The Path to My Blog....

. . .is paved with good intentions.

I know you have heard all the excuses before,

 so I won't bore you with all the details.

Suffice it to say that

 the pictures that follow are just a sample

 of all the goings on  around here.

There were also several things 

that I didn't remember to photograph!

The above is the "Blessing Tree"

that hubby and I made for the big

50th Anniversary shindig

for

Bishop & his lovely Wife.

 This is a picture of the honored couple

& the fruits of 50 years of commitment.

Since we didn't want to hang around for hurricane Isaac

we took the opportunity to go on a little trip.

I will be posting about the recovery 

in neighboring Braithwaite in a later post.

I do not want to gloss over it.

I feel like it would get lost in this mix 

of random reverie.

My latest kitchen adventure:

 Griddle style corn cakes & greens,

topped with a

Tomato & grilled ham salad 

&

Buttermilk Vinaigrette

 This picture is long over due!

Eloise is opening a package

 from our dear sweet blog friends

 over at B-skep Chronicles.

 This little ray of sunshine 

"Brie"

now comes to my house 5 days a week

while mommy works.

Her daddy is a Marine,

 so he is working very hard too.

 These three children were guests in my home 

 For Approx. 3 weeks.

 Keep them in your prayers.

 Finally....

The Biggest News:

Eloise is officially in the youth group 

and sporting braces.

Not pictured:

the 5 yr. old I watch on weekends

&

the 4 kids (ages 5-14)

that I tutor in order to finance 

the aforementioned braces.

We have also been sorting through

 and getting rid of a lot of clutter.

After much prayer and family discussion,

we have decided to downsize.

Come this spring we will be putting our

"Way Too Big for Three people"

home up for sale.

This is not an emergency or sad event.

It is a choice we are making,

that will possibly get us to the 

"debt free" status quickly.

Maybe with less debt & clutter

I might have more time 

to keep my blog up to date....

....don't hold your breath!


BY THE WAY:

HUBBY HAS LOST 45 LBS
IN 6 MONTHS
&
I HAVE LOST 36

There's a First Time for Everything...

This is the first time
that I have ordered clothing
from the internet.
Eloise selected the styles and colors
and I took measurements
and e-mailed them.
The suits were hand made
by a woman in California
and arrived on our porch within 4 weeks.
She made them between
vacation and church camps.
We love, love, love
our new
 modest swim/active wear.
The fabric won't absorb water
and the leggings are sewn into the skirt.
In case you are interested:
http://modestactivewear.blogspot.com/
My good friend
over at
Living the Good Life
just posted a link
to another site
where modest swimwear
 can be purchased.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet one of my new blog friends in person.
I also got to meet her lovely daughter.
This was a first for both of us. We are both normally too cautious to do something like this, but we are of the same faith, we have been communicating through txts, and we met at a church conference with about seven thousand people, so we felt safe.
It just wouldn't have been right for me to travel 13 hours,
 come within 20 minutes of her house and not meet her.
We were able to eat lunch and chat for a while.
She also brought me some goodies.

Jodi & her daughter brought me
everything in this pic minus the cookbook.
 I figured it would make a nice background, 
since "Pioneer Woman" is also from Oklahoma.
The freshly ground coffee smells heavenly!


If you are looking for my post about PEAK,

you're going to have to wait just a little while.

I'm still unpacking!

Try again at the end of the week.


BTW: I've lost 22 lbs.
so far.
My doc says I need to lose about 25 more
in order to get off diabetic meds.
Almost half way there!

Love & Prayers.

Our Latest Discovery....

Since we don't get much any time off

 for vacations,

we pretend like we are tourists

every Saturday.

The Whole Foods market 

where we shop 

has a wonderful massage therapist,

who gives $1/minute massages.

Hubby, Eloise, & I

each get 5 minutes

before we pick up a few groceries.

Another Saturday tradition is 

playing like we are restaurant critics.

Sometimes this can be disappointing,

but not this week.

We found a cute little burger place

that serves locally grown,

grass fed beef.

If you opt for the burger with a bun,

your meal will include

fresh bread from a local bakery.

The above pic was my low-carb

burger(actually on the menu)

dressed with creole tomatoes 

and wrapped in lettuce.

This came with a baked sweet potato.

Hubby and Eloise split a regular

on bun 

with fried onion strings on it.

All Excellent.

This is the only place we've found 

that serves grass fed beef 

in a totally casual environment.

The fans and ice trough in the middle of the table

made eating on the patio a truly

pleasant experience.

Here is a link:

Straight Stick Ranch Burger Company

We Are Free To Be Random...

Unfortunately hubby had to work 

this 4th of July.

He was doing maintenance on the diesel trucks.

This was good news to Eloise,

 because the trucks are parked at the marina.

She and hubby found a stick,

 an old rusty hook,

 a coke can tab

 and a discarded piece of fishing line.

With the makeshift pole

and three shrimp

(donated by 2 young men who felt sorry for her)

Eloise caught 4 crabs after 2 got away!

One of them didn't come out without a fight.

That little guy tried to pinch her foot

 when she got him on the deck,

so she stepped on his pincer.

He then swung around and got her with other claw.

She beat him with her stick till his arms fell off.

Was that image too violent?

Sorry.

btw: the pic is dark, because

 hubby's phone doesn't take good pics.

I love old photos.

This one is of Hubby's

Grandmother & her three sons.

(far left is my father-in-law)

I'm sorry I couldn't enlarge it 

without distorting it.

Hey...

I think they're on to something.

Maybe we can attach a card reader

 to the offering bags!

LOL.

I warned you in the title that this would be random.

;-D

Hope you had a happy Independence Day.

STOP!.....

Don't automatically shred your junk mail.

Luckily my hubby opened this one.

I usually just shred if it looks like junk.

This was the easiest $5 I ever earned.

All I had to do was write "zero"

in the slot that asked how many T.V. 

sets we have in our home.

I also filled in the box that asked 

why the viewing journal wasn't complete.

I sealed the post paid packet 

and will hand it to the mail lady

when she passes tomorrow.

 I read everything and 

the company is ok with

 people keeping the money, 

as long as they mail the survey back.

SISTER MONIQUE:

I posted the links for the "squash books"

at the end of my previous post.

Also, if anybody used the "liquid hand soap" recipe I posted a few months back, I have added instructions(to the original post) on how to fix the consistency problem you may be experiencing.
Link to original post:
http://tofuandcornbread.blogspot.com/2012/02/heres-nifty-trick-we-learned.html

Oh What Fun...

 I have had a blast making

 "squash books"

with Eloise.

In case you are not familiar,

squash books are what happens when

scrapbooking meets origami.

(Shh...This one is for Sis. M.W.)

There is so much more 

that I could have done,

 but I was nervous.

It actually wasn't nearly

 as hard as I had imagined.

Below I will post a link to the tutorial.

It is very basic.

I used 8"x8" paper,

so I ended up with a 4"x4"

The tutorial calls for 6x6,

which yields a 3x3 book.

I do not recommend this.

As it is, I had to print my photos

 in wallet size.

The Tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWh-n4JdAqI&feature=fvwrel

After you have the basics down pat 

and you want to learn how to do

 a more intricate squash book look at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PPau-F_G3k

Hope some of y'all try it

and share your creations with us.

We had so much fun.

Some crafts are nerve wracking,

but this was fairly easy.

You can purchase "Zip Dry"

 and chip board 

at your local craft store.

I scored the chip board

 with my rotary cutter,

 then bent,

 and finished cutting.

HAPPY CRAFTING!