Are you ready for the week? I have designated today to be cleaning day. We didn’t do much throughout the overly warm weekend – it was just too doggone hot to do much. And it may very well end up being that way today too! The news said it would be 92 in the city – but it never gets THAT hot here. All that concrete tends to turn things into an oven, where here we have the proximity of the water and the cooling breezes that come up off of it. Of course, as I look out the window I don’t even see a single leaf fluttering in even an imaginary breeze. Well, darn, that throws that out the window. I am just hoping that things don’t get too hot. I’m tired of ending the day feeling light headed and nauseous. So far this morning I’ve gotten laundry started, got Hubby’s breakfast and lunch packed, unloaded the dishwasher and made a batch of low-carb hot cocoa mix – because I’m a coffee wimp that has to have something delicious, chocolatey and sweet in my coffee. Hey! I own it! Don’t judge! hehe

 

Verse of the Day

July 16, 2018

In Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ,
—Colossians 2:9-10

Thoughts on the Verse of the Day

If you had known Jesus’ address in Nazareth along about A.D. 20, you could have gone to that house and said, “God lives here!” While the doctrine of Jesus being fully God and fully man — fully God yet having emptied himself of all of his divine privilege (Phil. 2:5-7) — is nearly impossible to fully understand, it is the awesome reality of grace. God chose to be like us because we could not be like him. God came down to us because we could not ascend to him. In Jesus, God came to us in fullness, so we could be full in him.

www.verseoftheday.com

Food for Thought

The other day I posted a picture of our beautiful First Lady on Facebook, feeling very proud of how well she represents our country, how well spoken she is, gentle with the children, carrying herself with dignity and grace in the face of all of the horrible things that low information voters say about her simply because she is married to our President who they did not vote for and hate because he is actually doing what he said he would do – Undoing all of the damage their own personal “savior” did in the eight years he was inflicting his own particular evil vision, as inspired by his handlers. A couple of women I count amongst my friends had some negative things to say about Mrs. Trump, indicating that she did not fit in – and not wanting to argue with my friends, I rebutted with what I hoped was a polite but firm response. Then, from another lady who embodies being just that, came in and breathed into the conversation a sweet insight that made me smile. She reminded us that having good manners will always be something that makes someone fit in, and our beautiful First Lady has impeccable manners and attitude. Thank you for that reminder T. I appreciate you, your support and the constant voice of reason and kindness that you share with me every day.

 

Global Hug Your Kid Day – This one has sad beginnings, but the message behind it is so important. In 1988 journalist Michelle Nichols lost her eight-year old son to brain cancer. She founded Global Hug Your Kids Day in 2008. It is celebrated every third Monday in July and is intended to encourage every mother and father around the world to hug their children every day. Hugging your kids isn’t just to make them, or you, feel good. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, hugging children early in life can help to prevent toxic stress. As a result, they may prevent everything from heart disease to poverty later in life. I personally struggle with the thought that some parents don’t hug their children – it just doesn’t make any logical sense to me NOT to hug your kids! But for those folks who aren’t touchy feely, get over it and grab your kids and give them a big hug. Tell you them you love them and make sure they never forget it. Now continue this into each and every day . . . eventually even the most standoffish of parents should grow to love the feeling of hugging their kids. If they don’t, well, quite honestly, I can’t deem them as normal, loving parents. Sorry – my opinion. So, go hug your kids!

 

National Personal Chef’s Day – When we think of chefs, typically it is of the chefs in restaurants and on TV. Every day across the world there are personal chefs who dedicate themselves to preparing delicious meals for families, senior citizens and in many other settings. A personal chef will prepare meals in their clients’ homes, basing their menus on their client’s preferences and dietary needs. Sometimes they prepare dinner parties and other events. The difference between a private chef and a personal chef is that a personal chef may have multiple clients, and a private chef works exclusively by one client in their home. Sometimes they even live there!

 

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day – Today is a day to be on your best behavior, and keep your fingers crossed about getting a suspended sentence for whatever it is you did wrong. Maybe it would be a good idea to make a stop at a card shop, or to the mall to pick up a little something to communicate how sorry you are for whatever it was you did wrong, and how hard you are going to try to do better. If you’ve been snappy with someone you love, been harsh with them for something that wasn’t their fault, or just made someone feel bad, step up and do the right thing to make amends. Don’t let too much time go by before you make it better.

 

 

This Day in History –

1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr. dies in a plane crash off Martha’s Vineyard.

Food Celebration of the Day –

National Corn Fritter Day – I am a fan of vegetable fritters. Mixing up a vegetable, a binder, some flour and seasonings, then frying it in oil always ends up being a tasty treat. Corn is sweet, so corn fritters, all crunchy, toasty and delicious will have a sweet taste too. Sadly, for me corn is something that we eat sparingly because of the high carb count – and since we just had corn last night to go along with our grilled chicken, this will not be on the menu tonight, but I did a search for low-carb corn fritters, just for giggles to see if anyone has figured out how to make this even slightly lower in carbs and I couldn’t find any. I don’t think that this is a recipe anyone has tried to crack or make substitutions for – yet. I found a LOT of zucchini and cauliflower fritter recipes, but I’ll wait for those food celebration days to arrive to share them with you.

 

National Ice Cream Day – now THIS is one I will be celebrating today. Homemade low-carb ice cream is EASY to make and if you have an ice cream maker, very quick. I have all of the ingredients and think I’ll make a delicious raspberry ice cream to have for dessert tonight. It’s the perfect treat for a hot day. The recipe I always use is in Carolyn Ketchum’s book Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen for a very simple to make vanilla ice cream. I’ll just toss in some of these over-ripe raspberries that need to be used. I can’t think of a better use for them!

 

National Spinach Day – I love spinach! I know that not everyone does, but maybe if they only knew how good it is for them they would give it a try. Maybe? There are so many benefits to spinach I could list, but I’ll try to reduce it to a few so this post isn’t pages long. Let’s start with the fact that spinach is a very nutrient dense food that is low in calories, but very high in vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients. (Phytonutrients are natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables, grains and legumes that have many disease-fighting and health promoting benefits. See the chart at the bottom of this post. I found it – and a lot of other really awesome information at www.naturally-healthy-eating.com). It is an excellent source of vitamins K, A, C, B2, B6, E, magnesium, folate, manganese, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, copper, selenium, niacin, omega-3 fatty acids and dietary fiber. It’s a powerhouse of nutrition! Spinach is also readily available nearly all over the world, is easy to find in the store, or to grow at home. It’s also very affordable! How many healthy foods are so expensive that we just can’t afford them anymore? Not so with spinach! There is also the versatility of spinach to consider! You can eat it raw in a salad (SO much better for us than iceberg lettuce), or in a green smoothie (which is how I get daily spinach most of the time). You can cook it (lightly is best), eat it on its own, or added to soups and other dishes. You can make it the star of the plate or sneak it into something so the kids eat it without complaining. Spinach is a hearth healthy food that has antioxidants that help reduce the free radicals in our bodies, and work to keep cholesterol from oxidizing. Not only that, the folate in spinach is great for a healthy cardiovascular system, as well as the magnesium that helps lower high blood pressure. My list of benefits could go on and on – but look it up and find the ways that it can promote gastrointestinal health, help with inflammatory issues like arthritis, osteoporosis, migraines and asthma! Maybe best of all, studies show that eating green leafy veges like spinach can help slow the age-related decline in brain function! One word of caution though – spinach is near the top of the list for vegetables that has high chemical/pesticide content, so organic is the best way to go with this one. It’s not much more expensive, and worth every penny of the extra cost.

Well, today is passing by so quickly already and I need to get busy. This messy house isn’t going to clean itself and honestly, I wish it would. It’s too warm to move around much – but when I start thinking that way I begin to feel guilty because Hubby is at work, outside in the heat, wearing the horribly hot and scratchy uniforms he has to wear, dealing with hot engines. Yuck. I’ll stop complaining and get busy now. Have a wonderful Monday, whether you are at work, at home or traveling. God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.