It's all about me

Pondering 1 John 2:15-17

In verse 15 We are told not to love the world or the things in the world.  Verse 16 clears that up even further.  for all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.  Finally verse 17 - the world is passing away. 

I feel clearly that God is strongly dealing with me in the area of lusts of the world.  I would love to say that I have no real "lusts" but that would be a complete lie.  Most of us have heard that you can look in your checkbook register and see where your priorities lie.  Hmm yes - gas, groceries, electricity, education and so forth.  Yes it takes lots of gas to drive from our house to work each day - but we make zero effort to car pool.  We don't have the same work schedule - but I'm sure we could work something out IF we wanted to.  Groceries - that one is a killer.  We must be one of the most wasteful families I know when it comes to food.  We rarely eat left overs.  We often eat out.  The pantry stays full and the freezers (plural) are full and yet I seem to need to go the grocery store once or twice a week.  I remember the days when I made a menu and shopped for those specific foods.   Coincidentally, we were all much smaller in those days.  Those were the same days that exercise was free.  (aside from the pair of tennis shoes)  We didn't need a Gym membership or a living room full of exercise equipment.  We knew how to "beat the pavement".  There are so many areas of our lives that we could simplify and cut out waste. 

Other lusts are for my home.  I love my house.  It is more house than we physically need.  It needs some modifications but some of the things I want are simply because of coveting what others have.  No one in particular - but each time I see something that I like better than mine - I think that I may need to change things in my house.  Needs or wants?  How often do I ask myself that?  NEVER  That's the answer.  Then I find myself worrying - literally - about how I'm going to get those changes.  Changes that I don't need - but I want.  Where is the eternal significance in wanting to update my house?  Updates such as new insulated windows are far overdue.  They would have paid for themselves many times over since moving into this drafty old house.  Some things are just good common sense. 

I guess the loss of our last two parents has me really evaluating my life.  This life is passing away.  When I'm gone - what will be my legacy?  Worldly?  Materialistic?  My mom once said that she hoped when she died that people would be able to say nice things about her at her funeral.  She must have thought about that a lot in life because there were nice things said.  Her legacy is that of a prayer warrior.  She burned the midnight oil down on her knees in prayer (actually sitting in her glider rocker).  Or early morning's sitting at her dining room table  - Bible open and praying.  She loved to give - she gave to her church, her family, and countless veteran organizations that sent her some labels.  And pretty much any other organization that sent her some labels or a t-shirt or even a flag, oh yes tote bags, cards - yep you name it and she gave.  She felt guilty having more than enough and someone else not having enough.   What is enough for me and my family?  It's something we need to decide.  What more can we give?

God's Word says "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:25-27 NIV   His word is clear that we should not worry about what we are going to eat - He will provide.  This is where faith has to be an action word.  If we give more than then won't God provide for our needs?  He tells us that He will so if we are not obedient to His call then we are not showing faith. 

God has a promise for our doubts and fears when He asks us to step out on faith "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 New American Standard Bible  I am a worrier (is that a word?) by nature.  I always considered it just a control freak.  But part of needing to be in control comes from worrying about taking care of things.  And these things more often that not are things that God is trying to take care of but I get in the way. 

So - it is all about me - it's about me getting in God's way.  It's about me putting my focus on things that have no eternal significance.   It's about me - it's about time that I let go and let God.  It's time to put faith into action.  Heck I even worry about what blessings I've missed out on that I know I got in the way of - for crying out loud - when will I learn?????????


But I sure do love you guys!

Diane

Wish it was "not me"

I have some things I want to blog about because it is therapeutic and it helps me to put things in perspective if I write about it. Yesterday's sermon has me really thinking and needing to search scripture so hopefully tonight will offer some time for that. So in the mean time look what I wish I was not having to do.

My mom loved LOVED did I say loved jewelry. So the sorting begins. Thanks to Ashley for laying it out for me.

So I wish it was "not me" having to go through my moms jewelry. I truly do.

Earthquake Cake

I don't know where I've been all these years to miss out on Earthquake Cake! But let me tell you that I won't miss out anymore. Some sweet friends baked lots of goodies to share with my family and friends during my mom's services. There are always silver linings and we just have to look for them. This cake is a silver lining - or a fat lining to my waistline. Well now that I've said that I feel rather guilty loving this cake so much. But oh well - I LOVE IT! This cake takes all the things I love and squishes it all up together. Very professional description right?

For as long as I can remember my mom made a German Chocolate cake for my birthday. Several years ago I discovered how much I love and love to bake with cream cheese! I just migrate to those recipes. I should stop right now and spare anyone reading this the calories. But - I'm not. Misery loves company. Though the only misery involved here is the additional inch on your waste line. Your taste buds will appreciate me. UNLESS you are my husband and daughter. They don't like coconut. Wow - I hate that for them.

Without further rambling - the recipe.

1 box German Chocolate cake mix
1 cup coconut (or more)
1 cup pecans - chopped or whole (or more)

Filling:
1 stick butter - softened
1 block cream cheese - softened
1 box powdered sugar

Prepare your cake mix according to the box recipe. Set aside. Spray a 9x13 pan with your favorite spray. Cover the bottom with pecans. Sprinkle coconut over the pecans. Do not stir or mix. Pour the cake mix over the nuts and coconut. DO NOT STIR. Blend together the filling. Pour the filling over the cake mix without stirring. I had to basically drop spoon fulls because it was thick.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40-45 minutes. Watch the corners because your center will be soft due to the filling. Testing won't work for this cake.

Enjoy - and sorry for the added inches!

These pics are in reverse order  - and yes I forgot to take a pic of the finished baked yummy product.

Love you guys.
Diane

Linking to Works for Me Wednesday here.





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Awareness

I did some blog hopping last week and came across some great blog parties and found some new friends. Welcome to you guys and I look forward to some new friendships. I am amazed at the people that I've already met blogging and on facebook that I don't know outside of the social media world. Holly over at http://www.diamondpotential.com gave me an Awareness Promoting Award this week and I couldn't be more proud.I would post the button but something is not working properly. *sigh* You can check out her site and see the button! Being diagnosed at an early age with breast cancer gave me a voice to use and I want to be sure that I do my part for education. Dr. R told me once that the knowledge could be an asset if I used it correctly. He stated that everyone did not want to research and learn but he knew it was important to me, but to be sure that it did not defeat me.

So...... remember ladies that you can get a baseline mammo at age 35 and an annual mammo at age 40. That hog wash that was presented to the nation last year in the form of a "STUDY" telling us not to have a mammo until age 50 was full of bull. That study seems to have disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Just so you know - I hunted those people down like a vulture hunts its prey. I sent each and every one of them my opinion. Had I followed their professional opinion regarding mammo and self breast exams I would not be here typing this note. Suggesting that self breast exams don't serve a purpose and that a woman does not need a mammo until age 50 is absurd. It disregards years and years of research and efforts to get young women educated that "young women can and do get breast cancer". Why on earth would we need the "Young Survival Coalition" if breast cancer targets the over 50 crowd? That group of survivors will tell you quickly how they feel about early detection, mammography and breast self exams (at an early age).

We all have an area of awareness that we are passionate about. Share it with me - link it to Holly's page. Get your message out. What a great opportunity we have to learn from one another. This is not a new process. We are able to "sharpen" each other. We each have areas of expertise even if we don't have a platform we are passionate about. Let's just be passionate about serving and sharpening one another. Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Love you guys.

All boy

My husband and I were surrounded by all girls for 17 years. We had girl dogs, cats etc. We just didn't make boys and we didn't get boy animals. I didn't have boy experience. Our little guy broke me in gently. UNTIL recently. Man oh man he is turning into the whole "snakes and snails and puppy dog tails." And I don't even know what that really means but I'm going to tell you how I interpret it.

I think boys sliver on the ground like a snake and get filthy dirty. I think they pick up snakes, worms and/or any other creature crawling on the ground and think it's cool.

I think boys are built to operate at a snails pace when the need to speed is in order. They just creep along like a little snail while you are anxiously awaiting. I think they often live under a rock (or hard cover). Life is going on around them while they are way out there in outerspace. Hello! Anyone in there? Didn't think so.

Alas - puppy dog tails. I think boys smell like a wet puppy dog tail very often. I think you often wonder where on earth that tail has been oooorrrr maybe you just really don't want to know (yep that better sums it up).

But......(isn't there always a but?) Are they not the cutest little slow slimey stinky tails ever?



This weeks adventures have included but not limited to:

Rolling full body in the moist dirt at a playground. Head to toe - no joke - no exaggeration. (there are witnesses but no pictures)

Rolling on the porch with the dogs while dressed and ready for school. Yes in deed that made for a pleasant start of the school/work day.

Wrapping fruit-by-the-foot around his thumb like a cast - and then eating it!! Yum Yum

He asked me to take this picture of him being a "taco".


He's the one on the left that looks like a hot dog rather than a taco but it's cute either way.

And then there's the night he wanted to dress like a cowboy for VBS closing night. Yes - I see a cowboy in this pic.


WHAT? You see no cowboy? Erkle comes to mind right?


Here he just wanted to show off his mad puzzle skills.


Awesome I know!


And in case you don't follow me on facebook - here are a couple quotes worth re-quoting!

While recently shopping for a shirt (for myself) he wanted to know what size to pick out for me. I stated, "well - I have to look at it to know that" but he persisted and looked over the tags and proclaimed "it could be a large or medium or extra large - but we darn sure know it's not a small". aaaahhhhh the cold hard honesty of a son is like no other!

While having dinner one evening one of our daughters asked her sister to hand her a biscuit please. Owen promptly jumps up and grabs one and hands it to her. As he walks away he states "well - my hands may stink since I had them on my feet and they stink!!" Sweet - bet you all want a biscuit served up by Owen now!

And on a serious note - I asked him about his teachers. Oh I have Miss Guida and it's Miss Guida not misquito. Oh ok glad you clarified that for me. And then he went on to say that his heart beat races when he goes to her class because he LOVES it!

So thank you God for allowing me the opportunity to discover snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. Such an adventure it is.

Love you guys,

Diane

HOT

Hats off to any of you that work outside. Actually hats off to any of you that can even GO outside these days. Can we say HOT?? I am way way way over this kind of heat. I pick up Owen from school every day.

This is how it felt:



Yep - it felt everybit 111 degrees inside my car at 3:33.

Fall oh Fall where art thou?????

Works for me Wednesday Tip

RIT Dye worked for me this school year.

I was fortunate to be gifted with 8 (yes 8) pair of slightly used navy blue uniform pants after Christmas last year. My sweet friends son outgrew them and she gifted them to my son. They were a little large but hey - that belt worked just fine and he motored along swimmingly for the remainder of the year. Fast forward to the new year. I was dreading having to purchase all new pants when the ones he had still fit but were somewhat faded and didn't look new. Who wants to send their son off to school in "not new" pants the first week of school? Well - maybe you can do it - but I can't. So I purchased a couple pair and thought I would purchase a few more throughout the summer. Still frustrated about all of those nice Gap and Old Navy pants not being used.

Sooooo I purchased two boxes of Navy blue RIT dye and put all of those suckers right into my washing machine. And lo and behold those pants look good as new!!! Yippee - I did not need to purchase school pants this year. I was out $6.00 and had 8 new pair of pants.

Off - to scope out my closet and see what needs refreshed. I'm sure there are some black pants that need to look new again.

What's working for you this school year? Hop on over to http://wearethatfamily.com/ and see what works for others. There are some really brilliant people out there!

Love you guys,

Diane

Challenge - 30 days and more

Well - we are two weeks into the 30 day challenge. I entered the challenge thinking that I would focus on exercise and making better food choices. I wanted to do things differently. I am educated on weight loss and exercise. I have preached to others that there are 168 hours in a week and surely you can set aside at least 2 of those for exercise. That's not asking much right?? Well - in two weeks I put in a whopping 30 minutes. Albeit I did some sweating and activity that should count as exercise (climbing steps if you were wondering). That is not sufficent. I weighed at the doctor's office on day 2 and have not stepped foot on the scales since then. Although, dear hubby has managed to lose six pounds that I am very proud of him for.

A dear friend spoke to a group of women recently and gave some encouraging scripture. Maybe you could use some encouragement. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. I love that we can do that - encourage and lift up each other. My friends are such an encouragement to me. I have been loved on this past week and I am thankful to call you friends. In Deuteronomy 3: 28a God gave Moses instructions: 28'(A)But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, Moses was not going to enter into the promised land but Joshua was. How often do we become jealous or full of envy when someone else succeeds and we do not. Many times I have been full of envy when someone else succeeds with weight loss. I envy those that love to exercise and do it faithfully. But I can turn that into a challenge. They should inspire me. I am the only thing between me and success. Even though life gets in the way - it is my choice to be swallowed up or to get busy and take care of my body. (not even the exterior part - but those vital organs). Being jealous is part of the problem and is not the solution.

I desire to be healthy. Those long steep flights of steps this past weekend were killers on this out of shape woman. I was hurting by the last few and that is NOT acceptable.

So - please leave me some messages about how you fit exercise into your schedules. We can help and encourage each other with tips to make it more doable. Remember 168 hours - 4 days of 30 minutes is merely 2 of those hours. It's a start.

The other part of my challenge was to spend more time with my Heavenly Father through His Word. Well - careful what you ask for. And always - always be prepared for Satan to attack when you strive to make Christ first and foremost. Satan just loves a challenge and he despises that we desire to have a close relationship with Christ. I noticed that Amber over at http://www.strivingfor31.com was sick last week. That's a sure way to interfere with diet and exercise. The challenge was pretty much the last thing on my mind when my mom went home to be with Jesus on July 30. But I know that just as God allowed Satan to attack Job He can and will allow us to be attacked. But what an awesome thought that God knows that we (you and me) can handle the attack. He looks down on us and says - they won't falter. Losing my mom is a very difficult thing right now (more so today for some reason) but I know that she is rejoicing at the throne. She is in no pain. She is no longer longing to be reunited with my dad. I just know he escourted her through those pearly gates. I can rejoice in many things and not allow Satan the glory of beating me down. Phillipians 4:13 is often quoted and very well known but IT applys. I CAN do everything through Him who GIVES me strength. All the strength that I need comes from Him. He gives me enough.

I can't succeed on my strength, but I can succeed on HIS strength.

I love you guys - keep on keeping on and tell me how it's going.

Diane

Rambling and Ranting and Not Me!

Jennifer over at www.mycharmingkids.net has her "Not Me Monday" up today. Two weeks ago I had some stuff I felt that I needed to expose. Alas, two weeks later I am clueless as to what it was that I wanted to write. Obviously I need to make better notes. Because you see I did make a couple notes - and now I can't decipher them. WHO would do such a thing? Not Me's on the loose obviously.

I've needed some venting for a couple weeks now and one of the reasons I need to vent is because I simply have not had the time to get anything accomplished. All well laid plans can be altered at a moments notice. I did discover that life will go on without you and it will go on if you miss a hard deadline. But who thinks that life would stop without them anyway - who's that vain? Not me!

Who would embarrass their family in such a way they contemplate leaving the restaurant or simply not sitting with you? At minimum they refuse to look your way. Who you ask? Not me! But - who allows their soccer team to sit inside a very crowded restaurant and chit chat at lots of large tables while customers were standing around not ordering due to no place to sit for lunch? Move-in weekend in a college town is not a time to be rude by sitting around the restaraunt no longer eating while others want to eat. Don't know the man's name but he knew we needed a place to sit after I coaxed my friend into asking him if they were ready to leave!! And when one lonely child continued to sit at this table that would seat all ten of us - I simply felt the need to keep her company so the other masses of customers would not get that idea first! She did move eventually - and I did get the Manager to clean "our" table while I was turning away other customers to what appeared to be an empty table for the getting.

Since I'm on a roll............I would fire masses of people that don't want their job and don't appreciate their customers. Unemployment would be on the serious high side if I were given charge of pink slips. I know you are sitting on the edge of your seat now wanting to hear more rants, rambles and Not Me!

Apartment Manager - first to be axed. No notice that our move in time will be hindered by the fact that the apartment is not cleaned, carpets not cleaned and appliances not working or not in the right space. Her excuse is that the crew of painters did not speak English and they didn't get finished by Tuesday as planned. HELLO - YOU DIDN'T DISCOVER THAT UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT???????????? Get off rump; check on painters - find someone who is bilungual (for crying out loud you live in a college town - someone took Spanish)and get them on schedule. You have a file of who is moving in and when.

Carpet cleaner second to go - GET OFF PHONE - CLEAN CARPET.

Maintenance Man - third to go - "fridge repaired" (after hubby dear had already checked it out and had it going) His version of repair was to turn off icemaker. Yes we did wait twenty four hours to see if it would make ice. Hubby dear discovered repair man unhooked ice maker - once again hooked it back up.

My appearance at her desk to "get things going" did win a discounted rate for the first month.


State Trooper - He actually would be my first to axe. Everyone won't agree with me - but people hear me out. We are traveling in my minivan with flashers trying to follow the ambulance which carries my mom who is not breathing. We do not know if we have a last opportunity to be with her or not. State trooper does u-turn to stop us and we are frantically pointing at ambulance. HE DOES NOT CARE - HE IS WITHIN A MILLIMETER OF OUR BUMPER. No kidding. We thought he was going to crash us to get us to stop. I am calling 911 to tell them to ask him to back off. Hubby eventually stops and he proceeds to yell at him chewing him out and tells us that we are NOT ALLOWED TO DRIVE FAST EVEN IF WE ARE FOLLOWING AN AMBULANCE. Well my friends - "chuckie" appeared in the form of a redheaded mad woman. Between the yelling at the 911 dispatcher and the trooper - I may have really lost all sanity at that moment. Poor hubby was fishing for drivers license between me and Trooper. Trooper gave up and walked away - with a simple - be careful - did a uturn and went the other direction.

Hubby was not weaving in and out of traffic - driving fast but safe. Not even tailgating the ambulance - the situation was bad - but the trooper made it worse - he put us in much more danger that we or anyone else was in. His comment was that you can't drive over the speed limit. My dander is up again just thinking about it.

So moral to that story is you CANNOT drive over the speed limit for ANY reason - the flashers are only for parking on side of road waiting for help. There are no exceptions. Who wrote that rule?? NOT ME - AND SERIOUSLY NOT ME. I'm still mad (not angry - mad)

So - if you are still reading and want to read some good funny entertaining "not me" stories - go on over to her site and enjoy!

Love you all,
Diane

A tip and a Why? on Works for me Wednesday

Before I started blogging I read lots of blogs and got lots of tips from these blogs. I loved (and still do) love the WFMW blog party because there are some super tips from some super bloggers! I love Kristen's blog. She loves The Lord and glorifies Him through her blog. She is real and I enjoy reading "real" blogs. So stop over at her blog at http://wearethatfamily.com and get some awesome tips for what works for others. You will be blessed if you read through her blog.

What I need today is a tip on "why"? Why do my cotton shirts (nice colorful comfy summer t-shirts) always come out of the laundry with a spot on them. It looks like a grease spot. But, alas, I do not usually drop food on my shirts! I don't fry anything to get a spot and I have not recollection of getting a spot. ALWAYS, if I buy and brown shirt (and I do every summer since the previous one has a spot) it gets a spot immediately. I buy inexpensive ones fortunately, but I would still love for them to last more than one summer.

Any thoughts? Please share!

My "Works for me Wednesday" tip: Not original from me but not sure where I learned it!

Family clean up day. I make a list on Friday night of what will need to be done on our big cleaning day. This list is made available on Friday night so that they can plan accordingly. Usually it is large enough that each person will get 2 chores from the list. The rule is that the first person up on Saturday gets to choose the first chore and so on down the line. Get up early get the easiest two chores because you will finish the first chore and be back at the list before everyone else!

Works for Me!!

Love you guys.


Diane