A Cup of Coffee

It's time for a break, for me anyway. Have you seen the new cans of chocolate whipped cream? It's really pretty on a cup of afternoon coffee or cocoa... I keep it in the fridge door for girlfriends who pop by since I'm one of the few women on the planet not nuts about chocolate. I keep the regular Rediwhip in my fridge, at all times, because most things are better with a little whipped cream.

An update on my Mom. She's doing great! Sounds upbeat, and hopefully she'll be headed home soon, when the work of rehab will begin. Please continue to pray for her to heal quickly.

I started house painting again - but decided to leave one bedroom til the realtor does a walk-through and gives us his opinion. Hopefully he'll think it looks great as is (with hunting dog border, and a gun rack on the wall... ) If he tells us to leave it, I may hug his neck. He may know some big, rugged man, who happens to have sired 10 kids, and is looking for a house big enough for all of them. There's bound to be a redneck or two this far north, who would love the decor of that bedroom. Our son did, actually!

After raking leaves from our neighbors' 40 foot tall oak tree for the past twelve years, they cut it down last week. If the house sells before fall, we will have raked every year we could, and the new owners will be off the hook. I expect the neighbors paid more to have it cut down, than if we'd hired someone to rake all those years. They told us one estimate was $2,000!!!!!!!!!

We attended a free, live webcast money seminar at our church last Saturday. Don learned more about basic monthly budgeting (that's always been my job). I have much to learn about long term investing, so I broke my resolution on no non-fiction books for this year, and bought a book recommended by Dave Ramsey, "Sound Mind Investing". Feel free to run right out and scoop it up yourself. You might also want to buy a lb. of coffee and several chocolate bars to keep you awake while you read. When you're as close to retirement as we are, it makes sense to learn more. It might also make good nighttime reading, in place of Tylenol P.M.?

Speaking of breaking my resolution, I actually bought another non-fiction book, "Never Say Diet" by Chantel Hobbs.
Seriously, unbelievable! You have to admire what she did. I happened to hear her speaking on Focus on the Family last week, then saw her book in Target. I'm more than halfway through it, and I have to say - this is very doable. Ya'll - S.H.E. L.O.S.T. T.W.O. H.U.N.D.R.E.D. P.O.U.N.D.S! And never was on a diet. She spent the first thirty days committing to exercise for thirty minutes a day, six times a week. I only have to exercise five times a week. I love that she gives all the glory to God. Number 5 on her list of 5 things to do is Surrender to God. How's that for a fitness message to fling at the world?

It makes complete sense to me, to develop an exercise habit, before I change a thing about how I eat. Not that I couldn't change a thing or ten. She admits to having surgery afterwards, which happened to include a bit of a lift of certain areas, but this mother of four looks fantastic. I'll let you know how I do, sticking to this. I did sign the paper, and put it on my fridge. The dogs and cat were my witnessess.

Barb, thank you for the tip on the baby crackers.

I bought two boxes of them, and enjoyed them with my chicken noodle soup lunch today. They will be perfect snacks for little people who come for visits.

Sophie, thank you for the recipe for pork chops and stuffing. DH said they were F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. I think that's what he said, as his head was hunkered down, over his plate. He has never said that about anything involving cornbread, so I'm eternally grateful to you. I might add chopped celery and mushrooms next time, and I think it would be really good with boneless chicken breasts too. A great recipe to feed a crowd with little work. The southern girl in me loved it!

We saw Defiance this past weekend, with Daniel Craig, and not only was the movie really good (based on true story which is always up my alley) but that man was BORN to play James Bond. I've always been partial to Sean Connery; Pierce Brosnan was wonderful; I never did love Timothy Dalton playing the role, but Daniel Craig has a toughness to his face that is very believable in the role. And he was really good in this movie too. I didn't think he looked a bit like the guy playing his brother, but I just moved on past that and enjoyed the movie, with the popcorn, which is why I went to Target, broke my resolution and bought the book, Never Say Diet.

We've got tickets to fly to Texas in early March, and just knowing that there's a trip headed somewhere south in the almost Spring gives me enough umph to hang on a bit longer through a cold, snowy winter. I did tell DH, as I pulled snowboots and a down vest over my pajamas this morning, and headed out, yet again with the shovel and can of salt, that it was starting to get just a wee bit old, this scraping the driveway every single morning in the pitch dark.

So, I'm off to jump on the ellyptical for thirty minutes, hopefully with the dogs and cat nearby. It's no good having accountability partners if they don't know what you're up to.

P.S. I'm about halfway through Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and if I don't finish it soon, I'm going to fall apart from lack of sleep. It's that good. Wonderful story and amazing read.

P.S.S. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the sound of sleeping dogs, snoring at my feet, while the snow is blowing outside? Heavenly! (and yes, they are both males....)