Seconds

Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thanks to “from this side of the pond” for the questions! Yes . . .I know it is not Wednesday. I guess mine is Thursday Hodgepodge.

1. The Hodgepodge lands on the second day of a brand new month. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in September.

We are headed to the beach for a few days later this month and I desperately need a vacation. I plan to take lots to read and if it is sunny, I’m going to be sitting in a puddle of sunshine while reading. If it rains, I’m going to curl up on a comfy chair or sofa. I hope to take some long walks and have a few cold beverages. Due to covid, we will not be eating in restaurants but I hope to pick up some fresh shrimp one night! 

I cannot believe it is September. I keep thinking we haven’t had summer yet. This pandemic has done a number on my mind.

2. Do you enjoy browsing second-hand shops? Last thing you bought or 'inherited' second hand?

My first thought is that I don’t do second hand but actually, our church usually has a Lil Lambs sale 2 times a year. The sale is for gently used (very good condition) children’s clothing and toys and I have bought quite a few things for my granddaughters at the last two sales. If you sign up to work, you get to shop early so I’ve done that. I bought a pack and play and a bouncy seat for our house and I’ve found some really cute clothes. (due to covid, we aren't having the fall sale)

3. Something you had second thoughts about after committing to, purchasing, or posting/commenting online?

I rarely post anything online that anyone could misconstrue but I did one time – yes, one time! I had been in Walmart and had watched a child throw a temper tantrum and I commented about it on Facebook. A sweet person that is an acquaintance quickly told me that the child might have autism. I think I responded and said, “no, it was just a kid pitching a fit.” Then last year, we took an online class at work about how our church staff & building could be more friendly to those with autism and I realized that the child I saw way back when was probably NOT throwing a temper tantrum but reacting to too much noise and too many outside stimuli . . .and I felt (and still feel) bad about what I posted that day.

4. What's a product or service you use that you'd rate as second to none?

We have an old precor treadmill. I bought it back when our kids were probably in middle school and they are almost 34. It was a “club grade” treadmill and we are still using it almost every day. Just this morning, I was on the treadmill and my husband was on his SECOND HAND (do I get extra points??) airdyne and he said, “we sure have gotten our money’s worth out of that treadmill.” It is truly second to none! We’ve had it worked on 2 times in all of these years.

Also, look at that new garage floor. Southern Grit (love the company name) is owned by one of our neighbors and we had the floor done a few weeks ago -- it is awesome!

5. Something you do so often or that comes so naturally to you it's second nature ?

I can type really quickly and I don’t even know which key is what letter – I’ve typed for so many years that all of the memory is in my fingers. Would that be second nature? 

I also have positivity as one of my top strengths and I think it has become second nature for me to look for the positive in each situation.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Over the weekend, I blogged for the first time in over a year. I’ve missed writing down some of my thoughts. Now for my totally random thought . . .I was talking to my daughter on the phone yesterday and I said that something (or someone?) was cray cray and she said, “don’t say that anymore. People don’t use that word anymore!” Well dadgum, I had just gotten used to it and it is far nicer than the words I used at the beginning of the pandemic . . .Bat sh*t crazy!

 

prayers

So, it has been over a year since I last wrote anything! I've thought about writing. I've had several ideas in my head but I haven't been able to wrap my head around the things going on in this world! Who would have thought we would be living through a pandemic? Who would have thought that we would not only be "divided" by political party but that we would spew hate at each other? 

Anyway, like many folks I have cleaned out some things over the last 6 months. I was digging through some books in the bottom of a closet today and I came across this little notebook.

As an aside for folks with dust allergies, our masks that keep others safe from our germs work great when digging through dusty boxes!

While sitting on a tiny stool on the floor of an upstairs closet, I flipped through the prayer journal and found something that I had written and I just wanted to put those words into a more "permanent" location than a piece of paper in the bottom of a closet.

At the time (2008), I was facilitating a study on prayer and we weren't just studying about prayer, we were actually praying in various ways over the weeks of the study.

One of the prayer "practices/exercises" was to escort each of my loved ones and friends right to the HUG of Jesus.

Here are the words:

This is one of my favorite (if not THE favorite) exercises of the whole study. . .to escort each of my loved ones and friends right to the HUG of Jesus -- my family, our supper club, those who need healing in my mind's eye. I had to restrain myself to not run into his arms FIRST -- an act of love to take everyone else first. I felt as if each person was receiving exactly what they needed. I also imagined the response of each person as we were approaching Jesus - was there fear? joy? nervousness? Did each person experience peace? calm? were they made fully whole and fully healed? At the end, when it was finally my turn, I wanted to HOLD ON to Jesus. I did NOT want to let go.

It is now 2020 -- that was 12 years ago -- 12 YEARS AGO -- I've been rereading the different prayers I prayed and for those still among us, I have prayed again today!!! For those who have died, I gave thanks for them and what they meant to me.  For one couple that was dating at the time (and we all prayed about their relationship), they are now married and have twin girls and a little boy!

God is amazing, y'all. Things may not be right in our world today but God is still God and I am grateful! (oh goodness, my writing is rusty -- I need to work on it!!)

Stress Eating

I haven't blogged since November of 2018. Why? Well . . .I'm not totally sure. That last post was a fun one -- I won a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle!! Right around that time our daughter and son-in-law shared with us that they were expecting their first baby but we were sworn to secrecy. I was afraid I would slip and tell someone!

Then we had Christmas and New Year's. We've been under a massive construction project at work. Things have been going on!

If you are one of my friends or family who likes to "fix" things - STOP reading now. Just close your phone or computer and move on to something else. I don't need "fixing." I just realized last night, while home alone, that I needed to talk through some things.

See, it's like this. I've lost about 80 pounds over the last 2 years. FYI - 70 of those have been through using the WW (Weight Watchers) program. I thought that I had changed all of my habits over those 30 months but I realized last night that I still struggle with at lease one issue. At some point in my crazy past, I learned to "stuff" my feelings by eating. When I'm stressed, I want to eat. I noticed the struggle a couple of weeks ago but was able to manage by eating an extra piece of fruit or a protein bar, etc. Last night, I was home alone and over the course of several hours, I realized that I had eaten an entire cup (in tiny increments) of peanuts. On Weight Watchers, you get 23 points a day. A cup of peanuts has 26 points. I can't eat my regular food PLUS a cup of peanuts. This would definitely cause weight gain if I did it again . . .and I've worked way too hard.

So what has me stressed out? This is not anyone's fault -- this is my long-time habit of the way I deal with things. No . . I do not need time off. No . . .I do not need you to talk me through this. No . . .I don't need suggestions of what to do (I've been exercising twice a day; sleeping enough; etc.). I just need to process these thoughts and maybe my words might resonate with someone else and help them through a rough patch, too . . .so they won't eat a cup of peanuts!!

My sweet mother-in-law was put into the hospital last Friday and had to have a pacemaker installed on Saturday. She is over 90 (she doesn't like us to share her age) and she did well. She had another hospitalization back in October. We think she is going to live forever but reality has been knocking in the back of my head this last week. My mom died when I was 15. Mark and I have been married 35 years and dated two before that. Susie has been my mom for 37 years now - more than double the time I had with my own mother. Hospitals stress me out.

Our son and daughter-in-law moved to a lovely new home with an incredible yard. That shouldn't be stressful for me - I didn't go anywhere but I have felt stressed about their move.

Our daughter and son-in-law are expecting a sweet baby girl to arrive in July but our daughter has had some complications with her pregnancy. She lives an hour and a half away and her complications have been stressful for this mama bear (but nothing like the stress it has caused the two of them).

Just putting these thoughts down on paper (not really paper, is it??) is freeing up my mind. I follow several other folks on social media who have lost 100+ pounds and some of those folks are stress eaters, too. We can learn to deal with it but first we all have to recognize it. I'm recognizing it and claiming it and declaring it and dealing with it.

Last year, we participated in Celebrate Recovery as a staff. I didn't want to participate but it ended up being a really important step in my journey. I have to admit things -- TO MYSELF. I have to recognize these things. I also read Feast: True Love in and out of the Kitchen back in May and realized that I do indeed suffer from an eating disorder. Maybe not an eating disorder just like anyone else's but I have my own issues.

I'm also a number one on the Enneagram so I like things to be perfect. In the past, if I fell off the wagon . . .I stayed off the wagon because it (I) wasn't perfect. This journey is not about perfection. This journey is about permanent change -- a change that will add years to my life. Originally, I didn't even share with people that I was working on losing weight because if I failed, I thought I would quit (again!!). Somewhere along this journey, I realized that I can keep going - even when I eat a cup of peanuts. I've come way too far.

Maybe you drink too much. Maybe you eat too much. Maybe you struggle in some other area of your life. We don't have to do this alone. Hang in there. Recognize your struggles. If you need a friend, I'll even listen.

We never win anything!

If I've heard those words once, I've heard them a bajillion times around our house. We never win anything. One year, we set out as a family to win the HGTV dream home. We bought postcards and sent those in. We registered online. We didn't win. I've always dreamed of Publisher's Clearing House showing up at my door with a giant check. We've never won. We've bought lottery tickets (when visiting other states) and we've never won. My sister has sent lottery tickets to my kids with their birthday presents. I can't say we've never won because our daughter did win $20 from the Texas lottery!

This fall, our daughter-in-law won BIG time. She won an all expense paid trip to London for five people to attend the red carpet showing of the new Harry Potter movie. I've seen her pictures and heard a little about the trip and she and her four friends were treated like royalty! She WON!

About a month ago, I received an email from Pappy & Co. They were having a sweepstakes. If you purchased a box of Bourbon Nib Brittle, you were entered into the sweepstakes. Mark loves all things Pappy so I thought, "why not?" especially when I read about the sweepstakes and it sounded like Willy Wonka. The winning brittle would contain a golden ticket! I thought that I would stash the brittle and put it in Mark's stocking or give it to him if he was having a bad day. When the package from Pappy arrived, I opened the shipping box and there was the brittle and a card that had "congratulations" written on it. I had not said anything to Mark about the sweepstakes so I emailed the folks at Pappy and said, "does this mean I won?" I promptly received an email back "Yes - You won!" I NEVER WIN but I won big this time!

Mark's grand prize arrived yesterday. A 12 year old bottle of Van Winkle.

Not just any bottle of Van Winkle but a bottle signed by Julian Van Winkle III himself. (his signature is also on the brittle box!)

I won! I can't believe it! I won! I've made my husband a happy man! Hubby has asked me to enter any sweepstakes they offer! 

Thank you so much Pappy & Co.!!  (Just FYI Pappy & Co is owned/run by women - triplets - you can read this article about them)

p.s. we've also purchased their bourbon balls - yummy!!

p.s.s. they didn't pay me to write this article - we won and I'm writing because I'm excited!

Random Questions from Sunday Stealing

I got these questions from Sunday Stealing who stole this from a questionnaire on Swap Bot.  Yes, I am very aware that it is not Sunday but I'm off for the next few days and needed a writing prompt tonight!

1. What is your favorite animal? I am fascinated by BIG cats!

   

   photo from katmandu2

   
   

   

   maybe I love big cats because of this big guy!

   
   
2. Your dream vacation? To stay in one of these (below).  I also would love to go to Australia and New Zealand.

   

   photo from Tahiti Overwater Bungalows

3. Last person's house you were in? Besides my own this morning? We were with friends on a mini vacation over the weekend -- so I was in their farmhouse!!
   
4. Worst injury you've ever had? I tore my hamstring a few years ago and that was really painful and in September of this year, I fell ON MY FACE.
5. Last play you saw? We have season tickets to a small local theater and we saw a play a couple of weeks ago. The play was "A Funny Little Thing Called Love."
6. Ever go to camp? I went to overnight camp one time when I was in elementary school. I remember how homesick I was . . .but I stayed! As an adult, I've been active in the Emmaus community and we "go to camp" for three nights. Don't tell anyone  . . . but I still get homesick!
7. Were you an honor roll student in school? Yes, I was - honor roll and National Honor Society in high school and A/B honor roll in college. I remember receiving a B in English 102 and I had the highest grade in the class and the only B - isn't that crazy?
8. What do you want to know about the future? I know who holds the future so maybe I don't need to know anything else.
9. Are you wearing any perfume or cologne? NO! NO! NO! I have horrible allergies and perfume and cologne sends me totally over the edge.
10. Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit? I just went a couple of weeks ago and got a great report! Having lost 80 pounds over the last two years, I don't have to take blood pressure meds nor cholesterol meds anymore!
11. Where is your best friend? I'm answering this in a weird way - with more questions. Are you asking if my best friend lives in the same town? If so, yes.
12. Do you have a tan? My tan is fading rapidly. I love to have a tan and was very tan after our trip to the beach in September.
13. What are you listening to right now? We've been listening to a lot of Lauren Daigle. We also have listened to Even If by Mercy Me (we've listened a million times!) and I love New Wine by Hillsong. I also love A Million Stars. We also tend to listen to Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, and OneRepublic. I like Bruno Mars (hubby doesn't).
14. Do you collect anything? I used to collect things - at one time, I collected thimbles and at another time, I collected angels and another time, crosses . . .now, I don't think I collect anything except dust bunnies!!

    

    photo from channelingerik

15. Who is the biggest gossiper you know? I can't answer that question on my blog!!!!!
16. Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over? It has been several years since I've been stopped. I have a tendency to speed. 
17. What does your last text message say? Thank you! The text that prompted it "Crosses from wedding are still on glass doors. I took down and they're sitting on some boxes in the foyer inside the door."
18. Do you like hot sauce? I like Sriracha and I like Cholula. If you haven't watched the Amazon Prime Documentary on Huey Fong Sriracha, you need to watch it!!!
19. Do you need to do laundry? Yes, we went out of town for that mini vacation mentioned above and there is laundry still to be washed. There is a load in the dryer. There is a folded load on the island and there is a load on the island that hasn't been folded, too!
20. What is your heritage? If you had asked me this question six months ago, I would have answered "Cherokee" . . .but then I did 23andMe . . .and lo and behold, no Native American DNA at all. I'm British and Irish and a few other things!

Sunday Stealing on Saturday night

1.       Just got these questions from Sunday Stealing and she stole the questions from Sleepy Rambles. It is Saturday night – not Sunday but I’m answering now.

2.       What is on your mind right now?It is 8:46 p.m. and I’m wondering how early I can actually go to bed. There has been something else on my mind today. My hubby is out of town and I’ve spent 98% of the day by myself. I’ve been somewhat productive but not as productive as I should have been. I’ve also been sort of lonely which is a rare thing for me. Mark has always hunted and worked at the farm and been away from home on the weekends and it doesn’t usually bother me but I’ve actually been lonely this weekend. I went to two craft shows alone. I’ve hung out with the cat on the screen porch.

3.       Do you know anyone who has attended Harvard University? I don’t think I know anyone but I have walked around parts of the campus!
  

4.       How many books are in the room you’re in?My kindle is sitting right beside me and it is LOADED with books. My Bible is on the table beside me and there are at least 10 other books in this room.

5.       Do you save at least 15 percent of your income? My husband is the saver and I’m the spender. I’m not sure if we save 15% or not but I put money in savings every pay period and so does he. I tend to take the money I save out to pay bills or make a larger purchase.
 

6.       When was the last time you had a rainy day spent at home? We had a rainy day this week and I was at work but I daydreamed about being at home curled up in a chair with hot chocolate and my kindle!

7.       When was the last time you stayed home from school/work? My hubby had a stomach bug two weekends ago and we didn’t go to church on that Sunday morning. Even though I’m not a “paid” employee on Sunday, I sort of feel like it is a workday.

8.       Do you write “yes” or “no” answers to surveys or do you explain more? Yes – hahahaha! Heck no, I have to explain on most things and my explanations are way toooooo long.

9.       Is there any type of medicine you can’t take? For what reason? I can’t take Codeine or synthetic Codeine – it makes me throw up. I also don’t take prescription pain meds well – same thing – makes me sick.

10.   Do you have a favorite pair of pajamas? What do they look like? I sleep in oversized t-shirts (now more of a sleep shirt)– a habit started back when I was in my teens.

11.   Would you rather have potato or chicken noodle soup if you had to? Potato unless it is “Butch’s Chicken Noodle Soup” – it is really yummy!

12.   Do you believe that when a person appears in your dreams, that person wants to see you? I don’t think so.

13.   When’s the last time you saw your mom? I’m 60 and my mom died when I was 14 or 15 so it has been a long long long time since I’ve seen her.

14.   What is one food you could eat for a month, straight, and not get sick of? French fries

15.   Have you ever spray painted something about your love somewhere? I don’t think so.

16.   Do you live in a town where basically everyone knows everyone else?  No, I live in a fairly large suburban area BUT I work and attend church in a smaller community and I feel like everyone in Homewood knows everyone else (probably not true but it sometimes seems that way)

Review of Katie's Plates

Happy Friday!! Several weeks ago, I wanted to take dinner to some friends of ours who were recovering from surgeries. There was NO way that I had time to cook and deliver food that week but the desire to do so was so strong on my heart. I googled "prepared meals delivered" and found a local site that sounded very promising. The name of the business is Katie's Plates.

I asked my friend to be totally honest with me after the delivery and she said the food was really good. Fast forward a couple of weeks and a co-worker was having a difficult time and I ordered a meal for her family of four. She said it was good but that some of it was cold and the sweet potato fries were limp.

I reached out to Katie and asked if she would provide a free meal for me and my husband and I would blog about it. She actually sent me an email and code for not one but TWO free meals! Before I tell you about the food, let me tell you about Katie and her husband. They are still newlyweds - they've only been married a little over a year. Katie started the business when she was just 23 years old!! She met her future husband in 2015 and they married in 2017. You can read all about them and even see their pictures on their website but my favorite part is the fun facts (I love good fun facts to know and tell!):

1. Katie has two Vizslas - Hungarian dogs! The dogs, Coco and Wrigley, even assist with deliveries sometime!
2. Katie grew up showing horses - that is so cool! She is passionate about horses, cooking, and knitting.
3. Katie is a huge Mississippi State fan.

So back to the food. There is a menu online each week and you can order one meal or two meals or five meals. You can order how many meals you need for the week! You can tweak your menu to be gluten free/paleo, etc.

For Monday night, we ordered the Asian Turkey Meatballs with Sesame Lime Dipping Sauce, Cauliflower Fried Rice, and Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts. If you didn't want paleo, you could have Jasmine Fried Rice. The website says the meals will be delivered between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and if you don't plan to be home to leave a cooler on your porch (remember that important fact). On Monday night, the delivery arrived at 5:20. The delivery person was polite. This is how the food arrived:

First of all, we did have to reheat per website instructions - food was not hot. This was not a problem -- just popped it into the oven while we exercised.

Let me tell you . . .my husband does not like cauliflower but he LOVED this cauliflower fried rice! The turkey meatballs were tasty. They were so tasty that I actually said to my husband, "why does my ground turkey never taste like this?" The Brussels Sprouts were really good, too! My husband's favorite part was the dipping sauce -- Sesame Lime to be exact. We had enough left over that my husband ate meatballs for lunch the next day so the portions were generous.

We had places to go and people to see every night this week so I had a hard time picking out another night. They don't deliver on the weekend so if you order food for Friday night or the weekend, it is delivered on Thursday night. We ordered Turkey Burgers with Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly, Sweet Potato Fries, and a Tomato-Cucumber Salad with fresh Dill and a lemon vinaigrette.

 Remember me telling you to not forget that fact about the cooler? My husband went home at lunch and placed a cooler on our front porch. In my mind, I assumed that the cold cucumber salad would be in its own container and the burgers and fries (warm food) would be in a separate container. We picked a cooler that we thought would be big enough for those items.

Hubby placed a Styrofoam cooler much like this one on the covered front porch with a layer of ice in the bottom.

We went about the rest of our day and met friends for dinner.

At 5:56, the delivery person for Katie's Plates arrived (we have it on the camera). She rang the doorbell and waited a moment or two. She looked at the cooler (once again - on the camera) and then placed the food on TOP of the cooler. She did make sure the lid on the actual food container was secured.

Our next door neighbors saw the delivery and at 7:43 (almost two hours later), they walked over and picked up the food (from the top of the cooler) and took it home. We arrived home at 7:47 and my husband walked over to get the food.

The high yesterday was in the mid to upper 70's and our food sat outside for almost two hours. I am SO VERY SORRY to tell you that I wouldn't even let Mark taste it. I threw it in the trash. Mark had a VERY nasty stomach bug last weekend and I was so afraid that if either of us ate this, we would get sick. The cucumber salad with fresh dill smelled really good but because the salad had sat in the same pan with the warm food, it appeared to be wilted. The fries were soggy but I think with reheating in the oven, they would have crisped up. The turkey burgers were a nice sized portion. This could have been my dinner tonight and I'm disappointed. If the salad had been covered separately, the delivery person could have place that container in the bottom of the cooler. She could have slightly bent the outsides of the pan (aluminum bends easily) and slid the container into the cooler.

Lesson learned - do not have food delivered if you can't be at home to receive the delivery.

Now on to my thoughts -- YES, I would order from Katie's Plates again but only if I could be home within 30 minutes or so of delivery (unless it was really cold outside . . .but this is the south . . .and we don't have that much cold weather). YES, I would order and have it delivered to someone after surgery or after a new baby, etc. YES, I would order again because I love supporting LOCAL businesses. The dinner meals are about $32 for a couple and there is enough left overs for at least a lunch so basically, $32 for three meals -- DELIVERED to your door. I would recommend Katie's Plates to all of you and here is a link for you to use for 15% off your first delivery:

http://katiesplates.refr.cc/lisaelliott

If you order, I would love to hear about your experience! I think I'll be ordering again soon - just checked out next week's menus!!