Christian community have tried to define it by a dictionary or lexicon, not realizing the key word for love, agape, is defined by action. Before Christians got a hold of agape, it meant the same thing our word today does: just about anything! But if you read 1 John, you see what love is by what God does. God demonstrates his love. He asks us to do the same for our brothers and sisters. Love must be more than talk; it must be genuinely demonstrated in action!
Food for Thought
Today I am just grateful for camping, camp fires, cooking outdoors and being alive! Think about it! How lucky are we to just be?
January 13 –
International Skeptics Day – Do you doubt everything you hear if it isn’t immediately provable by scientific fact? Do you even doubt things that HAVE been proven? If you are the quintessential Doubting Thomas, then this day is definitely for you. Some folks just have a difficult time taking anything on faith, where others believe everything they hear, whether or not it is even logical to believe. Faith is a big part of my life, but I feel like I temper it with enough skepticism to balance myself out – of course what I am most skeptical about is people and their motives for doing anything. There are people who just can’t believe ANYTHING that is seemingly outlandish – Big Foot? Not a chance. Ghosts? Never! Aliens? Are you serious? Yep, if you question everything, then this day is going to be a special day for you, so enjoy!
Make Your Dreams Come True Day – How many of us say, fairly often, that we’d like to do something . . . someday? We’d like to go somewhere special . . . someday. We’d like to get something that means a lot to us . . . someday. We’d like to lose the weight . . . someday. We’d like to get in touch with this friend or that friend that haven’t seen in awhile . . . someday. What will make “someday” come? And when will that happen? For some people it never does. They wait for the perfect moment, and it never arrives because something will always get in the way. Whether it is work, finances, weather, obligations, health issues . . . something happens and life passes you by without that dream coming true. This is the day to start changing all of that. Make your dreams come true. Write them down, set a date to have certain parts of the dream come to pass and make it happen. Whatever your dreams are they are worth making them come to pass.
National Sticker Day – I LOVE stickers – well, I used to when I was little. Today is about all things sticker related from the custom printing of them to sharing them with other people because every sticker has its own story. Historians give credit for stickers to European merchants in the 1880s. They were the first to put labels on their products to promote them to passersby. They used a gum paste to get the labels to stick, and that’s where the name started – “stickers”. Nice! By the time the 1900s rolled around a paste that was sticker-specific was created and began to be widely used, at that point mostly on stamps. This celebration is today in honor of R. Stanton Avery, who was born on this day in 1907. My own little history with stickers – I’ve always been a bit of an entrepreneur, always trying to sell something. Quite honestly, I was better at sales when I was a kid than I am now, but my 1st foray into individual sales that wasn’t through a school fundraiser, was stickers. Puffy plastic stickers had just started appearing in stores – I must have been around 12 years old – and I saw an opportunity to make a little extra money, so I bought a few sleeves of stickers and started selling them individually to my friends – the sleeve cost about .79 and I was selling the stickers for .15 each or 2 for .25. It was awesome! They sold out right away, so I bought more and moved on to other items and sold them too. The teachers didn’t mind, until I started selling jingle bells to put on shoes at Christmas time – apparently that was a bit of a distraction. Enjoy sticker day by buying some fun little stickers to decorate your papers with – it’s fun!
January 14 –
Caesarean Section Day – I was fortunate enough to have both of my children naturally and without any complications that would require surgery, but it is very common to hear of women having C-Sections these days. My daughter had to have an emergency C-Section when Baby R was born and I admit that I was nervous. Any surgery is risky, no matter how many times it’s been done before, though these days C-Sections are so common that most often everything is just fine. This wasn’t always the case though! Caesarean Sections have been recorded as far back as the time of Julius Caesar (hm, connected to the name of the procedure?) At that point in history though, they always resulted in the mother dying. It wasn’t until the 1500s that a woman was recorded to have even survived the surgery. In 1794 a 24 year old doctor by the name of Jesse Bennett – said to be the first North American doctor to do a C-Section, performed the procedure on his wife Elizabeth in their home in Virginia. He did this without antiseptics or equipment, and to his surprise, his wife AND the baby survived! I can’t imagine how painful that had to be, or how scared he must have been. According to a recent study, 1 in 3 first time mothers are having their babies delivered by Caesarean section, and they will likely have repeat C-sections with future children. And of these, they are not even necessarily medically necessary! Often women find it easier to plan the day they have their baby and schedule a voluntary C-Section. Huh. I can honestly say the thought wouldn’t cross my mind! An interesting bit I saw about this – on March 5, 2000, Ines Ramirez performed a C-Section on herself . . . and is believed to be the first woman do have successfully done this on her own. Wow – can you imagine?
Dress Up Your Pet Day – How many of us have laughed at people who dress up their dogs? I know I have . . . in the past. Ok, sometimes I still do, depending on how extreme the outfit is that has been put onto the dog. I see why sweaters are a good thing since little dogs get cold, but I’ve also seen silly things like suits and dresses in the stores, and seriously, why would you do that to a dog? Of course, I’m not guilt free. Moose is too big to make buying those outfits – even if I wanted them – affordable, but over the last couple of years I have taken such glee from putting hats on him that I have to say that dignity (or lack of it) aside, it makes me happy, so I keep putting him through it. He’s not harmed and he isn’t against the extra treats he gets for his patience. Dogs aren’t the only pets that get dressed up though! I remember as a child stuffing my poor cats into dolls dresses – it’s a wonder I didn’t get shredded for my efforts. I will never forget the expressions of disgust on their furry little faces! Chinchillas are also not exempt from the dress-up game! When my daughter was 16 years old she got a chinchilla for her birthday. That critter was the cutest, sweetest little fur baby ever . . . and exceedingly patient . . . until the day that K decided to dress her up. K was in her 20s when she did this! I didn’t get to see poor Lola Rose in her pink dress, but I did get the phone call from my daughter, her in a fit of giggles that had her in tears, which put ME into a fit of giggles that had ME in tears just by listening to her – I’m telling you it was infectious! Apparently Lola wasn’t thrilled with the process, and with her tail spinning in circles (they tend to spin their tails around when agitated), meeping and molting fur from being upset, K managed to get her into a pink dolly dress . . . granted, her tail was through the neck opening, her head through a sleeve, and scrabbling madly with her short little front legs to get OUT of the dress . . . and oh my! The struggle was epic! Turns out that this lovely little creature was more determined NOT to be dressed up than K was to dress her up, and the exercise was over after getting the sideways dress off of her. Dress up your pet today, and if you think about it, post pictures on our FB page! I’d love to see them!
Organize Your Home Day – Studies show, and personal experience bears that out, that being organized reduces our stress, and helps us be more productive and peaceful! Right now I am feeling anything BUT organized, as I have clutter and chaos in pretty much every room of the house. This is the year – in spite of juggling a lot of different things at the same time – but THIS is the year I am going to get organized and figure out how to keep things that way. Of course, I say that every year, but this year I do mean it. I can’t do this clutter/chaos/mess any more! There are all sorts of organization sites with some great ideas . . . for me it’s a matter of downsizing junk I don’t use, and getting things where they need to be. Every year I say that THIS is the year. Maybe this one will be!
Ratification Day – Our nation is so unique, for many reasons. One of these reasons is that our Constitution, the blueprint of American democracy, is the oldest national constitution in continuous use. After four difficult months drafting it, and debating the contents, in September of 1787 it was signed. From there, since signing it wasn’t enough, the new Constitution had to be ratified by nine of the 13 states before it could become binding. When New Hampshire ratified it on June 21, 1788, our Constitution became the binding law of our land. To that point though, ratification hadn’t been a sure thing. The new Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation, which were adopted during the Revolutionary War. The Federalists, who supported the Constitution, were in favor of a strong federal government, while the Anti-Federalists opposed it because they thought it gave the central government too much power. This brought about bitter struggles in many of the states, but because the Federalists were better organized (SEE? Organization DOES matter!), they won the day. The Federalists promised to add amendments to the Constitution that guaranteed the basic rights of citizens so that they could obtain ratification in several key states. These amendments that they wrote went into effect in December of 1791 and are known as the Bill of Rights!
This Day in History –
January 14, 1784 – The United States of America ratifies a treaty with England ending the Revolutionary war.
January 14, 1973 – The Miami Dolphins defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, and become the first undefeated team in NFL history.
January 14, 1990 – The Simpsons debut on television. Will TVever be the same again!?!
Food Celebration of the Day –
January 13 –
National Peach Melba Day – Named for opera singer Nellie Melba, the original dish starred peaches in raspberry puree and served atop a carved ice swan. This is the first dessert this month that I haven’t had time to make it because we have been pretty busy. The night I was going to make it I got home really late because of a long running dentist appointment. I know, fun, right? No, not so much. I would have been happier making Peach Melba – or the closest thing I could find to it in a low carb version. I actually do have all of the ingredients at home, so I’m hoping to make it this week. Here it is if you want to give it a try – It’s Peach Pannacotta with Raspberries. Looks good!
- Peach Melba for Two
- Peach Melba Muffins
- Peach-Raspberry Almond Cake
- Blushing Peach Jam
- Summertime Raspberry-Peach Iced Tea
- Peach Melba Smoothie
January 14 –
National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day – Pastrami was introduced to the U.S. in the early 20th century by Romanian Jews. Today, the seasoned and smoked meat lives on in classic deli sandwiches. I am so happy to say that I found some AMAZING (did I say AMAZING) low carb bread. The Great Low Carb Bread Company has incredible low carb bread that isn’t even frankenfood! It’s REAL food – just made in a way that I can’t seem to do myself. We had Pastrami and Harvarti on Low Carb Rye Paninis! I know – it’s amazing. And they were DELICIOUS! No recipe. Take bread, butter one side, put meat, cheese and mustard between two slices and either make like a grilled cheese, or if you have a Panini press, grill it there to get the crispy, delicious crunch of a Panini. I’m in love with this bread!
- Hot Pastrami Baked Sandwiches
- Baked Reuben Dip
- Grilled Reuben Sandwich
- Hot Pastrami Sandwich
- Jumbo Reuben Loaf
- Italian Country Sandwich
Well, our fire has burned down and we are going to go for a walk before the sun goes down. I’ll be back in a bit to actually post this – I know it’s late, but nothing happens early on camping time! God bless you and I’ll see you on Monday.