Living Simply
A friend of mine, William, has a Christian blog that I read frequently. This last post was on resilience and I thought it was superb.
Click this link so you can enjoy it also.
Sometimes it takes us a long time to “pop” back into our lives from things that bring us down. But, there is always hope with God’s grace.
The past few days have seen temperatures in the 30’s and low 40’s. It’s an uncommon occurrence — to be warm so early in the year.
Although we can now see trees, grass and bushes starting to creep up over the snow, it is not as pretty as when the snow was all white. Mounds of snow still exist, looking like huge boulders.
The weather has been warm enough that some of the ponds are starting to thaw also.
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| Woodbury, Minnesota Pond |
And pathways can now be seen. Not a pathway to heaven — just to work.
Outside the entryway to one of the houses we viewed, there was a large sculpture. I’m not sure what the sculpture is supposed to be. Anyone know?
The owner of the house had many pieces of art that were beautiful. This one stood out. It intrigued me and confounded me at the same time.
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| Unknown sculpture |
Since November, 2010, we’ve had gobs of snow. And almost every day since then we get a little dusting, or an inch or a few inches. And it keeps piling up.
Outside my window, I used to be able to view a pond on the other side of the fence. There is a paved path that people used to walk. But not now — not until the weather warms and the snow melts.
Our first winter has not disappointed me. Lots of snow.
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| Minnesota Window View |
And now, a thaw, 40 degree temperatures. The whiteness is turning to a grayness. I”m sure the thaw won’t last long though. Only part of this week — then back to the cold temperatures this weekend.
The history of Valentine’s day reminds me that it has nothing to do with flowers, chocolate or cards. It was martyrdom, sacrifice — at it’s best.
And so it’s quite fitting today to speak about my two true loves. They’re alike and different in so many ways. But every day they make sacrifices for me. Giving pieces of themselves so that I might live life more fully.
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| graur razvan ionut |
He doesn’t flaunt himself but instead prefers to remain humble.
He is patient even when I provoke him.
He is kind even when I am angry.
He is tender when I am rough around the edges.
He is respectful and won’t disrespect me.
He loves me when I am unlovely.
He speaks gently when I’m having a temper tantrum.
He’s my husband, the one who my heart desires.
How blessed I am to have two of them.
One on earth and one in heaven.
For your Maker is your husband – the Lord Almighty is His name – the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. Isaiah 54:5
Thank you both! You have made my life complete.
It’s always nice to find a restaurant that has good pizza. Mansetti’s is fantastic!
We weren’t sure what to expect when we entered. There were a lot of seniors leaving the restaurant. Walking very slowly. We seated ourselves. The wait people were all young looking — a big contrast from the clientele that just left.
It wasn’t long before we were the only ones in the restaurant.
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| Mansetti’s Pizza & Pasta, Shoreview, Minnesota |
Mancetti’s has booths and tables available. There was no music on when we arrived but once everyone left, the music came on — loudly.
I think they were having problems adjusting the volume.
We ordered our pizza and it came promptly — thin crust, barbecue chicken. The barbecue was nice and tangy.
A definite place we need to return to.
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| Mancetti’s Barbecue Chicken Pizza |
Mancetti’s is located at 3999 Rice St, Shoreview, Minnesota.
If only … this house weren’t a short sale.
The view out the living room floor to ceiling windows is spectacular. The house sits on 10 wooded acres. It does need updating as the kitchen and the rest of the house have the old-looking oak cabinets and trim.
In addition, it could take over 60 days to close the sale on this house. And, there is no guarantee that it will close.
Ahhh … well … moving on.
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| Stillwater, Minnesota |
I recently heard “Small Enough” by Nicole Nordeman — a song about someone struggling and wondering if God could make Himself small enough to hear her prayers.
We always hear about how great God is. And He is great! But God stoops down to take us in His arms of love.
He’s not too big, nor too busy, nor too great to hear my cry, my prayers or my ramblings.
Oh, great God, be small enough to hear me now
There were times when I was crying
from the dark of Daniel’s den
and I have asked You once or twice
If You would part the sea again
But tonight I do not need a fiery pillar in the sky
Just wanna know You’re gonna hold me if i start to cry
Oh, great God, be small enough to hear me now
Oh, great God, be close enough to feel you now
There have been moments when I could not
Face Goliath on my own
And how could I forget we’ve marched around
our share of Jerichos
But I will not be setting out a fleece for you tonight
just wanna know that everything will be alright
Oh great God, be close enough to feel you now
All praise and all the honor be
to the God of ancient mysteries
Whose every sign and wonder turn the pages of our history
But tonight my heart is heavy
and I cannot keep from whispering this prayer
“Are You there?”
And I know You could leave writing on the wall
that’s just for me
Or send wisdom while I’m sleeping,
like in Solomon’s sweet dreams
But I don’t need the strength of Samson
or a chariot in the end
Just want to know that You still know how many hairs
are on my head
Oh great God, be small enough to hear me now
Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right and you feel like your head is stuck in the sand, uh, snow?
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| Add caption |
No matter which way you turn, your head stays stuck and takes the rest of your body with it. These are days that strengthen me internally.
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| Head in the snow |
I’ve heard it said that oatmeal is good for the heart so to see The American Heart Association label on the top of the Quaker Oats box wasn’t surprising.
When I’m home, I try to have oatmeal in the morning. A tiny bit of salt, a dab of sugar and lots of cinnamon.
Now, I wonder if eating oatmeal cookies is as healthy as having oatmeal in the morning. I guess it would depend on how many cookies I eat.
Being curious, I decided to try the cookie recipe on the Quaker Oats box to see if it stood the test of my palate (which I’ve been told is not very discriminating).
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups Quaker Oats
I left out the raisins in my ingredients, used butter instead of margarine and added a wee bit more cinnamon because I’m a big fan of cinnamon. I also cut the recipe in half so the ingredients above are halved already.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy.
Add the egg and vanilla. Beat well again.
Your batter should look like the one below.
