Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! I’m pretty happy that it is Tuesday because tomorrow is Wednesday and as much as I don’t like rushing the week, we are going on our first camping trip of 2018 on Friday and I have a LOT to do to get ready tomorrow! Yippee! We have decided that we are going to try for one camping trip a month for the entire year, even if it is just close by, because sometimes it is the only time we have where we don’t feel like we have to deal with a lot of household chores and spend that time focused on each other – or in the case when we have family along – the family!
Verse of the Day
January 9, 2018
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Where do you hide your heart? What we most value is where we will find our heart. So it is an important question. You see, we can treasure riches, control, security, and relationships. Jesus reminds us that it is only by turning loose of the things that most of us keep as our treasures that we find what is truly treasure indeed.
Food for Thought
Today is the 2nd anniversary of losing my amazing Tibbi. Anyone who says that animals are just dumb creatures obviously never had a relationship with their pet. Even more obvious they never had a pet as incredible as Tibbi. I miss her every single day, and still find myself looking for her as I walk into the house. I can feel her presence if I really concentrate – it’s alive in all of the precious memories we have of her. I’d like very much to stop the tears that fall so regularly for her, but not if it means forgetting how much I loved her, and how much I love her still. It is my deepest prayer that dogs really do go to heaven, so I know that someday I will see her again. Hug your fur babies. They give is 100% of their love and devotion. Their lives are cut off from us far too soon, so every moment they are with us needs to be completely appreciated and cherished.
Balloon Ascension Day – I know I shared this one before, but it still fires up my imagination, so here it is again. It is time to take a little walk through history this morning, so put on your imagination cap, and put yourself in the following scene: It is a chilly morning, 10:00 a.m. and the year is 1793. History is about to be made in American skies and a lot of us have purchased tickets for $5.00 each so we can be close enough to see this for ourselves. The excitement is thick in the air, so intense we can nearly touch it. A festival atmosphere is everywhere, and though this event is in the Walnut Street prison yard, it certainly doesn’t detract from how energized everyone is today. Here comes the President! General George Washington is here, and he’s bringing French dignitaries with him so they can witness this amazing feat too! Today we are going to watch that famous French guy, Jean Pierre Blanchard take off for the very first hot air balloon ride in our country. The noise and level of excitement just went up quite a bit, with the arrival of The President. It must be getting close to time for take off! This guy, he’s done this 44 times in Europe, but this will be a first here. He wants to be the very first one, and is insisting that nobody even follows him. Personally, I think he just doesn’t want to share any of the glory with anyone. It is turning out to be the perfect day. OK, he’s ready! He’s in the basket under that HUGE yellow balloon and he’s ready. The hydrogen has filled the balloon, and he’s released the weights holding him on the ground and THERE HE GOES!!! He’s floating up and above all of us, all of us have our faces up towards the sky watching him float away. This is incredible! Well, we can’t see him any more so we all start to go home, I guess we’ll hear later on how he did. We just heard what happened. Blanchard’s flight took him 46 minutes away, and he landed about 15 miles SE of here, in Woodbury NJ. I heard he really shocked a couple of farmers when he landed in their field! Would have loved to see the looks on THEIR faces! hahaha! He doesn’t speak much English, but I heard that he showed them President Washington’s signature and seal on the official documents he had with him. The farmers helped him fold his balloon and brought him back in a wagon. Took them until 7:00 at night to get here! Know what else I heard? I heard that more than 40,000 people saw his balloon float up and away! Pretty cool, and to be able to say I saw it? Even better! I bet people will be talking about this FOREVER!
Law Enforcement Appreciation Day – Our Law Enforcement officers give everything of themselves for their communities, and they so richly deserve to be shown how much they are appreciated. They put their lives on the line every single day, without a thought for themselves as they do so. This is especially personal to me, as my son is an L.E.O., which after the last few years where communities were so filled with hate for them, makes me more nervous than I normally would be. Today thank an officer, wear blue in support of them, send a card or an email of support to your local police and/or sheriff’s departments, share a positive story about an experience you have had with law enforcement and most importantly thank an officer, and pray for your local officers each day.
National Static Electricity Day – ZAP! ZING! SNAP! Yes, you just heard me touch the filing cabinet at work . . . or my boss touching my arm as I walk by. She KNOWS I’m going to get shocked . . . and she always giggles at least a little. That’s OK. I do it to her too . . . I suppose it’s only fair that we get each other. And the silly thing? We’ve been zapping ourselves and each other for the entire 13 years I’ve been with the company and we STILL laugh every time it happens. I guess we don’t get out much. Here are some things you might not know about static electricity:
* One spark of static electricity can measure thousands of volts, but has very little current.
* Lighting is a powerful and dangerous example of static electricity.
* Temperatures in a lightning bolt can reach as high as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
* Static electricity is worse on days when the relative humidity is low.
So how do you celebrate today? Well, you could always shock your boss and co-workers! It’s fun! Well, it’s fun if they have a sense of humor. If they don’t, maybe you’d better just celebrate this one by rubbing inflated balloons on small children’s heads. It makes their hair do the most fun things!
Play God Day – How often do we hear someone say that someone is “Playing God”? When we hear that, what comes to mind? For me, my initial reaction is negative because the context in which I have heard these words is typically when someone is making a decision, or carrying out an action, that should be best left for God to decide. In my mind this shows extreme ego on the part of whoever it is who is stepping in for God. It’s not just that though. What happens when you stick your nose into someone else’s business – basically Playing God? It’ll land you in trouble! Trying to take over someone else’s issue can end up not being very good, so you should butt out and let them take care of their own stuff. Now, on the flip side, I found one site that suggested that doing something good will make a difference in the world, which could be sort of like Playing God, since it is doing something nice for someone else. However you choose to look at this one, enjoy it.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Apricot Day – Apricots are beautiful orange colored fruits that are full of beta-carotene and fiber that some see as one of the first signs of summer. They are available year round dried and in cans, but any fresh ones you see in North American will have come from either South America or New Zealand. We get them in North American though from May to August. They are related to peaches, but they are small, not too juicy but smooth and sweet. Did you know that according to English folklore that if you dream of apricots it will bring good luck? Can’t figure out why today is Apricot Day when they aren’t even in season, but I don’t make them up, I just talk about them.
Apricots do not fit in with the low-carb eating life, but I wanted to celebrate it anyway, so I looked and looked and found a recipe that was intended for glazing a ham that has no-sugar added apricot preserves in it, mixed with fresh cranberries, and I figured it would work for chicken. It wasn’t bad. I’m sure it would have been better with a ham, but it fit the purpose of celebrating this day! It isn’t our prettiest meal, but it was filling and healthy.
- Baked Apricots
- Amaretto Apricots with Walnuts Teriyaki
- Bacon-Apricot Appetizers
- Apricot-Citrus Preserves
- Asian-Spiced Chicken with Vanilla Apricot Sauce
- Apricot Couscous
- Apricot Muffins
National Cassoulet Day – This is a fairly new food celebration to me, and since I discovered it AFTER I posted the monthly food celebrations, I will add it here for anyone who is interested. And I admit, it does sound delicious! This is winter and in winter we really just want to feel warm and cozy, right? Well, a cassoulet would definitely fit that warm and cozy requirement. So, what is a cassoulet? It’s a hearty, slow-cooked casserole that originated in the province of Languedoc in France. White beans, duck or goose confit and sausages are featured in many cassoulet recipes, but there are many variations. Pick out a bottle of wine that will go nicely with the recipe you choose and settle in for a long winter night with good food. Here’s a recipe I found that looks good and doesn’t take as long as most of the ones I saw.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/aspen-2004-cassoulet-of-sausages
It’s nearly time to pour my coffee into my travel mug and hit the road for the office. Let’s all have a wonderful Tuesday! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.