THIS IS SO ME!

JUST A THOUGHT

Sunday at church was amazing.

I started out my morning lying in bed wishing I didn't have to get up.  I spent my Saturday not feeling well.  I wasn't really sick, just mentally not feeling well.  

The last year has been a bit harsh, to say the least.  Child in the hospital.  Money issues.  Death in the family.  Loss of a pastor.

Life can be really depressing.  

I begged Tim to stay home.  I just wanted to make a pot of coffee and sit at the kitchen table to read the paper while dwelling on my sorrows.

He wouldn't let me.

Fast forward to services at church.  Since our pastor is gone, the elders and other pastors have been filling in.  I must say that I love the elders at our church but I just hadn't been feeling "it" lately.  I really miss Pastor Michael.  But on this Sunday, Pastor Bil was filling in.  I was skeptical.  I've never really listened to an entire sermon by Pastor Bil.  He's a very interactive person and I'm more of a sit in my chair and just listen kind of person.  

I was utterly amazed at his sermon.  Highly impressed would be a good description.  And I even got out of my comfort zone and participated in his extracurricular sermon activities.  He raised my spirits.  

I was so thankful that I dragged my rear out of bed and went to church.

But something he said during his sermon really caught my attention and this is what I truly wanted to share with you today.   

"Each one of us is different...each one of us has things that God has put in us and made us specifically a certain way for a certain reason. We are not all the same. God does not make clones. He makes awesome masterpieces."

Think about this for a moment. 

Isn't that an amazing thought?
  
I just had to share.

SUFFERING A LOSS

My family has suffered an incredible loss this past week.  

My brother-in-law, Bobby, passed away unexpectedly.  

My sister and her sons are devastated to say the least.  Angela and Bobby have been married for almost 32 years.  That's about a two-thirds of her life.  

How does one start over after 32 years of having that special someone by their side every day?  

And that's exactly what she has to do...start over.  Every moment of her day included a piece of him.

She and I sat in her bedroom last night for hours.  We talked about the things that only sisters can talk about with one another.  

She's taking several weeks off of work but she talked about how difficult it's going to be when she goes back to her old routine, minus Bobby.  She would always call him on her way home from work to see if he needed her to stop for anything.  On many occasions she would stop for a to-go order of El Sombrero or a bucket of chicken.

She talked about how he'd sometimes get up in the middle of the night and make himself a bowl of cereal.  She said she often suspected that he was doing this in his sleep because he would do it without any acknowledgment that she was in the room.

But the thing that broke my heart was when she said she wouldn't have anyone to play smoochy-face with anymore. 

Bobby was her one and only ever.  He was her best friend, best lover, best father to her children.  

Bobby was an interesting brother-in-law.  He didn't sugar coat anything.  He had a knack for seeing things as they were and letting everyone know.  He didn't spare feelings a lot of times which was a little harsh and tended to offend many.  But with Bobby, you always knew exactly where you stood.

I was lucky enough to have been able to spend some quality time with him recently.  He and I had a 45 minute phone call just a few days before he passed.  My boys and I had just visited their house last week.  The Teenager and Bobby worked on their car.  

My point in sharing all of this is don't take today for granted.  You never know when those that you love the most will be gone to heaven.  Take this moment to make that phone call that you've been saying you'll make.  
Go visit that friend or relative that you haven't seen for a while.  

Go lay in bed with your kids and watch a cartoon. 

Go have a good laugh or cry with your best friend. 

But most of all, grab your better half and play smoochy-face.  







Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

COFFEE

PONDERING AN AGE OLD QUESTION

And that question is:  Why did the shoe cross the road?  Alone?

Or better, why do we see so many shoes on the side of the road?

And always alone.

Yesterday, on my way to work, I noticed three separate shoes on the side of the highway.

How do they get there?  

Was someone running and proceeded to go so fast that they ran right out of one of their shoes?  I wonder how long it took them to realize it.  At that point did they just think "Hey screw it.  I'll just buy another pair." 

I would have gone back for my lost shoe.  I love the shoes that I currently have.

They're  like family.

Was it someone riding a motorcycle and one shoe just happened to slip off?

I often wonder what happens to all of these lost shoes.  Or the it's partner for that matter.

There should be a home for lost shoes.  

If you find a single shoe on the side of the road, mail it to "The Lost Shoe Bank".

If you are the one that lost one of your shoes, mail it's mate to "The Lost Shoe Bank".  

A teller there can match it to it's mate and donate a complete pair to a good charity.

I know it's probably a silly idea but how many of you have wondered the same thing?

I'm willing to bet lots of you.

TIM'S FAVORITE POTATO SALAD

This is just an ordinary potato salad recipe.  There's nothing special about it.

But sometimes, you can't go wrong with plain and ordinary.

I start by peeling and boiling ordinary russet potatoes.  This is about the size I like to dice them because once they're mixed, it'll provide the a good mashed to solid potato ratio.

Is it just me or do cooked potatoes just look gross?

Anyway...

Next I dice up kosher dill pickles.  No, I do not use relish.  I prefer a good sized crunch in my potato salad.
And for Tim, it has to be kosher dill.  I, personally, like it with sweet pickles, too. But he's the one I make this salad for most of the time so I do it like Burger King and let him have it his way.

Next to the party are the eggs.  I can get a perfectly boiled egg everytime by using the simplest method.

Place your eggs into a pan and cover with cold water.  Make sure the eggs aren't too crowded in the pan or you'll end up with cracked eggs.  Bring the eggs to a boil and remove from the heat.  Cover the pan with a lid and leave for 20 minutes.  Peel the eggs immediately and the shells will peel right off.  I run them under cold water just enough so that I can handle them with my bare hands.

Dice the eggs to about the same size as the pickles.  

Add the potatoes to the pickles and eggs.  Next up are the supporting characters, mayonnaise and mustard.  This is one item I will not substitute on.  It MUST be real mayonnaise.  Use an off name brand like I did but do not use anything other than mayonnaise.  

Mix well and your end result will be an amazing potato salad that's yummy, delicious, scrumptious, mouthwatering, tasty.  In other words, delish!

This can be served warm but I prefer it chilled.  It's also just as good leftover the day after.

And the day after that (if it lasts that long).


Tim's Favorite Potato Salad

6-8 Medium Russet Potatoes
6 Eggs
4-6 Kosher Pickles
3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Mustard

Follow the steps above and you'll enjoy some wonderful goodness.

Enjoy!

CHINESE FOOD

My family loves Chinese food.  We have a few favorite restaurants around town but North Dragon on North Oak is one of our absolute favorites.  

We've been eating there since the dawn of time.  

Well not really that long but since before Daddeee and I met, my mom and dad would take us, meaning my sisters and I, for lunch.

They have an amazing lunch menu.  The food is always fresh and tastes unbelievably good.

The egg drop soup has the best flavor of any I've ever tasted.  It's not a thin, soupy soup.  It's thick and full of eggs and vegetables.  They provide good serving sizes for a lunch special, too.

I ordered the Hot Braised Chicken (you can get it boneless too but there's just something about the flavor of chicken on the bone that I think is better).  It's quite spicy but well worth the sniffly nose.  The chicken is breaded and deep fried yet somehow the thick and gooey sauce doesn't make it mushy.   It comes with fried rice but I'm quite positive that if you wanted white rice, they would more than happily substitute.  

The lunch menu comes with either egg roll or crab rangoon.  I'm picky about egg rolls so for me to choose the egg roll as you can see I've done, it means they have really good egg rolls.

They have good fortune cookies (meaning always fresh).  I've been to plenty of restaurants that served stale cookies which turns a good meal into a bad one really fast.

I even got a good fortune.  Look out everyone because success is near, if I bide my time.  If only I knew what how to bide.  

So if you're out and about in the Kansas City area and get a hankering for good Chinese, North Dragon is a good choice.  

Oh, and they provide to go service too.  

North Dragon 

6245 N Oak Trafficway  

Kansas City, MO 64118

(816) 452-2029

TRIFECTA: WK 53

This week's prompt for Trifecta is dialogue. 

Everyone knows I like to talk so this should be a breeze.

:)

________________________________

"I like that outfit on that mannequin."

"He’s cute, Mom."

"That’s a boy mannequin."

"I know.  I like boys."

“You do?”

“Yes.  I was just trying to find a way to tell you.”

This is not word for word how the conversation went but pretty darn close.  We were at the mall and we were talking about a mannequin.  It's hard to put such a moment into 33 words.  I did my best.  

He has a date tonight.  (My son, not the mannequin hehe)


~Lumdog~
I wasn't motivated either.  It's your post that did the trick!  Thanks.

  

FOR YOU, MY FRIEND.