Diane's Place

Sunday Dinner, January 3, 2010

2010-01-02T18:26:00.005-06:00

Boy, it felt odd typing "2010". I haven't had to write it on a check yet. Hope I don't forget and write 2009 a little later when I write out the rent check.

On to Sunday Dinner, though I have to confess that I'm not cooking Sunday Dinner this week. My sisters and I will have a conference after church Sunday afternoon and decide where we're going out to eat.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place this week? Share your plans or menu in the comments if you'd like to participate this week.Most of the reason I'm not cooking Sunday Dinner this week is that I went to Jonesboro today to do my monthly Walmart shopping and pay the cable bill and I'm wiped out. My knees are throbbing and I just don't feel like standing in the kitchen and cooking tonight.

After we got home from shopping I had to put away all my purchases and do some other chores which really didn't do a thing to make my knees feel any better. I just took a hot shower, put on my warm pajamas and my pink fuzzy socks, and my snuggly fleece robe that my dear SisterFriend GREENEYES sent me for my birthday, all the way from Canada.

Now I'm warm and clean but still TARD.It's been really cold for Northeast Arkansas today. The temp never made it above freezing today and it's supposed to stay cold like this for at least the next week. I know the teens and twenties isn't all that cold for my more northern readers, but for Arkansas it's fairly cold. It does dip below O Fahrenheit here sometimes, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

I'd much rather it be cold than hot so this is fine weather in my opinion. I hope it kills a bunch of insect pests this Winter. It hasn't gotten cold enough for long enough to make any kind of impact on insect populations the last several years so I hope it makes up for it this Winter.

We're even forecast to have some snow flurries tonight and a couple of days next week, which is great! I wish we'd have at least a couple of really good snows but that remains to be seen. I want some snow cream but I'm not holding my breath.Lamar and I rode with my sister Ducky to her son Danny's house for New Year's day. Danny and his wife Mikki cooked a traditional Southern New Year's dinner, which we eat for the midday meal. They fixed dried blackeyed peas cooked with hog jowl bacon for seasoning, cornbread, mixed greens, fried hog jowl and pineapple upside down cake for dessert.

It was great! I really appreciated not having to cook and I spent a lot of my time there playing with their almost 3 year old son, Seth, which was a bonus. A kid to play with makes for cheap entertainment for me. ;o)My daughter JESSICA'S anticipated new job seems to have fallen through for the moment, but she's still looking at some other options. Since she'll only have one income from now on she needs to find a better paying job and also a cheaper place to live while she continues to work at a local hospital as a certified nurse's aide.

She may be moving into an apartment here in my town that is literally just a stone's throw away from me, which would help cut down on her driving so much and her gas bill. Many changes are in store for Jessica, Emmy and the rest of us in 2010.

Jessica and I very much appreciate your kind thoughts, comments and especially your prayers as we deal with all the changes that her pending divorce brings.

I love you all, dear family and friends.May we all enjoy good health, joy, prosperity and all God's blessings in 2010. May God richly bless you with all you need and enough to share.

Sunday Dinner, December 27, 2009

2009-12-26T21:24:00.004-06:00

Well, hello everyone! I trust that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and survived to tell the tale. Lamar and I went to Jessica's for Christmas morning to open gifts with her and Emmy, along with my sisters Cecil and Ducky. Lamar's Mom was also there.

A good time was had by all and we enjoyed a simple Christmas lunch of fried ham sandwiches and Jessica also roasted a turkey and made my Mama's homemade cheesecake for dessert.

There was still plenty of ham left on the bone, so I brought it home and sliced most of it to put in the freezer for sandwiches at a later time.

I'm cooking the ham bone and some of the smaller chunks of ham in a pot of white beans for our Sunday Dinner, very similar to those in the pic to the right. I'll probably make some cornbread to go with the beans and as of right this minute, I have no idea what else I may cook. It may just end up being beans and ham and cornbread.

After all the rich holiday foods, party snacks and candy, I'm craving REAL food. All that fancy stuff is a treat now and then, but it gets old fast and now I want simple, hearty Southern cookin', just like I grew up eating and still cook most of the time.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place? Or are you still Christmas party-ing? Share your plans in the comments if you'd like.Not much happening around here. All our Christmas activities are behind us and now New Year's is less than a week away. Lamar and I usually spend New Year's Eve at home and it looks like the tradition will continue this year.

We've been invited to my nephew Danny's & Mikki's house for New Year's Day. They're serving a traditional Southern New Year's menu: blackeyed peas cooked with hog jowl bacon, greens and cornbread. Sounds good to me.

For the uninformed, some Southerners wouldn't dream of ushering in the New Year without the traditional New Year's menu.

The blackeyed peas symbolize coins for wealth, the greens symbolize green paper folding money, and the hog jowl symbolizes prosperity because in the past only wealthier people could afford to have meat for their New Year's meal.

If the cornbread symbolizes anything I'm not aware of it. I suspect it just tastes good with peas and greens.

Nowadays it's more of a tradition than a superstition, but many still cling to the old ways and really think it's bad luck not to have peas, hog jowl and greens for New Year's. I like it any day of the year. ;o)I took lots of pictures of Emmy and the rest opening their Christmas gifts, but my camera is in my purse in the living room and I'm here at the computer in the spare room, so I'll try to get those downloaded and share some pics next time I post. Jessica and Jason's divorce should be final in the middle of January and they seem to be doing well with dividing Emmy's time with each of them and making sure Emmy doesn't suffer because they can't get along.

This divorce is not what any of us wanted, but we're all doing the best we can to put Emmy first and make sure her happiness is our main priority.

Thank you all again for your prayers and kind thoughts for Jessica, Jason and Emmy, dear friends.

I still need to study my Sunday School lesson and also check on my beans and ham, so I'll close by wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. May 2010 be the best year we've ever experienced.

May God bless you with all you need and enough to share, dear family and friends.

Merry CHRISTmas 2009

2009-12-24T22:48:00.006-06:00

⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luke 2:4-14 KJV

Merry Christmas, dear family and friends. May all the blessings of CHRISTmas be yours this holy season and throughout the New Year.

May God bless you with all you need and enough to share is my ever constant prayer for each of you, dear ones.

Sunday Dinner, December 20, 2009

2009-12-19T20:13:00.007-06:00

Thanks to my sister Cecil, Sunday Dinner is pretty much in the bag for this week. One of her work mates was selling smoked Boston butt pork roasts for her church and Cecil bought 2 of them. I don't think there's any danger of anybody going hungry this Sunday Dinner.

When we get home from church Sunday afternoon I'll thinly slice some of the meat and put it into the oven to reheat. While the meat is reheating we'll set the table with the buns, cole slaw and barbecue sauce we'll use to assemble our pork barbecue sandwiches.

Now I love to cook more than most people, but the last few weeks have been a little hectic so I appreciate the opportunity to have most of the work done for me for this week's Sunday Dinner. I went to Cecil's Christmas party Friday night and attended a beautiful Christmas themed wedding Saturday afternoon, then cooked supper for me and Lamar Saturday night, so an easy Sunday Dinner is more than welcome.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place this week? Probably lots of family get-togethers and Christmas themed outings, and we'd all love to hear about them if you'd like to share your plans in the comments.

I have some pictures from various parties and events over the last week or so that I want to share but don't have time to add them to this post, so I'll have to do it later. Jessica is bringing Emmy over in just little bit to sleep over with Grammaw and Papaw and I need to get this posted.

Jessica's spending some time tonight with her cousin and some other girlfriends and I want to give her this time for herself. She'll pick up Emmy Sunday morning before I leave for church, go to church with Lamar's Mom, her Granny, and then probably come back here to eat barbecue sandwiches with the rest of us.

Merry Christmas, dear family and friends! May God bless you above and beyond your needs, and may you have enough to share is my dearest prayer for each of you.

Sunday Dinner, December 13, 2009

2009-12-12T17:25:00.006-06:00

Another Sunday has rolled around, and wonder of wonders, I'm actually cooking this week! I'm feeling better physically although still not back to 100% yet, and better emotionally as well.

But more on that in a bit, back to Sunday Dinner.

As you may have gathered from the bowl of soup in my Sunday Dinner graphic, I've chosen to make a big pot of homemade vegetable beef soup for Sunday Dinner this week. I'll probably make a big cast iron skillet of buttermilk cornbread to go with it and there's crackers for those who prefer them to cornbread with their soup.

I bought a huge beef roast last month and cut it into smaller roasts and beef stew meat, so that's what I'm pulling from my freezer to use in the soup. I bought individual cans of corn and green beans to add to it, as well as tomatoes.

I used the last of my frozen garden tomatoes last week when I made okra and tomatoes, boo hoo!

I also have frozen green peas and okra from my freezer stash that I'll add to the soup, as well as chopped onion, diced potatoes and sliced carrots.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place this week? Just share in the comments if you'd like to participate.As I mentioned earlier in this post, I'm feeling better physically. My bronchitis seems to have cleared up but I'm left with sneezing and a stuffy or runny nose, or both at once. Probably just allergies but I'll be ever so happy to see them go away for good.

Emotionally I'm better but it's been a rough couple of weeks. I talked last week about JESSICA'S marriage problems and it all came to a head with Jessica and Jason separating and Jason getting his own apartment.

Jessica is staying in their old place and filed for divorce this past Friday, Dec. 11, which is, ironically, just 2 days after their 3rd wedding anniversary which was Dec. 9th. They seem to be getting along better now that they've separated and are being nicer to one another, which is a good thing for them and especially for Emmy.

Jessica posted about it HERE in more detail for any of you that care to follow along with her
situation.

My physical illness combined with the emotional upheaval that's been going on in my life has just about gotten the best of me, but I'm feeling better on all fronts now. There are other things going on that I just can't share on my blog or Facebook, but with your prayers and God's help we'll get through them.

I am so blessed with friends and family who love me and are such an encouragement to me! Thank you so much to all who have prayed and offered support by commenting on my blog and on Facebook, and by email. I've felt your love and concern like a warm blanket covering me and I could never express in words how much it's meant to me.

Y'all truly are the best family and friends I could ever ask for, and you each have a special place in my heart. Thank you again, dear ones.On a different note, I'm happy and pleased to report that I have all my Christmas shopping done and wrapped, and all my Christmas cards are done. I have to mail some cards on Monday and then I'll be done with that except for returning cards to those who send me one but I didn't send them one yet.

I know that last sentence was awkward but I don't feel like rethinking it so phooey on it.

I plan to make some butter shortbread sometime before Christmas as well as some cast iron skillet candy, a new recipe I just discovered. It's equal parts butter and brown sugar cooked in a cast iron skillet for 15 minutes, then you add a teaspoon of vanilla or other flavoring and pour it out onto a buttered platter or foil to cool, then cut into pieces. It looks yummy.

I'm also going to make something for Jessica that I've dreamed up in my head. She loves chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and basically anything cookie dough, so I'm going to make her some cookie dough bon bons. I'll make up the cookie dough and bake it just until it sets, then roll it into balls and dip it in chocolate and white chocolate bark.

Not my cup of tea but I'll bet she'll love it. Of course I'll have to ration them to her so she won't eat them all at once. ;o)My stew meat is cooking and almost done, so I should get in there and peel my potatoes and slice my carrots and add the rest of my veggies to my soup. I'll reheat it when we get home from church tomorrow afternoon.

I also need to study my Sunday School lesson and do a few more things before bedtime, so I'll close by wishing you all a very merry Christmas season.

May God meet all your needs and may you have enough to share, dear friends and family.

Sunday Dinner, December 6, 2009

2009-12-05T22:56:00.004-06:00

Time for another Sunday Dinner post, and once again I'm not cooking this week.

Several factors figure into that equation, one being that my church's Adult Christmas party was held tonight and I cooked for that, and that I didn't get home until 10 pm. I'm not about to start cooking again at this time of day.

Another factor is that while I'm feeling better, I'm still not quite up to snuff as my dear Mama would say.

Yet another factor is that on top of the cooking and the Christmas party, I also braved Walmart Saturday morning to do my grocery shopping for the month. Add in the Christmas frenzy to the usual Saturday madhouse and my shopping experience was anything but sedate and enjoyable.

Add all these factors together and Diane is one TARD gal tonight.

And I've hesitated to mention this on my blog before now because I've held out hope that things might get better, but it's looking more certain with every day that Jessica and Jason will be divorcing in the near future.

It's not my story to tell so I won't be sharing many details, but as of Friday Jason is no longer living in their home. Of course it's always possible that Jessica and Jason may work out their differences and reconcile, so for now we're all just taking life one day at a time.

My heart is breaking for Jessica, Jason and Emmy right now, and I won't pretend that everything is rosy, but I won't burden everyone with the gory details. I do ask for your prayers for their family, that if they can't live together in love and peace, that at least they can put Emmy first and get along as well as they can for her sake even as they separate and divorce.

My illness and then this situation with Jessica and Jason have me feeling a little depressed and just not my usual self.

Just keepin' it real here, friends and family. And that's about all I have to say right now.

I pray everyone has a blessed Lord's Day and that God will bless you with all you need and enough to share.

Sunday Dinner, November 29, 2009

2009-11-28T17:20:00.006-06:00

Just a note to let everyone know that I'm alive, but barely, and I won't be cooking Sunday Dinner this week. Heck, I'm not even cooking Saturday Supper, much less Sunday Dinner!

I've been very blessed that I've not been majorly sick in a long time. It's been around 3 years as a matter of fact, best as I can recall, since I had this particularly nasty combination of maladies, and you'd better believe I'm very thankful that I've managed to avoid it until now.

Ready for the laundry list of icks?

I have bronchitis, tonsillitis, sinusitis and all the lovely crud that goes with them: deep, painful cough, raw throat, sinus headache, runny/stuffy nose, wheezing and wet rattling in my chest, and just generally feel like death warmed over.

But no fever! I almost never run fever with any kind of illness, so when I do have a temperature it's usually something very serious.

My appetite is still good, though I have a pronounced lack of interest in actually fixing anything to eat, so I've been living on baloney sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, leftover Thanksgiving ham sandwiches.......Anybody sense a theme developing here?

And you'd think that all the coughing and congestion would keep me awake, but blessedly, when I sleep it's like all that goes into dormancy. Praise the Lord for that! At least I'm not sleep deprived as I usually am when I'm sick like this.

I'm taking antibiotics and have a sinus spray, inhaler and cough medicine to take, but I don't like to take anything but the antibiotics unless it's absolutely necessary. I do have them if I feel like I need them, though.

Hopefully I'll feel better soon. I've been taking the antibiotics since Wednesday evening so they should kick in anytime now.

I'm not planning to go to church on Sunday morning and I'm not cooking Sunday Dinner, so I don't know what I'll do for lunch. Probably another sandwich, or I may fix a bowl of soup from the freezer. Depends on how I feel by then.

Since I was so sick, I wasn't able to help at all with cooking Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I had intended to make the dressing before I got sick, but it fell to Jessica to make it, and she did a great job of it.

For that matter, Jessica cooked everything except the ham that my sister Ducky brought, and she did a fabulous job with it all! Everything was great, from the turkey and dressing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, kidney bean salad, potato salad and all the other savory dishes, to the desserts. She made my Mama's Homemade Cheesecake, a Snicker's Cheesecake and banana pudding.

I'm very proud of Jessica. She prepared a wonderful feast for her family and did it very well. Everything was delicious and I couldn't have done better myself.

The recipe for my Mama's Homemade Cheesecake is on my recipe blog if you'd like to look for it. I don't feel like doing the link for it right now, but the link to my recipe blog is on my right sidebar toward the top there.

I ate lunch and then dozed in one of Jessica's living room chairs for most of the afternoon on Thanksgiving. Well, as best as I could with Emmy running around and yelling like a banshee, just generally being a kid. I was so miserable I could almost sleep through anything.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, and I'm hoping next year I'll be feeling much better for turkey day.

Not my usual Sunday Dinner post I know, but this is the best I could do today. I've already typed more than I thought I would, but that usually happens when I start writing here.

I need to go find something to eat so I can take my antibiotics, so I'll wrap this up and wish you all a blessed Sunday. May God meet all your needs, and may you have enough to share, dear family and friends.

Sunday Dinner, November 22, 2009 & Other Shtuff

2009-11-21T16:48:00.008-06:00

Lawsy me, what a week it's been! I've been saying that a lot lately, haven't I?

I watched Emmy for Jessica today while Jessica attended a funeral and did a few other things, so Jessica is springing for my Sunday Dinner tomorrow, which will be eaten somewhere yet to be determined. That suits me just dandy 'cause after keeping Emmy so much over the last 2 weeks, I'm about worn to a frazzle.

I had Emmy every day this week except Thursday. Lamar spent Thursday night with his Mom because his step-Dad was gone deer hunting, which meant I had the place to myself.

I had grand plans to get all my laundry done Thursday night while Lamar and Emmy weren't underfoot, but other than cooking myself some supper, I ended up just sitting on my prodigious rump, most of that time being spent here in front of the computer. And most of that computer time was spent on Facebook, commenting back and forth with friends and playing a few games.

All in all, a good evening, even if I didn't get a lot done. I did, however, finally get around to butchering the butternut squash I bought a few weeks ago, and made my own version of BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I made enough to eat that night plus 3 more bowls to go in the freezer for quick meals later on.

I also made FRIED GREEN TOMATOES for supper Wednesday night and posted the recipe on MY RECIPE BLOG along with the recipe for the BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP.

I've posted several new recipes lately on MY RECIPE BLOG. If you haven't visited there lately, or well, EVER, feel free to check it out. You might find something you like. My recipes are nothing fancy, just tried and true family favorites, Southern home cooking and some of my own concoctions.For my supper tonight I have Chicken Spaghetti in the oven and boy, does it smell good right now! I made a double batch last time I made the chicken spaghetti so I could cook one then and put one in the freezer for later.

Well, later has arrived and I sure am glad I had that in the freezer so I don't have to cook tonight.

I make my Chicken Spaghetti just like I make my MEXICAN CHICKEN CASSEROLE, except I add a can of whole kernel corn, prepared spaghetti, linguine or other thin pasta, and leave out the nacho chips. Yummy!Besides cooking and watching Emmy on Friday, I pulled out some of my stored Winter clothing and comforters to wash, along with my usual weekly laundry. By the time I washed, dried, folded, hung and put away the last of 9 loads of laundry Friday night, Diane was a TARD girl. It was midnight by the time I got out of the shower and ready for bed.

As I said, I've had Emmy every day this week except Thursday. Friday when Jessica dropped Emmy off I noticed that she had a stuffy nose. Hmmm...Okay, so far so good.

Jessica had bought Emmy a cheeseburger meal from Wendy's for lunch, but Emmy just nibbled on it, so Jessica brought it in case Emmy got hungry later in the afternoon, which she did. Emmy ate almost all the burger and all but a couple of French fries and drank her milk with no problems, no complaining of a tummy ache or anything of that nature.

You see where this is headed, don't you?

Yep.

I put Emmy down for her nap and almost immediately she started coughing, which she hadn't been doing at all before that. She was doing her best to go to sleep, because she was sleepy when I put her to bed, but the coughing was keeping her from resting.

I called Jessica to ask if Emmy had any cough medicine in her diaper bag, and just as I hung up the phone Emmy called out, "Grammaw, I'm sick!" And boy, was she ever! And I discovered that along with her runny nose she also had a low grade fever.

I'll spare you the gory details, but I had to change Emmy and change her bedclothes, which made for yet another load of laundry.

After I got Emmy cleaned up and in clean clothes, I gave her a dose of cough medicine and put her back down to take a nap. Unfortunately, apparently Emmy is one of those kids that instead of the cough medicine making her sleepy, it revs her up and makes her hyper.

I never got around to reading the label on the cough and cold medicine, but I suspect it has *Benadryl* in it, and although it makes most people sleepy, it has the opposite affect on some. It doesn't affect me at all, so it figures that Emmy would be one of the ones who vibrate in place when she takes it.

Emmy dozed a little over the next hour or so, but never really slept any more, so I got her up and tried to keep up with her runny nose.

She still has a runny nose today, but isn't coughing much and so far hasn't had any more fever, praise the Lord!

I'm hoping and praying that it's just a cold and not the flu, either the piggy variety or the seasonal type. A cold would be bad enough, but a little thing like Emmy really doesn't need either type of flu and neither do I or Lamar.Another week done and closer to the holidays. Hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday! And only a few weeks after that and Christmas will be upon us.

My Chicken Spaghetti is probably hot now, so I'm going to wrap this up and go eat my supper. I still have to study my Sunday School lesson and do a few more things before bedtime, so I'll close this by wishing everyone a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

May God richly bless you by meeting all your needs, and may you have enough to share, dear family and friends.

Sunday Dinner, November 15, 2009

2009-11-14T21:31:00.004-06:00

Whew! What a week this has been! For that matter, what a day it's been.

Jessica has worked 12 hour shifts every day this week except Tuesday and Thursday, from 7 am to 7 pm, which means that I've had Emmy from 8:30 am until 6:30 pm each of those days. Jason works 9 am-6 pm, so on the days Jessica works 12 hour shifts he drops off Emmy and picks her up as well.

I'm more than ready for Jessica to go back to her usual 3-11 pm shifts next week. Not nearly as ready as she is though, I'm sure.

Saturday was supposed to be Jessica's day off, which meant that I wasn't supposed to keep Emmy today. However, another tech called in sick, so they called Jessica to work, which meant that I've had Emmy from 12-6:00 pm today. Jason got off a little early today, but not much.

In addition to watching Emmy today I've been cooking most of the afternoon and evening. My church is having our Thanksgiving dinner after Sunday morning services and we're all taking food, pot luck style.

I've been planning all week to do all my cooking for the Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday afternoon so I had to do that in addition to cooking Saturday night's supper and watching Emmy.

If I'd known that I'd have Emmy today I could have done some of my cooking ahead of time, but to be honest I probably wouldn't have even if I'd known. I tend to leave things till the last minute and then charge to the finish line with my hair on fire.

I prefer to think of that bad character trait as "working better with a deadline,", but whatever. To-may-toes, to-mah-toes.

Anyway, after all that foot dragging, here's my Saturday Supper/Sunday Dinner/Thanksgiving Dinner menu.

I made a huge dishpan full of homemade Southern Sage Cornbread dressing. Not "stuffing", dressing. And not from a recipe either, but from watching my Mama make it from scratch from the time I was big enough to stand in a kitchen chair and ask too many questions and just generally get in the way a lot.

I boiled about 5 lbs of chicken until the broth was rich, flavorful and concentrated. I also made 2 cast iron skillets of HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD to use in the dressing. I diced a huge onion into my big dishpan and then crumbled the warm cornbread on top of the onion.

I also tore up about a half a loaf of really stale bread and added to the dishpan, then seasoned it all with black pepper and sage, then poured the broth over all and started mixing it with a potato masher. My Mama always used a potato masher and it just works, okay?

I smell the dressing and add more pepper and sage if needed, add more broth if I think it's a little too dry, then bake the dressing at 375* until brown and bubbly.

And that's the only recipe I have. I never measure anything and I don't think I could write down an accurate recipe if I tried. I learned from watching my Mama and helping her, and then from experience as I've made my dressing over the years.

If you want to make homemade dressing and this sounds a little too complicated for you, you might want to check out my recipe for CROCKPOT DRESSING. It's not the same as my Mama's dressing, but it's really good and I like both kinds of dressing. I might even go so far as to say I like the CROCKPOT DRESSING better than my Mama's version. *Shhhhhhh......*

I cooked a small pan of the dressing for Saturday night's supper for me, Lamar and Emmy, and put the rest in my 6 quart crockpot. I put the crock in the oven to bake and it's now cooling to go into the fridge for the night.

I'll set the alarm to get up early and put the crock of dressing into the crockpot base, then turn it on to heat. By the time I'm ready to leave for church on Sunday morning it should be heated through, and when I get to church with it I'll plug it in and turn it on warm to stay hot until time for our meal.

I also made a dozen and a half deviled eggs to take for the meal. I fully intended to make a HONEYBUN CAKE (scroll down past the Pumpkin Bread) but by the time I got the deviled eggs done I felt like I'd been pulled through a knot hole backwards, so dressing and deviled eggs it is.

For our Saturday Supper I cooked some butterpeas and fixed some sauerkraut and smoked sausage cooked together, we ate some of the chicken I boiled to make the broth for the dressing, and we also had that small pan of dressing I cooked for our supper.

Lamar's eye is still the same. It looks better overall and his eye specialist says that the inside of his eye is better too, so much so that Lamar isn't supposed to go back to the specialist until December 11, barring anymore crises. Praise the Lord for that! Lamar is still on all those medications, though........

And now it's almost 10:30 pm and Diane is one TARD girl tonight. I still need to study my Sunday School lesson and do a few other tasks and then I'll be going to bed before too much longer. This week has worn me out, so I can only imagine how exhausted Jessica must be.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving week. May God bless you with all you need, and may you have enough to share, dear family and friends.

Another Update On Lamar's Eye

2009-11-10T20:02:00.003-06:00

It's just after 8 pm my time as I'm typing this. Jessica drove Lamar's Mom's car and they rode in the front while Lamar and I rode in the back seat. We left our apartment at 11 am and made good time, arriving at Lamar's eye specialist's office about 12:15 pm.

Lamar's appointment wasn't until 1 pm but we wanted to have some extra time to allow for heavy traffic or other delays. As it happened, we didn't actually see the doctor until 3:30, but isn't that the way it usually goes?

As we hoped, Lamar's eye looks much better, according to the tests they performed in the office and what the doctor saw when he examined Lamar's eye. The pressure in his bad eye was down to 5 and 10 in his good eye, which are excellent numbers.

That's the good news.

The bad news? They still have no idea what is wrong with Lamar's eye, how long this may last or if it will later affect another part of his body. Lamar's taking an antiviral and they're assuming that since his eye is getting better that it must be some form of virus, but at this point they're not even certain of that.

Lamar has to call the virologist that he saw back in the Summer when this all started with his eye, and we may be making another trip to Memphis soon to see the virologist. We're assuming that she may want to draw blood for more tests, but we won't know about that until later.

Also, there's a possibility that Lamar may have to have surgery on his eye again, but that's still to be determined. The eye specialist is the one pushing for the surgery, but the eye surgeon is hesitant and we're a little hesitant about another surgery as well.

For one thing, Lamar couldn't tell much difference in his vision after the other surgery, and every surgery has risks of infection and other complications.

Also, if this is going to keep happening to Lamar's eye, why go through this every few months? Eventually the scarring from the surgeries will harm more than it helps.

As you can imagine, we are still dealing with more questions than answers. So much uncertainty and it's weighing on us every day, especially Lamar.

Another thing is the medicines that Lamar is taking every day. He is taking prednisone by mouth along with the antiviral and two more forms of prednisone eye drops, as well as a drop that keeps his eye dilated to ease the pressure in his eye.

Lamar has been on prednisone constantly since May and this can't continue indefinitely. Pred has many side effects with long term use, and one is suppression of the immune system, which is definitely something that Lamar doesn't need at this time.

One of the main reasons for seeing the virologist is to see if she can prescribe an anti-inflammatory that has the same benefits of prednisone without the side effects. Lamar will call her office in Memphis on Wednesday to try to set up an appointment with the virologist, if she thinks it's necessary.

Lamar will see the eye specialist again on Friday at the Jonesboro office, so we may get more news then, but we're not holding our breath. We hope to get answers, but it's so frustrating to still be without any real answers after all this time.

Lamar's problems with his eye began on May 13th and we're no closer to having a diagnosis and treatment plan now, almost 6 months later to the day, than we were back in May. And that's after countless tests, visits to eye doctors and specialists, virologists and eye surgeons, one surgery and a pharmacy full of drugs!

But, we know that God is in control, and the Great Physician will work all this out according to His will, not ours.

Please keep praying and thinking those good thoughts for us. You'll never know how much we appreciate those who are lifting us up in prayer daily before God's throne. I pray God's richest blessings on all of you, dear family and friends.

That's about all I can share right now, but if we learn anything new I'll post another update as soon as I can.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

Sunday Dinner, November 8, 2009 & Assorted Blatherings

2009-11-07T18:08:00.006-06:00

This has been an eventful week in some ways, and just a common, ordinary week in others.

Is that wishy washy enough for you? Then you'll be delighted to know that the rest of this post will be chock full of even more of the stuff.

Let's deal with Sunday Dinner first, shall we?

I gave my usual Sunday Dinner guests a choice of going out to eat at Cracker Barrel or having white beans, cornbread and spaghetti chicken from my freezer stash, and the general consensus favored eating out at Cracker Barrel.

Works for me and I can use one of my gift cards for Cracker Barrel that a dear friend gave me for my birthday. I really like the part where someone else cooks the food, serves it to me and cleans up afterward too.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place? Share your plans/menu in the comments if you'd like.Lamar's eye is looking and feeling much better, praise the Lord! Thank you all so much for your prayers and keeping him in your thoughts. Of course that's just what we can see on the surface, so we have no idea what's actually happening inside the eye.

Lamar goes back to Memphis on Tuesday to see the specialist and I'll try to post an update with any news as soon as we hear anything.

We still have so many unanswered questions regarding the cause of Lamar's eye condition, any further treatment, if it can be cured or if it will be a recurring thing and so many more questions. We hope to have at least some of these questions answered on Tuesday, God willing.This first full week of November has graced us with some of the most glorious Fall weather that Arkansas can offer. These sunny and warm but not too hot days and chilly clear nights have been very welcome after the seemingly eternally soggy October we endured!

Our trees and foliage have finally put on some decent color, though not as brilliant as we've experienced in some years. A lot of the leaves have just fallen off the trees without changing to bright colors and now piles of dull brown leaves are drifting everywhere.

I took advantage of our sunny, breezy Wednesday afternoon here and stripped my bed, then washed my handmade quilt and some of Emmy's bedding and hung them outside on the clothesline.

I used my beloved original Gain detergent and just a touch of bleach, and then used Gain original fabric softener in the rinse before I hung them outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

I don't think there's anything that smells better than freshly laundered bedding that's been dried outside on the line. My freshly made bed sure did smell wonderful Wednesday night! Still does, as a matter of fact. :-)And on a related note, Lamar and I went with Jessica, Emmy, and my sisters Cecil, Ducky and Sue to a movie this afternoon. More on that in a bit.

I took one of Emmy's handmade baby quilts with me that I'd line dried, just in case she got sleepy or cold at the movie. Emmy didn't use the quilt, but my arms got chilled so I threw her quilt across my front, and that wonderful fragrance of clean laundry dried in the fresh air and sunshine wafted up to my nose.

I love the convenience of my electric dryer, but nothing can replicate the smell of clean laundry dried outside in the sunshine and fresh air. I really should try to hang more of my linens and such outside.

However, I do have to say that I'm not fond of blue jeans and towels that are so stiff you can stand them up in the corner, so anytime I dry them outside I usually tumble them in the dryer for a bit to fluff up the towels and soften the denim.Now, the movie we went to see was the new 3-D animated version of "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carey's voice, among others. The special effects were out of this world! Emmy even kept her 3-D glasses on for almost the entire movie, and for the most part she was really quiet and watched the movie.

A few times when the action slowed down a bit Emmy got a little restless, but I was pleasantly surprised at how attentive and good she was for the movie.I'm beginning to get a little hungry and I still have to study my Sunday School lesson, so I think I'll get this posted and go find a snack. I have a Gala apple here on my desk that's really calling to me.

I hope you all have a blessed Sunday and a great new week. My prayer for each of you is that God will richly bless you by meeting all your needs, and that you'll have enough to share.

Happy Birthday, Jessica, Sue & Ducky! & A Prayer Request

2009-11-02T23:43:00.023-06:00

Wishing a very happy 22nd birthday to my beautiful daughter, JESSICA! Mama loves you more than I can ever express, Babe. It doesn't seem possible that it's been 22 years since you were born..........

............And 5 months later you experienced your first Easter, pictured here with your Great Grandpa, Horner Davis.

Here you are at 8 months on June 28, 1988, enjoying frosting from your Grandma Lue's birthday cake. Cake's not really good unless you get it all over you. In your opinion, anyway. ;-)

This is one of my all time favorite baby pictures of you. I wish it had scanned a little sharper and brighter.

Can you see Emmy in your face? Because I see a lot of you in her and vice versa, especially as Emmy gets bigger.

I can really see hints of Emmy in these two pics taken when you were 2 years and 10 months old. Emmy is almost 2 years and 6 months, so not much difference in your age in these pics and Emmy's age at the present time.

Lots of resemblance between Jessica and Emmy here, I think.

Fast forward a few years, and here you are with your cousin Devin at almost 4 years old.

My, how the time flies!

I blinked it seems, and here you are with your cousin Jon at around 12 years old, I think.

Another blink and you were graduating high school.

And just a little while later, on December 9, 2006, you became a beautiful bride and made me a mother in law to a handsome son in law. :-)

A short time after that you became a Mama, and the cycle of mother and daughter started all over again.

You bring me joy every day and I'm blessed and proud to call you Daughter. I love you so much, Jessica Rose Jennings.

I pray you enjoy a long, full, healthy and happy life, filled with God's love, joy, and blessings on your life.

I also want to wish my sisters Sue (left)................

and Ducky (right) a very Happy Birthday today!

Yes, that's right ---- Jessica, Sue and Ducky all share the same birthday. Sue and Ducky were born on November 3rd, 2 years apart, and then Jessica came along some years later on November 3, 1987.

Happy birthday to my beloved sisters and daughter. :o)

And on a more serious note, if you're a praying person, please remember Lamar when you pray. If you don't pray, positive thoughts are most welcome as well. Lamar's eye is inflamed again and it's just as bad as it was when this all started with him back in June of this year.

Jessica had to rush him to his eye specialist in Memphis this morning, and the pressure in that eye is sky high again. We still don't know what caused the problem with his eye to begin with back in June, and they still don't have a diagnosis or any real treatment plan for him now.

At first they were going to do emergency surgery, but they decided against that. Then they discussed giving Lamar shots in that eye, but eventually they changed their minds about that too.

After doing some tests on Lamar they sent him home with 3 prescriptions for various eye drops and 2 for pills. One pill is an antiviral and the other is an oral form of prednisone. If he doesn't get worse before Tuesday of next week, he has to go back to Memphis to see the eye specialist again.

We are so weary of this illness, and especially all the doctor visits, medications and still having no diagnosis or real answers as to what's happening to cause this problem with his eye. Lamar already has permanent vision loss in that eye and this whole roller coaster ride seems never ending.

Please pray for guidance and wisdom as the doctors treat Lamar and for a correct diagnosis and treatment plan as soon as possible.

Thank you all for your prayers, dear family and friends. I know many of you will answer our plea for prayers for Lamar, and we appreciate them more than we can ever express.

If anything new develops I'll post an update to keep everyone informed, whether it be bad news, God forbid, or good news, please let it be, Lord.I pray you all have a blessed week full of love and joy and that God will rain down His blessings upon you all.

Sunday Dinner, November 1, 2009 & Halloween Pics

2009-10-31T23:01:00.010-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time you know when you see the Sunday Dinner graphic that features the chef with a question mark on his tray it means I have no idea what's happening for Sunday Dinner this week.

Lamar's already informed me that his Dallas Cowboys play football at noon tomorrow so I know I'll be a football widow Sunday afternoon. He's already set for Sunday Dinner. He got some packaged pork barbecue at Wal*mart when we did our monthly shopping so I don't have to worry about cooking for him.

So I've decided to take another break from cooking Sunday Dinner this week. I have no idea where I'll end up eating but I won't be doing the cooking or the cleaning up. Works for me.

For those of you who'd like to share your Sunday Dinner plans this week just leave a comment.I'm just going to scatter some pics of Emmy in her Halloween costume and from the weinie roast tonight in the rest of this post. Click on any of them to enlarge-ify.

As I mentioned earlier, Lamar and I went to Jonesboro this morning with his Mom to run some errands and do our monthly Wal*mart shopping. I usually get all my household cleaning supplies and other necessities on or near the first of each month and go about a week later to do my monthly grocery shopping so it's not such a big hassle all in one day.

I sometimes pick up a few grocery items on the first, but for the most part I wait until the next week to do my "big" monthly grocery shopping.

We ran a few errands and paid the cable bill first, then went to eat at Ron's Catfish again for lunch. It was great, as usual. I could eat there at least once a week if we could afford it. It's probably a good thing we don't have our own car or we'd probably eat there a lot more than is good for us.

After lunch we headed to Wal*mart, and let me tell you, apparently everybody else within a 50 mile radius had the same destination today. It was a madhouse! The fact that it was Saturday, Halloween and that everybody that gets their government checks on the first got theirs Friday because of the first falling on the weekend had a lot to do with the crowds, I'm sure. If I hadn't been out of a lot of things, including some of my prescriptions, I'd have waited until later instead of braving those crowds.

It was hard to get down the aisles without running over people, and they would just stand and look at you with their carts right in the middle of the aisles, almost daring you to ask them to move! So frustrating, and rude people just do not make for an optimum shopping experience. Whatever that may be.

We finished our day by stopping at Sonic on the way home to take advantage of the half price drinks during happy hour. I was more than ready for a drink by then, let me tell you.We got home and unloaded our purchases and got to rest about an hour before my sister Ducky and her granddaughter Genna arrived to pick us up to go to a bonfire, weinie roast and hayride with our church.

Jessica and Emmy arrived about 10 minutes after Ducky and Genna, so we took a few pics and then headed to the weinie roast. By the time we got there the sun was beginning to set and it was indeed a glorious sunset. I took about 2 dozen pictures trying to capture the beauty of the sunset, but apparently sunsets are beyond my grasp and abilities.

We enjoyed roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and some people made s'mores. (Ick!) I like all the ingredients in s'mores, but not together, thank you very muchly. And I'm not much on chocolate anyway so to me putting chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers together just ruins some good marshmallows and graham crackers.

After everyone had eaten, we piled into the trailers filled with bales of straw and pulled by tractors. We had 2 trailer and tractor combos and we made 2 trips so everybody could ride at least one time each. Some of us (me, Lamar, Jessica, Jason and Emmy included) rode for both trips, and it was grand!

The moon was almost full and so bright it was almost like daylight! The stars were shining and it was so good to see clear skies after all the rain we've had lately. It was a little chilly so my sweatshirt, jacket and quilt that I brought to snuggle up in felt good.

There is still a LOT of water on the ground and over the country gravel roads. We went through a lot of water and Emmy was amazed at riding the trailer through water! She wanted to get out and swim, lol! We told her it was awfully cold to be swimming tonight, with the temps in the mid-50'sF.

I thought I had my camera with me on the hayride, but someone moved my purse and it fell out of the top of it, so I don't have any pics on the actual hayride. I was so disappointed! Boo hoo!All in all, a good day, but I have been going since my feet hit the floor this morning, so Diane is a TARD girl tonight. Even if I'd wanted to cook Sunday Dinner, I didn't get home until 10:30 pm and I'm not about to start cooking at this time of the night, not to mention that I'm worn to a frazzle!

I hope you've all had a great Halloween, and don't forget to Fall Back and set your clocks back an hour if you haven't already done it by the time you read this. I for one am glad to get that hour back that we lost last Spring.

I'm going to get this proofread and posted and I think for once I'm going to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Allowing for that hour we're getting back, I may even get in bed before midnight. What an interesting concept! ;o)Y'all have a blessed Lord's Day doing something you enjoy with people you love. May God meet all you need, and may you have enough to share is my prayer for you all, dear family and friends.

Sunday Dinner, October 25, 2009 & Various Ramblings

2009-10-25T00:26:00.007-05:00

It's already 12:30 am here in my part of the world as I type this, so I'm going to try to be brief with this post. However, I am aware that brevity is not one of my strong points, so we'll see how this unfolds.

Friday, October 23rd was my 46th birthday and Sunday, October 25th is my 24th wedding anniversary. Jessica treated us to lunch at Don Jose's Mexican restaurant on Thursday to honor our anniversary and this evening we went with friends to Ron's Catfish for supper.

After Lamar and I got home from eating catfish, Jessica picked us up and we rode around, chatted and listened to music for several hours, which was part of her anniversary gift to us and part of my birthday gift from her.

Cruising and listening to music is one of my favorite things on this earth to do, and I thoroughly enjoyed my evening. Thanks, Jessica! I love you, Babe.

We just got home at midnight which is why I'm just now getting around to writing this post.

Lamar and I received several nice gifts for our anniversary and I've been blessed with some really nice cards and things for my birthday, but I'll get to that in a bit.

I'm not cooking Sunday Dinner this week because it's my anniversary and I'm going to take advantage of some cash that was given to us and go out to eat for lunch. I have no idea where we'll end up and at this moment I don't really care, as long as I don't have to cook it, someone else brings it to me, and I can walk off and leave the dirty dishes for someone else to deal with.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place this week? Share your plans/menu in the comments if you'd like.My dear friend WANDA @ WANDER'S WORLD sent me a beautiful birthday card and I've received many, many birthday greetings and ecards on Facebook and by email. Thank you, dear Wanda and all who've taken time to send me birthday and anniversary greetings. I love you and appreciate each and every one of you, dear friends and family. :o)

I was pleasantly surprised when Jessica brought me something today from a dear blogging and Facebook buddy that we have in common. Our mutual friend sent Jessica a package and included some things in it for me.

Jessica will share about her gifts on her blog I'm sure, so I'll leave that for her to do.

Our friend included 5 (!) boxes of Trader*Joe's Earl Grey tea bags and 2 generous gift cards to Cracker*Barrel for me! I was thrilled and humbled by our friend's generous gifts.

I'm enjoying a cup of the Earl Grey tea right now, and it is mighty tasty and really hits the spot on this chilly Autumn night. It's really good and I like it every bit as well as my usual brand.

I won't have to buy any tea for a while, and next time I go to Cracker*Barrel I'll make use of those gift cards. :o)

I purposely haven't mentioned the name of my generous friend because I don't know if they want to be in the spotlight, so to speak, but they know who they are.

Thank you, dear friend, for the tea and the gift cards, but most of all, for your friendship and generous spirit. May God bless you for your generosity and the love you've shown to me and Jessica.So much for this being a brief post, huh? lol

But I really am going to wind this up now and wish everyone a wonderful Sunday and new week.

May God bless you with all you need and enough to share is my prayer for each and every one of you, dear family and friends.

Book Review: 02: Breathing New Life Into Faith

2009-10-19T22:51:00.007-05:00

About the book:

Your physical body needs oxygen in order to survive. Inhale, exhale ... one leads naturally to the other. Inhale too long and you feel as if your lungs will burst. Exhale too long and you get light-headed.

The same rhythm is essential in the life of faith. You inhale life-giving strength from God through things like prayer, study, solitude, and silence. You exhale generosity, hospitality, and service to the poor. If you try to do one without the other, you wont' last very long.

This fresh perspective on the classic disciplines of the faith will empower you to process the oxygen of the Spirit. Discover how you can develop a balanced spirituality that reflects the life of Jesus and keeps your faith growing stronger.

About Richard: Richard Dahlstrom is Senior Pastor of Bethany Community Church in Seattle , WA , in the heart of the city, among university students, young professionals, families, the homeless, and the elderly. He is also a popular teacher in North America and Europe for the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers. He holds a M.Div. from Talbot Theological Seminary. Find out more about Richard at: http://raincitypastor.blogspot.com/

Link to buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/O2-Breathing-Life-Faith-ConversantLife-com®/dp/0736922148/ref=sprightly-20

Extras:

Watch a video about the book: http://www.conversantlife.com/life-with-god/o2-breathing-new-life-into-faith

Read the first chapter: http://www.conversantlife.com/files/resource_downloads/O2.pdf

Study Guide: http://www.conversantlife.com/files/resource_downloads/O2%20Discussion%20Questions.pdf

I have to say that I found a lot that I could agree with in Richard Dahlstrom's book, but also some things that don't totally mesh with my personal views on Bible doctrine.

I didn't really expect to agree with every single point, but that being said, I do think this book can be a good tool to spark insight into your own personal beliefs and would also be great for small group Bible studies.

I'm not hosting a giveaway for this particular book, but if you're interested in entering to win a signed copy of the book, see the contest details below.

Contest: The contest for this blog tour is: (Please tweet & facebook this contest – please use the hashtag #O2)

Win a signed copy of 02 for yourself! There are two ways to enter! The winners will be announced 10/26.

Jump over to Pastor Richard’s blog “Pastoral Musings from Rain City ” (http://www.raincitypastor.blogspot.com/ ) and leave a comment between October 5th and October 24th. Just say hi or tell Pastor Richard what you liked about his book, or share with him how you’ve experienced ‘new life’ in your faith!
Tweet this: @raincitypastor Pub. Weekly voted Breathing New Life into Faith as top 10 book in 2008 check it out! http://tr.im/Au8q #02

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Sunday Dinner, October 18, 2009, Laundry & Answered Prayer

2009-10-17T17:42:00.012-05:00

****Warning: This post will include frequent
stops and starts due to laundry
that must be done tonight.
Thank you. That is all.****

If you've inferred from the warning posted above that the dirty laundry pile here at my place has reached critical mass, your inference is dead on.

Oh, I still have stuff to wear, just not my first choices since they're all dirty, so laundry I must do. When the dryer beckons I must answer its siren call lest my jeans and such be all wrinkly, and nobody likes wrinkly clothes.

****Slight pause here while I put the 3rd load of
laundry in the dryer and the 4th load
of laundry in the washing machine.****

Now, on to the subject at hand: Sunday Dinner.

I won't be cooking Sunday Dinner this week because I've been invited to eat with my nephew Danny, his wife, Mikki and their 2-year-old, Seth.

I haven't the faintest idea what's on the menu for Sunday Dinner, thus the chef's hat in my Sunday Dinner graphic. It's chef's choice for Sunday Dinner and I'm sure whatever Mikki and Danny serve will be delicious.

What are your plans for Sunday Dinner this week? Share your plans/menu in the comments if you'd like to participate.Danny and Mikki's invitation to eat Sunday Dinner with them this week actually came at a precipitous time for me. Again this week many of my usual attendees for my Sunday Dinner are going to be gone or their plans are still in limbo, so I was glad to have the decisions of what to cook and how many to cook for taken out of my hands.

Lamar is spending some time with his Mom so he wouldn't be home for Sunday Dinner. Lamar's stepdad is gone squirrel hunting and Lamar's Mom is scared of boogers, so Lamar's spending the night with her tonight, then going to church with her on Sunday morning.

They'll go eat lunch somewhere before she brings Lamar home so he can watch his usual Sunday afternoon football games.

Jessica, Jason and Emmy have somewhere to be at 2 pm so it would rush them to try to eat here and then drive about 15 miles to another town for their activity, so they wouldn't have been eating Sunday Dinner with me either. They'll probably pick up Mc*Donald's or some other fast food on the way to their destination.

And my sister CECIL who usually eats Sunday Dinner with me may not be around as well. She has tentative plans to go out for lunch with her husband, but it all depends on whether he can get away from work.

Of my usual Sunday Dinner crowd, that leaves me and my sister Ducky that will be going to her son Danny's and Mikki's for lunch. Ducky will also get to spend some time with her grandson Seth, always a bonus for a Grandma.The answered prayer I alluded to in my title concerns JESSICA, my daughter. Several weeks ago there was a blood drive at the hospital where she works, and Jessica gave blood, as she's done regularly since she got old enough to donate.

Well, about 10 days ago she received a call from the blood donation center that she had tested positive for hepatitis C, which is a very serious, life threatening disease.

Jessica works as a certified nursing assistant and is exposed to blood and other bodily fluids on a daily basis, so her being exposed to diseases is a constant worry of mine. I don't dwell on it every day, but it's always in the back of my mind. That phone call was devastating to all of us, but most especially to Jessica, of course.

To make matters worse, it took Jessica 5 days to get an appointment with her doctor to have more blood drawn to be retested and to have a physical examination to evaluate her health. We all know that the longer we have to worry and dwell on something, the worse it becomes in our minds and the more stressful it is.

After finally getting in to see her doctor and getting her examination and blood drawn on Thursday, Jessica now has a few more answers.

First, her liver is definitely enlarged and that's not good at all. But the lab that did the testing on her blood work did a rush job and faxed the preliminary results back to Jessica's doctor's office on Friday, which is almost unheard of in this day and time. We're all thankful for their understanding and special efforts to get us the results as quickly as possible.

The blood work came back NEGATIVE FOR HEPATITIS C! Thank you, Jesus!

But.....And there always seems to be a "but", now doesn't there?

Jessica will have to be retested in a month just to make sure that the results are accurate, and we now know that she DOES have a disease known as fatty liver. It's still a serious disease, but it's treatable and it's not contagious or a danger to anyone else who's exposed to Jessica's blood.

As you can imagine we've all been under a huge burden of fear and uncertainty for Jessica, and the blood work coming back negative for hep C was a HUGE relief and such a sweet answer to our prayers. God is so GOOD!!!

But now Jessica still has to deal with the fatty liver issue. For some reason some people have a build up of fat in their liver, and Jessica happens to be one of those people it seems. If she can lose weight, get more exercise, eat less fatty foods and stay away from alcohol and acetaminophen, we're hopeful that Jessica can manage this disease without any further medical treatment.

It won't be easy, and Jessica will have to be monitored medically most likely for the rest of her life, but of the 2 diseases, fatty liver by far offers her the best outcome.

I would ask for your prayers for Jessica's health, most especially until she's retested in a month for the hep C. Until we hear that she tests negative for hep C again in a month's time, I still won't rest easy.

I worry about her and so many who work in the health care field and are exposed daily to serious and life threatening diseases. It only takes one accidental needle stick or exposure to infected body fluids and their lives will never be the same again.

****Pause here to unload dryer, reload dryer,

load more clothes into washer and
fold/hang/put way clean laundry.
We'll be right back after this short break.****

Okay, last 2 loads of laundry are in the washer and dryer, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I want to reiterate how much I'm enjoying this cool Autumn weather. How cool? Well, tonight we have frost warnings, so that should give you a hint how cool it's been around here.

It's about average for our first frost, but it's been about 15 degrees cooler than average for our temps with much higher than average rainfall. Farmers are still trying to harvest their crops, but unless it dries out soon with lots of sunshine, many farmers are going to do well to break even this year, much less make a profit.

It's difficult to believe that we're already halfway through October! Halloween is only a few weeks away and then it seems like Thanksgiving and Christmas are upon us before we know it.It's looking more and more like our Fall foliage is going to be a bust this year. Most of the leaves are just falling off the trees without much true color change. I had to go back and look at some of my photos from previous years so I could post one for this blog entry.

I took the photo at left on October 1, 2006 in front of the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Jonesboro, Arkansas. You might be able to tell that it was taken the same time as the one I'm using for my Fall blog header. The crabapples aren't nearly as plentiful or as pretty this Autumn as they were in 2006.

My Uncle Dwight took this next photo in the Fall of 2007 near Calico Rock, Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains. The leaves in the foreground are brilliantly colored while the nearby mountainsides are just beginning to blush with color.

Can you see why I love the Ozarks so much? They're gorgeous in any season, but I think Autumn is when they wear their best finery.

I hope there's still time for our leaves to exhibit some good Fall color, but I fear with this frost tonight that even more of the leaves will just drop off the trees green instead of changing to the vivid oranges, fiery reds and rich golds that we enjoy most years.

No particular reason for including this

pic of Emmy all ready for bed,
other than the fact that I think
she's cute as a bug.
I might be a little partial though. ;-)

And I think that's about enough from me tonight. The dryer has stopped again and I need to get those clothes folded, hung up and put away before they wrinkle.

Y'all have a wonderful Sunday and new week. May God bless you with all you need and enough to share is my prayer for each and every one of you, dear family and friends.

Sunday Dinner, October 11, 2009

2009-10-10T18:45:00.007-05:00

Well, I've procrastinated long enough. I've got my cup of hot Earl Grey tea and my snuggly fleece throw over my feet and legs to ward off the delicious Fall chill in the air and it's time to get down to the business of this Sunday's Dinner.

Today has been cool and overcast. Our low for Saturday morning was down into the low 40'sF and the high today was in the mid-50'sF. I love this kind of day and took full advantage of it by doing a little reading and playing on my laptop and not much else.

I did make a simple supper of scrambled fresh eggs that were given to us by a neighbor, and also fried some smoked sausage to accompany them. Other than that I haven't done anything that could be considered constructive.

My lazy day was one reason I've put off writing this post.

Another is the fact that my guest list for Sunday Dinner is hanging in limbo, and I don't deal very well with uncertainty when it comes to cooking a meal. I like it much better when I know exactly how many I need to feed, whether it's just me and Lamar or a crowd of 25.

I promise I'm getting to the point. Like right now.

I bought a 5 lb. beef tip roast at $1.98/lb. at Wal*mart Supercenter when I did my grocery shopping last week. I cut it up into 2 smaller roasts to cook for me and Lamar, and cut the rest of it up into stew meat.

We had beef roast with potatoes cooked with it and gravy made from the roast juices for supper Friday night. I still have another roast to cook for later, and 3 packages of stew meat in the freezer for later meals. Each will yield a meal with the meat costing about $2 per meal. Not bad for beef in this day and time.

I'm going to cook a package of the stew meat tonight. When I get home from church tomorrow I'll heat up the stew meat and broth and make some simple homemade egg noodles to add to it. According to how many are here for Sunday Dinner I'll adjust the amount of noodles I make.

I've been craving fried cabbage so I'll fix the appropriate amount of that when I get home. It only takes about 15 minutes to cut up the cabbage, fry it fast and hot in a little oil to brown it, then add a couple of tablespoons of water, salt and pepper to it and cover it to steam for a bit.

I have garden green beans in the freezer and I also have some canned green beans, so I may take the more convenient route tomorrow and just heat up some canned green beans.

That's the menu for La Casa de Jennings tomorrow: Homemade beef and noodles, fried cabbage, and green beans, with portions adjusted to accommodate the number of guests to be served.

What's on the menu at your place this week? Just give a shout out in the comments to participate.I am thoroughly enjoying our cool Fall weather. It's rained 5 out of the last 7 days, and the coming week promises more of the same. I don't mind the rain as long as it doesn't flood and get into the apartment, which it's never done, so I'm good in that respect, but area farmers have an entirely different perspective regarding the cool, rainy weather.

Most years by the middle of October well over half the cotton, soybeans, rice, corn, milo and other crops have been harvested, but not this year. There are 2 cotton gins just a stone's throw from my apartment and they have yet to run for the first time this year.

This has been a weird, strange year for weather and crops. A cold, wet Spring and early Summer meant crops were planted late, and then June set records for heat and drought. July through the present has been much cooler and wetter than average, so crops are at least a month behind schedule in maturing.

And even for the crops that have managed to mature, it's been so wet that farmers can't get into the fields to harvest.The cool weather has varying effects on how I feel. I love the cool weather, but add rain and storms to the mix and it tends to make my arthritis more painful. I want to do more, but my arthritis really protests when I try to do too much.

So this week has run the gamut of lots of productivity to getting almost nothing at all accomplished.

I have problems with pacing myself. When I feel reasonably well I tend to push myself and work until I can't go any more. Then I end up hurting and don't feel like doing anything at all.

So I'm usually either working like a fiend or sitting on my prodigious rump. I don't have much middle ground when it comes to activity, it seems.

Here's hoping that I can find some equilibrium and manage to get some things done around the apartment this week while still remembering to take time to rest as needed. Since it's supposed to rain most of this coming week I should have plenty of opportunity to work and rest in the appropriate proportions.Y'all have a great Sunday and new week, spending time with people you love and doing things that bring you joy. May God meet all your needs and may you have enough to share.

Sunday Dinner, October 4, 2009 & Camping Pics

2009-10-02T21:12:00.020-05:00

I'm typing this post on Friday evening because my sister Donna and I are leaving Saturday morning to go camping again.

I have no idea what I'll be having for Sunday Dinner this week, but I have pics of last week's Sunday Dinner in the camping pics that are coming up next.

Feel free to share your Sunday Dinner plans/menu in the comments. Even though I won't be here to participate until it's all over, I know many of my readers enjoy checking out all the menus that others share.

We'll be going back to Gunner Pool to camp overnight Saturday night, then back home on Sunday afternoon. The weather is almost perfect for camping right now so we're taking advantage of it while we can.

So much of the year the weather is "too". Too hot, too cold, too wet, too something. Or we're just too busy to get away. But right now we're enjoying some of Arkansas' best weather and we want to make hay while the sun shines, as it were.

Fall in Arkansas can be just magical, and last weekend and this coming weekend are good examples. The highs are hovering around 70F and the lows are around 45F-50F.

Rain is forecast to move in on Sunday afternoon, so we may have to break camp in a hurry to keep the tent and our stuff dry, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.Now, pictures from last week's camping trip.....

A view of the road in front of us, driving into Batesville...You can't get much more Fall-like than this load of bright orange pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks.My Saturday supper plate: Fried potatoes, roasted hot dog and bacon, all cooked on an open wood fire. I brought some hickory wood from home and the rest of our firewood was limbs and dead falls gathered from around our campsite.Donna was beginning to feel the chill and stayed pretty close to the fire until we went into the tent for the night around 9 pm. We're real party-ers, we are.Another pic of our campfire.Mid morning, bright blue cloudless sky and sunlit tree near our campsite.Biscuits in Donna's cast iron skillet.Biscuits warming by the fire while the rest of our breakfast finishes cooking: bacon and sausage and hot coffee perked over the fire.My brunch plate, which was also my Sunday Dinner: Biscuits, sausage and bacon. Might not have been the healthiest meal I had last week, but it sure was good!Scenes from the ride home.....This last picture was taken at a little town called Oil Trough on the Black River. I thought the river was pretty framed by the ivy draped trees.Well, I still have things to do before bedtime, so I'll get this posted.

Y'all have a wonderful weekend doing something you enjoy with people you love. May God meet all your needs and may you have enough to share.

Winner of Book Giveaway, "The Great Christmas Bowl"

2009-09-30T13:49:00.002-05:00

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2009-09-30 18:49:22 UTC

Congratulations, V from Idaho, comment #4. You're the winner of the book giveaway. I'll be in contact by email to get your mailing info.

Sunday Dinner, September 27, 2009 & Gone Camping

2009-09-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

***Special note to reader Kellie Bell: You didn't leave a link or email addy to respond to your question, so this is the only way I know to contact you. I use Sure Jell powdered pectin to make my muscadine jelly and follow the directions for making Concord grape jelly, substituting muscadines for the Concord grapes. It's always turned out great for me. Hope this helps you, but if you still have questions, comment again or use the link in my sidebar to email me.***

Any of you that also interact with me on Facebook more than likely already know that I won't be at home for Sunday Dinner this week. My sister DONNA and I will be gone camping by the time this post publishes if I manage to get the autopost feature on here to work right.

We're set to leave sometime Saturday morning and should be home Sunday afternoon if all goes according to plan. I have no idea what we'll be having for Sunday Dinner, but anything cooked and/or eaten outdoors is better than anything cooked and/or eaten indoors, in my decidedly prejudiced opinion.

One thing's for sure, if it's cooked it will be done over a wood or charcoal fire and I can hardly wait!

We had showers and rain again Thursday and overnight into Friday, but as I type this Friday afternoon it's dry and the sun is attempting to burn through the clouds. I've seen a few peeks of sunshine, so I have high hopes that we'll have a pretty weekend for camping. There's still a 20% chance of rain for Saturday evening but I'm praying it won't materialize.

A tent in the rain is a miserable place to be. Just sayin'.

Temperature wise it's looking great. Highs of around 80F and low Saturday night of about 65F. Just warm enough by day to swim and cool enough by night to make you appreciate the campfire and sleep comfortably.

I can hardly wait!

Of course I still have my packing and gathering of camping paraphernalia to do but that shouldn't take long since we're only going to be gone overnight.

I also have about 2 gallons of muscadine grapes to cook down into juice tonight. These are more of the cultivated golden muscadines given to us by a good friend and neighbor. I'm going to freeze the juice to make jelly at a later time.

Part of the reason for the camping trip was prompted by the fact that the wild red muscadines are ready for picking in the Ozarks where we're going camping. I hope to get a 5 gallon bucket full at least for jelly making, and maybe more if we really find the muscadine mother lode.

I told my sister Donna, if we do get a lot of muscadines, her car is going to smell like a winery on the ride home, lol. ;o)

I've posted lots of pictures from our past camping trips, and I'll likely take lots more on this trip. Hopefully I'll be back on Monday or Tuesday with pictures and a post about our trip.

In loving memory of my beloved Daddy.

September 26, 1923 - December 19, 2004.

I love you and miss you every day, Daddy.

I still have LOTS to do this afternoon/evening, so I'll set this to publish on Saturday afternoon, hopefully, and get busy.

Y'all have a blessed weekend doing something you enjoy with people you love. May God meet your every need, and may you have enough to share.

Book Review & Giveaway: The Great Christmas Bowl

2009-09-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

Recently I received a copy of Susan May Warren's THE GREAT CHRISTMAS BOWL to read and review here on my blog. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the book is being promoted at this particular time with the holiday season quickly approaching, and the book's message is very timely and appropriate.

The book's main character, Marianne, is a woman I and most of my lady readers can relate to in our own lives. Marianne is a typical busy wife and Mom who unintentionally lets the busyness of life overshadow the real meaning of the Christmas season.

All the time she thinks she's working towards making Christmas special, she's forgetting the real reason for the season, until some life-changing events make Marianne realize that Christmas is about Jesus, not about rituals and tradition.

If you'd like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment on this post. This giveaway will be open until noon Central Standard Time on Wednesday, September 30, 2009, at which time I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Please NOTE: This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only. Please be sure you have a working link or a valid email address with your entry comment.

I'll announce the winner on Wednesday or Thursday.

Best of luck to everyone!

***Pssst! If you don't want to wait to see if you win a copy of the book, or if you don't win and want a copy, you can get this book on sale for only $5.99 by clicking HERE or any of the other links for the title of the book. There's also a great contest you can check out at the bottom of this post.***

About The Great Christmas Bowl:

Marianne Wallace is focused on two things this holiday season:
planning the greatest family Christmas ever and cheering on her
youngest son’s team in their bid for the state championship.
Disaster strikes when the team loses their mascot-the Trout. Is it
going too far to ask her to don the costume? So what if her husband
has also volunteered her to organize the church Christmas tea.
When football playoffs start ramping up, the Christmas tea starts
falling apart. Then, one by one her children tell her they can’t come
home for Christmas.

As life starts to unravel, will Marianne remember the true meaning of
the holidays?

About Susan:

Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of twenty-four
novels with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill. A four-time Christy
award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of
the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Book of the Year.
Her larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim
with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and
retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences
around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook:
From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!.
She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting
service that helps authors discover their voice. Susan makes her home
in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in
football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and
desperately missing her college-age son!) A full listing of her
titles, reviews and awards can be found at: www.susanmaywarren.com

Link to Buy the Book:

http://www.christianbook.com/great-christmas-bowl-susan-warren/9781414326788/pd/326788?event=AFFp=&

The Great Christmas Bowl website:

http://thegreatchristmasbowl.blogspot.com/

The website features a note from the author, fun updates from Big Lake
Gazette, info on how to host your own Great Christmas Bowl Tea to
benefit a local ministry or charity and a fun Recipe Exchange contest!

CONTEST:

Be a part of the Great Christmas Bowl recipe exchange!
Susan loves getting recipes from friends, and sharing the delicious
cookies, soups, breads and other fun fixings that go with celebrating
the Christmas season. More than that, she loves the crazy stories
about favorite Christmases – serious, touching, funny…whatever. Find
the recipe contest here:
http://thegreatchristmasbowl.blogspot.com/2009/07/recipe-exchange.html

Will you share your story and recipe with Susan and the readers of the
Great Christmas Bowl? She will post your story and recipe on the FRONT
PAGE of the Great Christmas Bowl website, and send you a link when it
goes up so you can tell all your friends. Then, at the Great Christmas
Bowl party (December 5th, 10am, online! Details TBA) she’ll make the
entire cookbook available for download!

For every recipe/story you submit (up to 3), you will be entered in a
drawing to receive one of SMW’s collections (Noble Legacy, Team Hope,
Heirs of Anton, Deep Haven Series, Josey series, or THE ADVANCED COPY
of Sons of Thunder – Susie’s brand new epic World War 2 novel, due out
in January 2010!)

Go – run, get your recipe, then come back here and click on the link
below to share your Christmas memories!

http://www.litfusegroup.com/latest/current-blog-tours/91-the-great-christmas-bowl-blog-tour

Sunday Dinner, September 20, 2009

2009-09-19T19:05:00.009-05:00

This has been a busy week for me. Besides having Emmy here Wednesday through Friday, I've made and canned more muscadine jelly, HOMEMADE SALSA and HOT PEPPER JELLY, and that's in addition to my usual cooking and the odd household chore here and there.

Our neighbor, Mr. S. shared more of his garden bounty with us today, so I'll be making more hot pepper jelly after I fix a quick bite of supper and get Sunday Dinner in hand. The green bell peppers and jalapenos Mr. S. brought over are huge, and just gorgeous!

He also gave us more okra which I'll add to my freezer stash, and some beautiful new crop sweet potatoes that will make some great candied sweet potatoes. I think I'll make some candied sweet potatoes to go with our Sunday Dinner, as a matter of fact.

Did you like how I tied that all together?

Sunday Dinner this week is going to be Chicken Spaghetti. I make it just like my MEXICAN CHICKEN CASSEROLE, except I leave out the nacho chips and cook spaghetti to add instead of the chips. I also add a couple of cans of drained whole kernel corn, and I'm adding a big can of sliced mushrooms to it this time.

I have my chicken breasts cooked and cooling right now, so I'll skin and debone them and tear the chicken into bite sized pieces, then combine cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, Ro*tel tomatoes and Vel*veeta cheese in a pot and heat it until the cheese is melted and everything is blended together. The drained corn and mushrooms and torn chicken breast are then added and mixed to combine.

I'll cook my spaghetti until it's still a little al dente, then combine it with the soup/cheese mixture in a large baking pan and refrigerate it overnight. I'll reheat it in the oven when we get home from church tomorrow afternoon. I'll reserve a little of the cheese to slice over the top so it will be all gooey and melted when it comes out of the oven.

With the addition of the Ro*tel tomatoes, corn and mushrooms, the Chicken Spaghetti becomes a perfect one dish meal. You have protein from the chicken, dairy from the cheese, a starch from the spaghetti and plenty of veggies.

I'll also cook my sweet potatoes tonight, then refrigerate them until I get home from church. At that time I'll dot butter over them and sprinkle on plenty of brown sugar. They can cook in the oven at the same time the chicken spaghetti is reheating, so that will work out great.

That's my menu for Sunday Dinner: Chicken Spaghetti and candied sweet potatoes.

What are your plans for Sunday Dinner? Care to share your menu/plans with the rest of us in the comments?As I mentioned earlier, I've been busy again this week canning salsa, hot pepper jelly and muscadine jelly. As Fall approaches and the garden produce and fruits trickle to an end, I want to preserve as much of it as I possibly can. It may sound like a lot of hard work, and it is, but I can sit down for much of the preparation so it's not as tiring as it might seem.

I really like to can, freeze and preserve food because you have something to show for your time and effort. Every time I go into my pantry I can see the results of my labor of love on the shelves, and a jar or two of salsa, jelly or pickles makes a nice gift. It shows that you care enough to share your hard won bounty and in my opinion is a generous gift, more so than something you just buy off the shelf.

Not that there's anything wrong with a purchased gift, just that something homemade has more love and thought to it, I think.My sister DONNA and I may be going camping next weekend in the Ozark Mountains at GUNNER POOL, our favorite camping spot, weather permitting. The wild muscadine grapes are nearly at peak ripening there, so we hope to kill two birds with one stone: enjoy our first camping trip of the year at Gunner Pool and also load up on as many muscadines as we can find and pick to bring home.

The muscadines can be processed to render the juice and the juice can then be made into jelly immediately or frozen to make jelly at a more convenient time.

I'd love to have some of the wild red muscadines for jelly. I haven't had wild muscadine jelly in over 20 years and I've got a hankering for some with toast or hot homemade biscuits.

I'm also looking forward to going camping, especially at Gunner Pool. It's been a long time since we got to camp there and I'm almost afraid to get my hopes up. It's been raining for a week here, and more is forecast for the coming week, so I hope it quits raining at least long enough for us to get our camping trip in.

If it does rain, we may still make a day trip of it on Saturday just to pick muscadines and enjoy the time away in my beloved Ozark Mountains.I've got a lot to do in the next few hours, so I'd better quit yammering on about it and get busy.

I hope y'all are having a great weekend. May God richly bless you with all you need and enough to share.

Sunday Dinner, September 13, 2000

2009-09-12T18:02:00.011-05:00

It's been another busy week for me, and judging by what I've been reading on other blogs and Facebook, you've all been pretty busy as well.

It's now the middle of September, difficult as that may be to process, and our weather is mild compared to most Septembers in Arkansas. With the cooler weather I've been making more soups, casseroles and heartier dishes. This week's Sunday Dinner is no exception.

I bought a large beef chuck roast last week when I did my grocery shopping. It's in the freezer (I really need to get it out to thaw before much longer!) and I'm going to cube it, brown it and cook it, then thicken the broth to make gravy.

I have a big bag of egg noodles to cook and some sour cream for those who want to add it to their beef, gravy and noodles. Of course that makes it beef stroganoff when the sour cream is added, but for those who just want beef and gravy they can pass on the sour cream. It's kind of do-it-yourself beef stroganoff. ;-) (Thanks to my niece, Mikki, for the idea. :o)

I have some garden green beans and purple hull peas in the freezer that I've put up this week, and I also have some canned corn and a few other veggies I might fix to go with the beef and noodles. I'll take a quick poll when we get home from church to see what everyone wants and make my decision then about what side dishes to fix.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place this week? If you'd like to participate, just share your menu/plans in the comments.As I mentioned earlier, this milder weather has made me want to cook heartier foods lately. When it's really hot I tend to fix more sandwiches and cold dishes, lighter fare rather than heavy casseroles and hot soups.

With our daily high temps topping out in the low to mid-80'sF and cool nights down into the 50's at times, I'm feeling the seasons changing. Fall is nearly here, and I'm also feeling an urgency to preserve the last of the garden stuff and make jelly, stock up nature's plenty now in preparation for the cold, barren days when this time of fresh produce is just a pleasant memory.

I've mentioned before how blessed I am that dear friends, neighbors and family are so kind to share their garden produce, fruit, other homegrown foods and wild fish and game with us. This Summer I've stuffed my deep freeze with sliced okra, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, green beans, purple hull peas, blackeyed peas, strawberries, deer meat and Mississippi River catfish.

I've also been stocking my freezer with soups and casseroles to take advantage of that fresh garden stuff. Whenever I cook soup or a casserole or other dish, I try to make a double or even triple batch so we can eat supper from it and then I still have at least 2 meals' worth to freeze for later.Friday I made some of MY HO MEMADE PORTUGUESE BEAN SOUP. I made a triple batch and we had it for supper and then I put 2 big bowls in the freezer for other meals. It will sure taste good on one of those nights when I'm just too pooped to think about cooking.

I also made up a triple batch of MY TACO SOUP for supper tonight. I did everything last night except add the browned ground beef. As soon as I finish this blog post I'll brown the hamburger, add it to the soup and simmer it for about 2o minutes. After we have it for supper tonight I should still have enough for 2 more meals that I can put in the freezer.

I don't know if I'm the only one, but I've just got this feeling that this is going to be an early and a bad Winter. I feel the need to stock up not just on food stuffs, but to build up my stores of household goods and make sure I have plenty of everything. Maybe it's just me feeling this way.I used some of those fresh green bell peppers and jalapenos to make some of MY HOT PEPPER JELLY last night, and some dear friends gave us enough golden green muscadine grapes to make 2 batches of muscadine jelly.

I made one batch last night and still have enough muscadines to make one more batch of jelly, but I'm about out of sugar. I'll have to extract the juice tonight and freeze it until I can get more sugar. There are plenty more muscadines left on the vines and our friends told us to take all we want, so Lamar will pick more next week so I can extract the juice and make more jelly.

Muscadines make the best jelly I've ever eaten! These happen to be a golden green cultivated variety. I've never made jelly with this type. We've always picked the wild golden red type and they make the prettiest ruby red jelly and it's delicious!

As Fall progresses I'll be busy stocking up, freezing, storing, putting away, canning and otherwise preparing for Winter along with my usual chores. I hope you're blessed to be able to put something away for Winter too.That taco soup is calling my name. I need to brown the burger and fix the soup, and I also need to get that beef roast defrosted in the microwave so I can get it on to cook for Sunday Dinner. I still need to study my Sunday School lesson and do some more Saturday night chores, so I'd better get this posted and get after it.

Y'all have a great Sunday. May God meet all your needs and may you have enough to share.

Sunday Dinner, September 6, 2009

2009-09-05T17:56:00.006-05:00

This post will be short and sweet, literally. My church is having an old fashioned fellowship Sunday afternoon out in the country at some fellow church members' home. We'll be having potluck dinner "on the grounds" outside, weather permitting. If it rains, and there's a good chance of it, the fellowship will be moved inside to the church fellowship hall.

We'll also have singing, preaching and testimony service before and after dinner, with services dismissed for Sunday evening.

I've mentioned this several times before, but it bears repeating - "dinner" here in rural Arkansas refers to the noon meal. "Supper" is the evening meal.

Now, back to that "sweet" thing I referred to back at the beginning of this post, if you're still with me. I'm making my Mama's ITALIAN CREAM CAKE to take to the fellowship, along with a couple dozen deviled eggs and some of my homemade jalapeno pepper jelly and cream cheese to eat on crackers.

What's on the menu at your place this Sunday? Share your plans in the comments if you'd like.

Lamar is gone to an Arkansas State University Red Wolves game with my nephew Danny, so I saved my cooking until he was gone so he wouldn't be underfoot. He's usually pretty good about leaving me alone when I'm cooking though, so I can't complain too much about that.

Lamar's eye is still about the same, not much improvement at all. He says occasionally he can see better, but a little while later it's just as bad as it ever was. It's just too early to tell if the surgery helped or not.

Well, those deviled eggs and that cake aren't going to cook themselves, so I'd better get this posted and get busy in the kitchen.

Y'all have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend. May God meet all your needs and may you have enough to share is my prayer for each of you.

We Have A Winner!

2009-09-01T07:10:00.002-05:00

We have a winner in last week's book giveaway.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2009-09-01 00:09:57 UTC

If I counted correctly, the number 3 comment was left by WANDER @ WANDER'S WORLD. I'll be sending Wander's book out today or Wednesday.

Congratulations, Wander!

I have a few more book reviews and giveaways coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Hope everyone is having a great last day of August. :-)