I love the way my fingers smell after the transparent spray of citrus goodness explodes under gentle pressure.

It doesn’t take much…just a slice…just a squeeze… a gentle mist, to make a difference in a glass of water that was basically tasteless.

How true that is of life?  We can be that fresh fragrance or added flavor in a tasteless world, but in order to do so it may requires a little squeeze. A testing of our faith or even just a testimony to Christ during a season of  trial and disappointment.

Whether you are a mom in the  hurried days of car-pools and activities, a dad trying to juggle family time with the demands of a stressful job, or a student working hard to graduate in an uncertain time, you can make a difference in the world around you.

Simple faith.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.”    2 Corinthians 2:14

a faithful kitchen friend

You were so faithful all those years, heating up our toast.

A kitchen friend who did the job, without the need to boast.

So goodbye four slot toaster, though you never had a name,

Breakfast time without you, just won’t be the same.

Over time your spring was was sprung, your timing turned to slug.

After almost catching fire, we had to pull the plug.

I can’t tell you how many times I thought I would quit writing, but the Lord always coaxes me forward.  I took this photo taken in 2010 and remembering seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time still brings a catch in my throat.

A lot of people traveled past her on their journey to a new hope, a new dream and a new beginning. For all of us who have ever wondered if the journey we are on is worth it, whether it is writing or something else,  “Dream Big”. You never know where your adventure might take you next..for me it just happens to be New York!

Yesterday I interviewed a mom and her amazing teenage son for a story I am working on. Conner was a straight “A” student who was active in sports, but a serious concussion due to a skate board accident followed by another hit in the head during football practice left the outgoing student with a serious close head injury. While Connor and his family have an incredible story of devotion, one thing that struck me was how fast things can change.

One minute you are getting ready to take a picnic dinner to your son’s baseball game and the next you are getting a phone call that there has been an accident involving you kid. One moment everything is calm, the next moment a storm rolls in bringing torrential downpour that changes your life.

That is life…however, this morning when our kids woke up I couldn’t help but give them an extra hug before they left for school. As I packed their lunches I thought about how thankful I am to have kids that I can pack lunches for. Today, they are happy and healthy. Today I feel simply BLESSED.

Take time to think about one or two things you are grateful for, and let those around you know how much they are loved.  Savor a moment.

I can remember Scott sitting in the jogging stroller next to Amy. He had a small remote control for a Little Tykes car that he carried around with him. He would hold it out and pretend he was navigating a Pod Racer. A real Luke Skywalker with a little lisp.

Once he realized that his chances of Pod Racing were next to nothing, he settled for airplanes. After taking him to an airshow he was hooked. The smell of airplane fuel and sound of the props was not just interesting, it was intoxicating and has been his life goal from the young age of 9.

He has been in Civil Air Patrol and had the opportunity to fly, each thing a step toward his goal.  Recently Scott was awarded a scholarship to begin getting his pilot’s license.  Every week he goes to ground school and today was the first time in the pilot’s seat of the plane. He is on his way toward living his passion.

Let your dreams take flight..the sky is the limit!

“For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. ”
Leonardo DaVinci

Anyway… some of the fun of having kids isn’t when we, as parents, teach them something, but when they teach us something.   Yesterday we went to the Colfax High School field and Jack decided to teach me a few of his plays.           

I could always tell when my mom and dad’s friends were coming over to play Bunco. My mom would bake carmel corn and set it out on each table along with some other goodie, but she always made sure there was enough carmel corn for us kids. We loved Bunco night! But every once in a while mom would make a batch for us “Just because.”

Today when Jack came home the first thing he said was “Is it a special occasion?”

Share

“No,” I replied.

“Is someone coming over?” he asked. A little bit more hopeful.

“You guys are pretty special!” I told him. “I thought I would just make some …just because.”

Sometimes we need some “Just Because”.

Recipe for Carmel Corn

• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 teasp. baking soda
• 1 teasp. vanilla
• 8 quarts popped popcorn-plain

Melt butter in medium sauce pan; stir in brown sugar, corn syrup (or honey ) and salt. Bring to a boil stirring constantly; turn heat down and allow to boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and baking soda. gradually pour over popcorn in large mixing bowl. Mix well. Turn mixture into large shallow baking or roasting pans. Bake in 250 degree oven for 1 hour, stirring every fifteen minutes. Remove from over; cool completely.  Break apart and store in airtight container.

variation: mix in dry roasted peanuts with popcorn.

Enjoy!

]]> http://www.marciseither.com/2012/02/just-because-carmel-corn/feed/ 0 http://www.marciseither.com/2012/02/just-because-carmel-corn/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MarciSeither/~3/d8POq3tM1iQ/ http://www.marciseither.com/2012/02/from-print-to-e-book-what-an-adventure/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:01:05 +0000 Marci http://www.marciseither.com/?p=1222  I am an article writer so actually publishing anything beyond my 750-1,200 words is a big step for me. Going from print to e-book has been even a bigger learning adventure. Thankfully, I have friends who know how to navigate the process and I am not to proud to ask…or even bribe with chocolate chip cookies…for some serious help.

The first person I turned to was my friend John Vonhof. He has several booklets published and also one that has been converted to e-book. He is the one who gave me Larry Kaye’s contact e-mail.

Larry was very helpful in walking me through the conversion process and doing some fine tuning as far as punctuation and grammar. He sent me this note in an e-mail and agreed to let me share it with you. Hope this gives you a glimpse into what is involved.

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Editing is always necessary and it should always be done by somebody else as it is too easy for the author to miss the mistakes in grammar and spelling.  Correct Punctuation is often missing from sentences. I find this always, even after it has gone through the editing process.

There are too many eBooks out there with numerous mistakes that could have been corrected in the proofreading stage. It is also not too late for the author to correct them now, resubmit the corrected Word document and update their book.

Unfortunately negative Blogs on their book has already occurred and the sales potential drops, even though it may be a good story…unfortunately it is a terrible read.

My take on this is that the stages of a book should be:

1.       The author writes a book and corrects as many errors as possible (in spelling, grammar and punctuation).

2.       Give it to someone, with a good command of English and have them edit the book.  Here the author sometimes lets their Ego get in the way and recommended changes are not accepted by the Author.

3.       Once the book has been edited it needs to be Formatted for the eReaders.

4.       At this stage it is now ready to be read (on an eReader) by a Proof-reader so that the last few mistakes are picked up and corrected without disturbing the Format.

5.      You can now publish your book.

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To see my book on Amazon is kind of cool. Being able to publish something and have someone in a different state buy it and read it is flat out amazing!

Thanks John and Larry!

For those of you interested in doing an e-book conversion, feel free to drop Larry a line. His rates are super reasonable and he is very prompt and great to work with.

email  ~  larrykaye@shaw.ca

On the top of my “Pursue” list is healthier eating habits. I grew up dieting from the time I was old enough to lie about my weight on my driver’s license. I have been on crazy cabbage soup diets, Scarsdale Diet, Low carb and Grapefruit Diets. I have  lost several hundred pounds over the years, only to have them creep back on.

The final thought on the matter as to why none of them really work long term is that … I like eating! I know I would be thinner if I didn’t like to cook so much, but I do. I have tried to convince myself that eating the crust off my kids sandwiches contains only half the calories because it is, in a small way, recycling.

Leaping mounds of unfolded laundry and powerlifting number 10 cans of  groceries into our Costco cart does not count as exercise.

Seriously, I figured the goal of losing 15 pounds is not near as good as pursuing better food choices after all the Holiday eating I indulged in.

I feel likeI have consumed enough butter to make Paula Dean gag. Time for some serious intervention.

Weight Watchers ~ the pursuit of fitting into my favorite jeans.

 I am not a Bible scholar, just a mom who writes, but I do know that the Bible cannot contradict itself. This brings up an important discussion about the about the gift bearing travelers from the east.

The thee Magi make their first appearance at King Herod’s palace and spilled the beans about coming to worship and bring gifts to the King of the Jews. In the Matthew account of the event, they had been following his star until it lead them right to Jesus.

Herod was a little disturbed to find out the prophesied Christ had been born right under his nose. He asked the travelers when the star first appeared. They told him it had been two years. Two years! That is a long time to be following something that you are not sure of. I mean, after about 4 hours of riding on a camel, I would have been whining “Where’s the baby?”

Herod told the trio to find the baby and them let him know so he could worship him as well…. RIGHT! After the Magi saw the baby, they returned a different route to avoid the wicked ruler. So Herod decided to kill off all baby boys two years old and under, but by that time, Joseph had already fled the area with his family.

According to the Luke account, Mary and Joseph left Bethlehem and headed back to Nazareth after the baby Jesus was blessed by Simeon and Anna in the temple. They stayed in Bethlehem until Mary was considered ceremonially clean, a total of 41 days by Jewish Law.  If the family made the trip home after they could travel, the wise men would have had their blessed encounter before Jesus was six weeks old at the most.

When you read both accounts side by side, there is only one reasonable explanation. The wise men saw the star way before Jesus was ever born. They most likely started gathering what they needed and headed in the starlight direction almost two years before the angels announced “Peace on Earth, good will toward men”.

They were on a mission. One of focus and purpose. Moving forward.

What a take-a-way! How many times do we wait until we see all the “I”s dotted and “T”s crossed before we dare to take a step? If the wise men had waited until they had more proof, they would have missed the event. Instead they set out on a journey of faith. How many times do we miss something because we are not willing to just move forward?

There is a star that shines in the distance, are we pursuing it?

Christmas is full of wonder.