Old Friends

 

Yesterday was a great, restful day. 

David and I went back to our home church,

which we haven't attended in years.

It was very nice to see old friends

and see kids who were now grown

with their own families.

Afterwards, we went to our

friend's house for lunch.

We had homemade lasagna, salad,

asparagus and the lemon pound cake I made,

with hot coffee.

We sat outside and reminisced about old times,

the men's ailments 😅, and grandchildren.

We walked their pastureland and talked about 

old friends and new neighbors.

As we move into a new season of life here,

I hope we can spend more time with

friends.

It does something for your soul, 

to reminisce, talk about growth,

compare notes on life

and share a good meal.

I'm thankful for simple days like this.

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

Your Job Is Not Your Identity and Other Bits and Pieces

One week ago today, our lives were changed for the better. David was unfairly let go from his job, with no explanation. 

It's been a long week of piecing together bits of information, names, etc., making sure our finances are together, getting phone calls from friends, co-workers who didn't get to say goodbye and new companies interested in talking to David about a job. 

All the things you want to say, people you want to slap (just being real), and all the injustices you want to correct, have played out in our heads, over and over, and I suspect they will continue to do so, for awhile. 

But, the reality is...it's been a fantastic week of peace and freedom!

We have had time to sit together in the mornings and talk about what God is doing in our lives. We've talked about how we never want to be slaves to a paycheck again. Money is nice to have, but when you're struggling under the weight of a job that is robbing your joy, it's not worth it. 

We've had lots of fun finding gift cards we haven't used yet, taking our coin jars to the bank to the tune of $94.00, and going to lunch for $5.00 on a restaurant reward we had.  These are things we are doing just because they are fun and challenging to do and they remind us of how we used to live, when our kids were little. Money was tight, but we were happy.

We are going to be just fine, but it's been a great reminder that money is just a tool we use to pay the bills. Don't sell your body, mind and soul to have more. Have what you need to be comfortable and then go live life!

It's been nice to see my husband relax and take time for himself. He donated much of what he had in his office, threw away awards and certificates he had earned over the years and it felt like dead weight that he had been hauling around for the last 20 years was finally gone.

A job is not your identity. It's a way to pay the bills. It's a way to eat and you can do all of that and still have your life be an abundant one, if you keep your "wants" in check. 

So...enough about that!

Over the weekend I made, what I call, lazy cookies 😀🍪 When I'm too lazy to make individual cookies, I make pan cookies and just cut them in squares.

I cut enough for the two of us and packed two ziploc bags for the freezer. I also made Mexican cornbread and a pot of pinto beans for the weekend and I had enough to freeze for another meal, later on. 

I just love filling my freezer like this! It's so easy and it is nice to have meals ready for the days I don't want to cook.

I've taken time to sit outside this week and read. I think I might have said this in the last post, but when something happens to shake up your world, all the "urgent" to-do's don't seem so urgent anymore.

Things get put on hold and put into perspective and all of a sudden, those projects that you just had to get done, seem trivial. It's been nice.

So I finished two books that I have been reading (you can see them on my Goodreads page). I started a fiction book, just to have some entertainment and then I got a few of the cookbooks I ordered (before the job loss) and the Tightwad Gazette.

These are so cute and were really cheap on Thriftbooks.com. They are full of stories and recipes from years ago and just perfect for reading, while I'm waiting on things to cook. 

This is basically a collector's item. It's been a favorite of anyone trying to live frugally. Again, it's something I will read little bits at a time. It's a very big book, full of stories and ideas of how to live frugally. 

I bought these just for fun, but how timely that they came last week, when God knew they would pertain to our lives. 

Today David has a zoom call and a meeting with a potential opportunity. My day will be filled with bathing the dog, a bit of cleaning, as well as preparing a meal for supper tonight (it's Valentine's Day). I will also be catching up on some book editing, maybe rearranging something in the guest room and possibly reading on the back porch. Who knows? I'll just do what I feel like spending time on today.

Whatever doesn't get done today, will certainly still be there tomorrow!

I hope you have a wonderful day, whatever you choose to do 😀

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

The White Bowl

 

This looks like it might be a post about muffins, but it's really a post about a bowl and how I never knew there could be such thing as a "favorite bowl" for certain dishes, but for many years now, I've been proven wrong.

Back in college, I moved in with my dad, stepmom and my 3 younger sisters for a short while to go to school. My stepmom was a master homemaker and cook and I had learned so much from her over the years. 

But apparently, the one thing I had not mastered was what bowls were used for certain things, until my 5 year old little sister decided to set me straight one day.

I think I was making tuna for lunch and she proceeded to tell me that I was using the wrong bowl; that her mother always used a different bowl for making tuna. I have to say, I had never heard of such a thing! I mean, did it really matter what bowl you used?

But, I complied and used the correct bowl and never made that mistake again. 

Fast forward to becoming the homemaker and cook of my own domain, and guess what? I only use this white bowl for mixing muffin mix or cornbread and nothing else. Yes, I am that person 😀

I think I picked this bowl up from a thrift store many years ago, and it has ALWAYS been designated as the muffin and cornbread mixing bowl. It wouldn't feel right to use any other.

So anytime I'm feeling like I want muffins or cornbread, I search the shelf for my white bowl. It's been faithful to turn out a great pan of either, every time. It's thick and sturdy and even has a handy little spout for pouring the mix into the pan. It cleans up nicely and then goes back on the shelf until the next time.

In fact, the next time my girls come over, I may just go ahead and educate them on what the proper use of that bowl is, so there will be no questions should they ever desire to make muffins or cornbread in the future. 

And that, my friends, is the story of the white bowl. 

If you have a favorite bowl, only used for certain things, go ahead and tell me about it in the comments.

Until Next Time...

Blessings!