Drinks are on Me

I don’t drink much alcohol -- I never have and I hopefully never will. I have always said my drink of choice is Pepsi. I like how it tastes and how it smells. I firmly believe that a Pepsi from a fountain tastes much better than Pepsi from a can, and worlds better than Pepsi from a plastic bottle. A little weird, I know, but if you have to have a vice, it’s not a terrible one. I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs, I don’t sleep around, but I do drink Pepsi. Yes, I know it’s bad for you, and I've cut my consumption way back, but for now it’s a vice I can live with.

My other beverage of choice is milk. I LOVE milk. So much so, that I get it delivered to my doorstep every week in glass bottles by a company that assures me that it came from a cow no more than 36 hours before. It’s heavenly. I grew up working on my friend’s family dairy farm and fondly remember the days of walking out to the barn, turning on the mixers in the bulk tank, and scooping out a pitcher of fresh, raw, whole milk. Talk about nectar of the gods … or at least nectar of the cows.

Water and unsweetened ice tea has become my daily staple. I like water best over ice as it keeps it nice and cold and, for me, makes it more palatable. I will also add fruit to it: lemons, cucumbers, limes--anything to change the monotony. When I am really looking for a change from the water I will change to iced tea. My favorite flavor is a blueberry herbal ice tea. I can drink it any time as there is no caffeine and it is very refreshing.

That being said, I have been trying to drink more wine lately. There are so many studies that say that we should drink red wine. The problem is, I really don’t like most red wines. White wines I can deal with. But reds … they’re just too dry. I use them for cooking--they’re great for cooking--but I just don’t like to drink them. 

I was at the Olive Garden and tried to order the only wine I like called Lambrusco (okay ... stop giggling). To my horror, they didn't carry it any more. Instead they had a wine called Moscato. YUM! It’s sweet, it tastes like grape juice, and it’s delicious. I needed to get me some of this!

We have a great liquor store here in our town that has a very knowledgeable wine sommelier. It’s a great place to go if you are entertaining and want to pair wine with a particular dish. When I went to make Julia Child’s Coq Au Vin, I could not find a burgundy wine that wasn’t $40 a bottle and with his expert knowledge he let me know that Pinot Noir is made with burgundy grapes. Who knew?!?  

He found me lurking in the red wine section one day, probably with a very confused expression on my face, and he asked if he could help me. I asked him for his suggestion of a red wine for a beginner wine drinker. I told him what kinds of wine I like, and I have to give him credit because he didn’t even make a face or roll his eyes.  

Aside from pointing out where I could get the yummy Moscato that the Olive Garden uses, he also pointed me to a Blaufrankisch from Hungary and I have to admit it is yummy too. It doesn’t have as much of a grape juice taste and it’s not sparkling, but it is a good alternative to the dry reds that so many people drink.

So a bottle of this wine will probably last me for a month, once I eventually get around to opening it.  I usually forget that it’s in the fridge and I only think about drinking a glass of wine on Saturday or Sunday night when I make my big meals. Even then I will normally drink milk or water before I drink wine.

It's hard to break old habits; and to tell you the truth I miss my Pepsi. So every once in a while I splurge and treat myself to a glass of that cold, dark, fizzy liquid, out of a fountain with lots of ice. As Rachel Ray would say: "Yum-Oh!"

Pray All Day

Every evening I go through the same routine: let the dogs out, grab a cup of water, brush my teeth, wash my face, let the dogs in, and make sure all the doors are locked.  Then I prepare for bed: change into my jim-jams, put on a bit of lip balm and rearrange my pillows. Then, the moment I’ve waited for all day. I climb into bed, take a deep breath and pray: “Thank you, Lord, for getting me through this day.”

I’m not a very good pray-er. At the very moment when I sit down to pray I, frankly, just can’t think of anything to say. Oh I go through the usual “please watch over my family and friends” and pray for a special blessing for someone that is in the forefront of my mind, but after the business part of my prayers are done my mind just goes blank. It's really quite frustrating. I should be better at this!

Every Sunday while in church during prayer time I am envious of the beautiful words the pastors put in their prayers. Granted, they usually have them written out beforehand, but to be able to come up with those beautiful words in the first place is a gift. 

However, while I am sitting in bed at the end of the day I am just too tired, both physically and emotionally, to come up with something that King James would be proud of. After beating myself up for years, I finally realized that what I say isn’t nearly as important as what is in my heart. Prayer, I've discovered, should be like breathing, natural to do anywhere you are.

I am always in awe of someone who will say, "I meditate for 45 minutes every day." Seriously? If I sat cross-legged on the floor for 45 minutes I wouldn't be able to stand back up. What I have learned, however, is that you don't need to be sitting cross-legged on the floor in order to meditate.

Do you worry about things? I do. Truth is, if you can worry you can meditate and, in turn, you can pray.

God wants to be the center of your life: the center of your conversations, work, entertainment and relationships. Prayer keeps Him in the center of all you do and at the forefront of all your thoughts.

Instead of forcing myself to try to come up with the words all in one sitting I have learned to pray every time I see or feel a need. I pray while driving, while at work, definitely while working out, and while relaxing. Sometimes I just stop what I am doing and praise God, and that is prayer too. It is an ongoing conversation of love, hope, and faith. It takes place throughout the day whenever I feel the need and whenever the Holy Spirit moves me.

So when I curl up in bed at the end of the day and my thoughts from the day are stilled, in that moment, it happens -- this feeling of love washes over me like the warm blankets that surround me. He is here, with me, just like He has been all day.

Chicken Three Ways

My son mentioned that he would like more pantry cooking blogs. When he was still living at home we used to do a big grocery shop the Saturday after I would get paid (I only get paid once a month). I used to love these shopping trips as it was fun way to spend time with my son. His ultimate goal was to try to get me to spend at least $100 on groceries, which, back then, would get you a whole cart full of groceries. It was during these shopping trips that we would indulge ourselves and not be as budget conscious as we were during other times of the month. After all, at this point before I paid the bills, the checkbook had lots of money in it. On the other weeks it was more of a pick-up-only-what-you-need to make supper kind of shopping.

On those other weeks, one of my favorite go-to's was a rotisserie chicken. It's quick, cheap, and the two of us could get three or more meals out of that one chicken. Here's how I did it.

First meal: roast chicken. Roast chicken is one of my favorite dishes. Served with Rice-A-Roni and steamed broccoli it made a great, quick meal. You can keep the chicken warm in a 200 degree oven while you cook the rice and veg. The secret to my steamed broccoli? In addition to salt and pepper before steaming, I add grated nutmeg. You can't really taste the nutmeg but it sure adds tons of flavor to the broccoli. For a spicier twist you can also add crushed red pepper flakes.

Second meal: chicken sandwiches. Just good old-fashioned chicken sandwiches made from toast, lettuce, cheese, sliced chicken breast and mayo. Yummy! Serve with an apple or carrot sticks and some chips.

Another option: chicken salad. I make mine with diced chicken breast, diced apple (Gala or Braeburn are my favorite), celery, walnuts, mayo, ground brown mustard seed, and celery seed (add salt and pepper to taste). Either serve on lettuce or, even better, on a croissant. Seriously good!

Third meal: chicken dumpling soup. Technically this could count as a couple more meals because this soup would feed us for a couple days or more. Here's how I make mine.

For the soup stock, take all the chicken meat off the bones. Dice or shred the chicken meat into whatever size you like. Place carcass in a large soup pot and make sure to add in bones from the wings, drumstick and thigh. Roughly chop two to three celery stalks (or better yet, the end couple of inches from a bunch of celery including the leaves), one medium onion, and three carrots (no need to peel, just clean them up) and throw them in the pot with the chicken carcass. Also add two bay leaves and a teaspoon of peppercorns. Fill pot with cold water, cover and bring to boil over medium high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, turn down the temperature so it just simmers. Simmer for about one hour.

A little hint about making stock. If you boil it too vigorously the stock will be cloudy. A slow, gentle simmer will produce a clearer stock. You can also do this step in the crock pot, but it takes much longer. Add everything to the crock pot, turn it on high. Once it starts to boil, turn the crock pot to low and let it simmer away all day.

While the stock is cooking you can prep for the soup. Dice up one small onion (about a cup), three celery ribs, and two carrots. Rule of thumb for making soup is equal parts celery, carrot and onions (also called a mirepoix), but I like my soups heavier on the onions. Remember, the leaves of the celery are the best part, so add them into your soup.

Heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pot and add celery, onions, carrots and a few pinches of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5-8 minutes on medium low until the onions are clear and the veggies are tender. If you want to, you can stir in a tablespoon or so of flour after the veggies are cooked and cook for a minute or two. This will produce a cloudy soup. Omit if you want a clear soup.

Now you can add the stock. Place a fine mesh strainer over the cooked veggies and ladle about a cup of the stock through the strainer into your pot. Stir up all the cooked bits on the bottom of the pan, and then add the rest of the stock (poured through the strainer). Any leftover stock can be put into freezer zip bags. Make sure you label the bags and freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. Throw out the bones and veggies from the stock -- they've done their duty.

Add the cut up chicken meat to the soup pot, and season with salt, pepper and some dried parsley (a bit of thyme and/or sage is good too--or just add poultry seasoning). Bring soup to a rolling boil to prepare to cook the dumplings.

Dumplings recipe: in a small bowl, mix together one egg, 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Once the soup is at a rolling boil, and using a small teaspoon (dip your spoon into the soup to get it hot and the dumpling dough won't stick to it), drop the dumpling dough into the soup in small spoonfuls until you've added all of it. As the dumplings cook they will triple in size so make sure your spoonfuls of the dough are small, unless you like big dumplings. The dumplings will take about five minutes to cook. You can tell they are done when they are floating.

Last thing to do -- enjoy! This soup freezes really well so go ahead and make a big pot full. Serve alone or with some baking powder biscuits (just grab your favorite cookbook for a recipe -- you can't really mess these up). If you want my recipe, just drop me a line in the comments section.

Some other options for the soup. Add a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, juice and all, and it adds a nice richness to the soup. Don't want to make the dumplings? Just add some uncooked rotini pasta to the soup and boil until tender. 

For a sort of French country chicken soup, you can add a bit of white wine after you add the flour before you add the stock. A quarter of a cup will do, then let it simmer for a minute or two. Then when seasoning add Herbs de Provence instead of the parsley, etc.

One last note, if you don't have time to make the soup right away, separate the meat from the carcass and freeze the meat in a Ziploc bag, all chopped up. Wrap the carcass in aluminum foil or in a large baggie and freeze that as well. Then when you have more time, just throw the frozen carcass in the pot and start your stock from there. You can thaw out the chopped chicken as the stock cooks.

There you have it -- three meals from one rotisserie chicken and a few other staples you should have in your pantry and fridge. Pantry cooking at it's finest.

Snowblower Maintenance

The weather is finally starting to get warmer. Well, at least it's warm enough that if it snows it will probably melt in a day or two and my shoveling days are put on hold until next winter. With a past weekend of warmer weather I started the daunting task of cleaning up the yard, putting away the shovels and eyeing up the snowblower.

Now before all you guys start making fun of me, just remember this when you are trying to sew on a button, or cook a pot roast, or figure out how to get a stain out of your favorite Packer sweatshirt. Let's just say power tools are not my forte.

My good old trusty snowblower has gone through many winters with me. Most years I am very good and will ration out the gasoline at the end of winter so that there is almost nothing left in the tank. Then I can easily run the motor which empties the gas tank and removes the gas throughout the engine. This spring was different. This spring I just recently filled up the gas tank because it had snowed about six inches and the future looked darn cold and snowy. But in reality we didn't get enough snow to warrant using my snowblower again.

So my question is: how do I get the gas out of the gas tank of my snowblower? How does one do this by themselves? I know I'm not supposed to leave it in there. I can't lift the snowblower up by myself to drain it out--it's just too heavy. There must be some sort of syphon that they make to do this, right? I did a search on Google and the tips there mentioned sacrificing a turkey baster to get the gas out. Not going to do that -- I've had my turkey baster for about 25 years.

Gas Syphon

What I did find out is the reason you aren't supposed to leave the gas in there is because the ethanol in the gasoline damages the internal engine parts. So you can do one of two things: you can syphon the gas out of the engine and then run it dry, or you can treat your gasoline with Sta-bil before you put it in your snowblower. The Sta-bil will protect the engine from the ethanol.

Since I didn't pre-treat, I ended up asking my neighbor for help and he had a gas syphon. We were able to get most of the gas out of the tank with the syphon. Then I ran the engine for about two minutes and that took care of the rest.

So glad that's been taken care of. I ended up putting some Sta-bil in my gas can so I won't have this problem next year. Now I need to figure out how to change the oil in my lawnmower. 

Oh, by the way, as I tucked my snowblower away in the corner of the garage, there, hanging on the wall, left by the previous owner, was a turkey-baster-gas-syphon thingy. Oh bother ...

The Dream

Recently I had a very powerful dream. On this Good Friday I thought it would be a good time to share it with you as it is a good reminder of Jesus' sacrifice for us.

The dream started out with me standing on a hillside overlooking a town. Standing next to me was a woman, and after much thought I've come to the conclusion that this woman was an angel. She was giving me a chance to see the world through her eyes. 

As my eyes scanned over the town I saw many church steeples rising above the buildings. On top of the steeples were crosses. Hanging in the air next to each steeple was a cross outlined with white light. I looked at each church and each one had two crosses: one physical and one illuminated and hanging in the sky. 

Image courtesy of maryjnelson.com

Then I looked down at the people walking throughout the town going about their business. However, behind some of them, following them around as they went about their day, was an outlined image of Jesus carrying the cross, again illuminated and not visible to my human eyes. I instantly knew what this meant and was happy to see how many of them were followers of Jesus. It was a reminder that Jesus is with us wherever we go. But it was also a strong visual reminder that our freedom from sin came at a great cost.

I think it's important to remember how much was sacrificed for us. Every year at this time I struggle to read through the scriptures that tell the story of Jesus' crucifixion and death on the cross. It's heartbreaking, and, no matter how many times I read it, it brings me to tears. But it's something I feel I need to do--to remind myself that there was a price paid for us.

I woke up from the dream feeling very thankful and blessed. What a wonderful gift to be given this vision! It made me feel comforted knowing that the blessing of Christ's sacrifice is with me always.

May you all have the blessing of Christ throughout this Easter season.

Spuds in the Living Room

I have garden fever.  A long winter, coupled with a cold, cold Spring has left me with an obsession with gardening. This year, I wanted to try something new: potatoes.

I've never grown potatoes before. I had some potatoes in my pantry left over from my trips to the farmer's market this past summer. They had some pretty good size eyes growing on them so I scoured YouTube looking for instructions on how to plant potatoes. To my surprise I discovered that you can plant potatoes in containers.

Since I don't have the patience to wait until June for it to get warmer outside, I decided to plant mine in containers and place them in front of a south facing window. It just so happens the south facing window is in my living room.

I found these really cool containers at Home Depot. The covers on these containers can be turned upside down and used as drip pans. I drilled some holes in the sides and bottom of the containers to let the soil "breathe".  Then I filled them up with about four inches of organic potting soil and placed five seed potatoes in each (and just in the nick of time too -- the "eyes" were getting pretty long on these).

It didn't take long for the shoots from the eyes to start sprouting green leaves. When they were about four inches over the soil, I put more soil in the container to cover them up. So they grew four more inches. And then I put some more in ... and some more. Boy these really started growing fast! I swear if you stand over the container and watch them you can almost see them growing.

Eventually you will have the entire container filled with soil. The shoots will start getting bigger leaves on the stems to soak up more sunshine--which increases the rate at which they grow--which is kindof scary because they are already growing at an alarming rate. Auch mein Gott! What have I done?



The shoots should, in theory, eventually start sprouting roots which will grow potatoes on them. Problem is I won't get to find out if it worked or not until the middle of July.


I have one suggestion if you're thinking about doing this: at one point the plant part of the potato got so big they just flopped over. If I were to do this again I would put tomato cages around each plant. I was able to get some in there and "retrofit" them, but it should have done it right from the start.

On a side note, when I went to buy the tomato cages the lady who checked me out was looking at me kindof funny. She said, "Are your tomatoes ready for cages already?" because it's a bit early to buy tomato cages. I said, "No, they're not for my tomatoes, they're for the potatoes growing my living room." I think she was still a bit confused. It could also have been because it was SNOWING outside and who in their right mind needs tomato cages when it's this blasted cold outside! (Ok, I feel better.)

Eventually I will get to move the containers from my living room to my back patio where they belong and can soak up the sunshine and get some nourishing rain. If this actually works I will be astounded. Any volunteers to help me carry them out?

Happy "Spring" everybody!

A Parent's Memories

I miss my parents. They have been gone for almost ten years now. And even though their last years were not their strongest, it was still nice to know that you had your mom and dad around.

I am envious of anyone who is my age and still has one, or both, of their parents around--especially their moms.  My mom and I weren't girlfriend-like close, but she was still my mom and I loved her very much.  I still hear her voice running through my head, especially when the lilacs are in bloom, or I'm making her pot roast, or I pass a rummage sale sign.


My dad and I were close too.  I still hear his voice in my brother's voices. He shared my interests in 4-H and horses, and I spent many a weekend walking with him through Schaeffer's woods and the local county park with the dog in tow. I taught him how to play the piano--so it's my fault that he always played Claire d'Lune over and over again. I'm guessing he already knew how to play and that was his way of spending some time with me.

I was watching a daughter talking to her mom the other day and it got me thinking: what would you ask your parents if you had the opportunity?  If you could go back in time and sit down with them, what would you spend your time talking about?

I would ask mine what the world was like when they were kids? What was their favorite subject in school? Who were their best friends? What was their favorite music? What were they afraid of? What made them happy? What do they remember about their parents or grandparents? As kids, what did they dream of doing when they got older? If they could go back and do it again, what would they change?

I would ask my mom all about plants and flowers and gardening and canning. It seemed to me that she always had a garden and was canning something or making jam.  In mid-July you could always find us walking along the borders of farm fields looking for black raspberries. I can remember walking with her through the woods and she would be pointing out and naming all the wildflowers and trees. Why didn't I listen more closely or ask more questions? By the time I was interested in any of those things it was already too late.

My dad was a great one for business advice.  If I could, I would ask my dad how he became successful, twice, in his careers. If I had a problem at work or was thinking about changing jobs I would always call my dad and talk things over.

My dad and I always had this father-daughter psychic phone line thing going on. I would be sitting at home and thinking about him and the phone would ring--it would be him. Or the same thing would happen to him.

My dad also served in WWII.  He never really talked about his time in the war. But if I had it to do over again, I would ask him details. What was it like serving in the Navy? What areas did he travel to? Was he scared? Did he understand what was going on at the time? Where was he when the war ended?

When I was remarried this last time I was fortunate enough to gain another set of parents. It felt really good to have a mom back in my life again. It was also a cruel twist of fate that I can no longer have a relationship with her. But, that, my friends, is another post.

Talk to your parents and your grandparents. Ask them all the questions I wish I could ask mine. If your mom is trying to teach you something she thinks you need to know, listen. My guess is she feels this unstoppable need to pass on her knowledge. And do one more favor for me--give them a kiss and a hug, from me.

Out of the Deep

This past Sunday I had the privilege of singing a piece of John Rutter's "Requiem" with my church choir. The scripture that morning was the story of Lazarus' death and Jesus bringing him back to life. The part of the Requiem that we sang was John Rutter's interpretation of Psalm 130, "Out of the Deep."

This song is filled musically with all the longing that Psalm 130 verbalizes. It starts with a cello intro in a soulful melody and continues that theme throughout the piece. As the psalmist places his trust in the Lord, the music is lifted and hopeful. We were blessed to have one of the best young cellists in our area play for us and that brought the choir's "game" up another level.

The words to the song begin, "Out of the deep have I called unto you O Lord. Lord, hear my voice." How many times have I said that? And this got me thinking about how much my journey of faith has changed.

It used to be that I would only call to God for help when I was in distress. Having no where else to turn, from the depths of my despair I would cry out for help wanting instant relief from my misery. I wanted to get lifted out of the deep and have this crisis over.

One of the hardest things to do is to be thankful in times of trouble. When I am struggling with something or feeling hurt or deceived, the thanks I offer up to God leaves a bitter taste on my tongue. I literally struggle to physically speak the words. It is one of the hardest lesson I have learned over the years.

But why is it that we tend to think about God more when we are in distress than when we are joyful?

As people of faith, we are not just to look to God in times of distress but in times of happiness as well. As a parent, I love seeing my child happy and love hearing him thank me for the good times of his life. Why wouldn't God feel the same way? After all, we are the children of God.

I've said it before and I will probably say it again: in all things we need to be thankful. Good times and bad, joy and despair, hope and distress. In that way we keep God in the center of our lives, which makes even the really bad times seem not so bad.

Here's the Cambridge Singers, conducted by John Rutter himself, performing "Requiem II: Out of the Deep" by John Rutter:

Getting It All Done

Image courtesy of lifebiz.biz

The one thing I have learned throughout all my years of being single is that you can't get it all done. As someone who works full time, Monday through Friday, my weekends are filled with endless to-do lists. I find that I am always making a choice between being a responsible adult and doing my chores, or blowing them all off to do something fun. Sometimes it is really hard to find the balance.

This past weekend I had the following on my to-do list:

• Finish puzzle - because I need the table it's on for my seedlings
• Clean the basement - just breaking down some random boxes and putting a few things away, not too bad
• Laundry
• Vacuuming
• Sweep kitchen floor
• Pick up dog land mines in back yard
• Go to pet store for dog food (so they can make more land mines)
• Look for dog frisbee that is in a box "somewhere" in the house ... or not.
• Replant my seedlings - This requires a trip to the garden center for some more potting soil and some 3" pots, and to the dollar store for some more cups to use as small pots
• Church (Singing for both services which takes an entire morning, so it goes on the list)
• Check out new hobby store that opened by my house
• Walk the dogs, twice
• Get a workout in
• Stop at liquor store so I can get the fixin's for this drink I want to try with these great strawberries that came my way (Where do I find triple sec? Oh, it's by the liquoooooors.)
• Prepare various meals, try new energy bar recipe, and make something with the left over buttermilk from last weekend

Not an exhaustive list, but quite a bit to do none-the-less. Plus there's loads of things that didn't even make the list:

• Rake the yard
• Pick up yard debris
• Get to hardware store for some Stabil for my gasoline can and snowblower
• Wash my truck - inside and out
• Fix flower beds that dogs have dug up
• Take "Bob" out for a spin
• Get to Sam's Club to replace TV that died
• Hem jeans with new sewing machine that I haven't even taken out of the box yet

It is physically impossible for me to get all of this done by myself. Plus, have you ever noticed that when you are away from work times moves at a much faster pace than normal? Something that should take half an hour suddenly takes one-and-a-half hours. A 20 minute shower turns into an hour spent in the bathroom because you decide you have to rearrange one of the drawers in the cabinet. Putting your laundry away from last week turns into an hour long project because you decide you need to rearrange all the shoes in your closet.

I can always tell when I've had a busy weekend because I get to work on Monday and my feet still hurt. Since I have a desk job my poor feet aren't used to standing all day long. By Sunday night I find that if I sit still for longer than 15 minutes rigor-mortis sets in. It always feels good to get to work on Monday and be able to sit down again and rest.

Then there's the inevitable task that will present itself that needs immediate attention. For example, I got home from church to find that Ellie had ripped open a teddy bear that you can put in the microwave oven and use as a hot pack. It had all these little pieces of cracked corn in it which were now spread all over the floor of one of the bedrooms (I wish I would have taken a picture--but I was too flabbergasted to run downstairs and grab my camera). I wasn't planning on having to pick up millions of little bits off the floor and it took me an hour to clean up because I had to get the vacuum cleaner out and, well, as long as I had the vacuum cleaner out and have to move the bed I might as well vacuum all around the edges of the carpet and then, well, I might as well vacuum the rest of the house while I'm at it!

Image courtesy of peanuts.wikia.com

Sometimes I can't get it all done. Sometimes no matter what you do the odds are against you. Sometimes, in the end, you just have to admit defeat and go shopping.

Puzzle Therapy

I started a new puzzle today.  Puzzles can be very therapeutic.  

When I moved into my new house I set up a table in the dining room where I always have a puzzle going.  During winter (and the dark, early nights) I have to move to the kitchen table where the light is better.  But now that Spring is close and the days are longer, the light is perfect for putting puzzles together.  

Nala Helping With Puzzle

If you’ve never put a puzzle together I have found there is no better way to have the hours fly by than by trying to fit 1000 or more tiny interlocking pieces of cardboard into a square picture.  

Everyone seems to have their own method for putting the pieces together. They either separate them by color, or group the ones with the same patterns together, or they start from the top and work their way down. 

The hardest part is trying to keep the cat from stealing the pieces and the dog from chewing them into little brown globs of paper. Nala, my cat, always seizes the opportunity to have my undivided attention by jumping up on the table and laying across the middle of what ever puzzle I am working on.

Weird shaped puzzle pieces.

After I went through all the puzzles that I had collected over the years, purchased from yard sales and resale shops, I ended up buying some new ones. Puzzles have really changed over the years! These pieces look like nothing I recognize and it has taken my brain quite a bit of processing power to actually be able to see how these pieces fit together.

There really is only one downfall to puzzles that I can see: I can’t seem to stop working on them. Even if I have arrived at a point where I am convinced that somebody came in during the night and swapped pieces from another puzzle into this one because none of the remaining pieces seem to fit together, I will sit there for hours systematically trying to fit each piece into a particular spot. 

I have this clock in my living room that chimes every 15 minutes. I recently realized that when I am working on a puzzle I don't hear the chimes any more. So I turned up the volume on the chimes--and I still don't hear it. When I do get to get my brain to pay attention to it, I will always tell myself that I have to stop at a certain amount of time. Inevitably I end up going over that time and saying, "Okay, just another 15 minutes," about three times. It’s an obsession, and hopefully it’s better for my brain than watching TV.

The other thing I've noticed is that I have found out I'm not the only one doing puzzles. The more people I talk to about it the more I realize that quite a few of you have puzzles going on in your dining rooms. Also, when people visit at my house and see what I have going on in my dining room, it usually elicits a response of "Ooh, a puzzle! I love puzzles!!"

So go ahead, pull out those puzzles that are in the back of the closets. You know you have at least one in there! Spread it out on the table and let the therapy begin.

The Saul's In My Life

A few years ago I had promised myself that I would read the Bible in its entirety.  If I was hoping to be in leadership in a church some day, I felt as though I had to at least get through the entire bible at least once. 

I found a Bible that divided up the task into easy-to-manage readings every day:  a bit from the Old Testament, a bit from the New Testament, a Psalm and a Proverb. How hard can this be, really?  I faithfully read my way from January 1 through May 30 and then as quickly as I started, I stopped. I just couldn’t handle the Old Testament any more. 

Picture of Saul from nccg.org

I didn’t want to read about conqueror’s taking the lives of 10,000 people and pillaging their villages any more. Or about rulers who thought no more about ordering a person’s death than they did about ordering dinner.

After a break and a breath of fresh air I decided to try again. Only this time I wasn’t going to just read the Bible, I was going to study it. I promised myself I would get something out of the Old Testament. So with multiple versions of the Bible surrounding me and a really good Study Bible as a reference, I started to make my way through the Old Testament once again.

What I found layered between the battles and the rules and the lists of lineage, were little gems of lessons and wisdoms that I could use in my life today. Here’s one of my favorites: we must deal with the Saul’s in our life before we can have success.

Saul was the first God-appointed king of Israel. David served under Saul, and with every success that David had Saul became more and more resentful of David. At every turn, Saul tried to make David's life miserable and even tried to kill him. In the end Saul's jealousy of David was his undoing.  

Now I'm not saying that the Saul's in my life are jealous of me, but they do make my life more unpleasant and difficult.

I have several Saul’s in my life.  These people can be anyone:  someone you work with, someone at home, or yes, even someone at church. These people bring out the worst in me and make me feel miserable. One of them rarely smiles at me and as I’m faced with his scowl day after day, I always feel like I’m doing something wrong. The other one will bark out orders that would make a drill sergeant proud. I’m sure this person doesn’t mean to come across so harshly but these words, usually said in haste, really stop me in my tracks and always take me by surprise. 

Honestly, I just don’t like being around these people. I know they are good people, but would it put them out so much to ask me how my day is going or to think about what they are saying before they say it?  These things gnaw at my heart and my mood and have ruined many days at work and many worship services.

Through my bible study I realized that anyone who is anointed for leadership has to be around a person like Saul sometime in their life.  Joyce Meyer says, "God uses the 'Saul's' in our lives to get the 'Saul' out of us."  Or in other words, "God will place someone who is like sandpaper close to us to smooth off our rough edges."

Joyce also said that it’s also important that we grasp this truth: “Just because we are anointed for leadership does not mean that we get to move immediately into a position of leadership.  There is a work that has to be done in us, a testing that has to take place before we get promoted. If we want to lead, we must first serve in circumstances that may not be ideal and learn to behave wisely. This prepares us to be greatly used by God."

When dealing with my Saul's, I have taken up a couple of mantras. The first one says, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” and the second, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” The person who refuses to smile is met every day with a smile of my own. I don’t know what he is going through in his personal life to be so grumpy all the time but I want to give him a little bit of God’s light from mine. 

I have also learned not to let hastily spoken words ruin my worship experience. Instead of feeling hurt by what has been said by one person, I will smile at that person every week, forgive them and say a prayer for them during service. 

As Christians, we are to be Christ’s light bearers, letting His light shine through us. 1 Peter 3:4 says, “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” In this way I examine my own heart and make sure that I have the right motives and heart attitudes. By doing what is right I will be pleasing God, whose opinion matters most.  

I am thankful for the Saul's in my life. I am thankful that they are helping me to be prepared for and live a life that can be used by God.