Thankful

At FHE this week, A Dear Friend of mine made a comment that had me thinking.

Joan said, “When we make a promise to the Lord, we should not back out at the last minute. The Lord loves us and wants the best for us. We should keep our promises to him.”

A Month ago I made a commitment, an appointment and a Promise to the Lord that I would go to the Columbia Temple for our Hickory Stake temple Day.

Because of the rain and the promised rain I was ready to call and cancel my appointment. After Joan gave the FHE Group a wonderful lesson, I rethought my decision to cancel and started to make plans for the success of a trip to Columbia, South Carolina from Taylorsville, North Carolina.

It usually takes me 3 and 1/2 hours to drive from Taylorsville, N.C. to Columbia S.C. My friends can all drive it in 2 1/2 hours. (I drive within 5 miles an hour of the speed limit.)

I planned to add another hour to my driving time. With the call for heavy rains I needed to allow time to pull over if it got too bad for me to see out the windows.

So I would leave my house at 3:30 in the morning, which would give me 4 and a 1/2 hours driving time for an 8:00 am appointment.

I said my prayers before turning in for the night:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank Thee for the rain, We needed it. And I thank Thee for Joan and her lesson for our Family Home Evening Group. Please help me to keep my promise to Thee and be able to make it safely to the temple and back.

In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.

It was a little more detailed than that.

Waking up several times during the night to thunder and lightning, I finally got out of bed at 2:00 am. My alarm was set for 3:00 am. I put together a snack for the road and gathered my personal items and loaded the car in pouring rain. I sat at the wheel with a silent prayer, then started the car and realized I couldn’t see (forgot my glasses.)

I opened the car door again and realized the rain had slowed to a sprinkle and ran back into the house, picked up my glasses, put them on and walked out to the dry air, then got back in the car.

As I pull out of the driveway there were a few more sprinkles. And though I hit a lot of puddles with the car, one large one that reminded me to turn off the cruise control with a wet road, It was a relatively safe nice ride in the middle of the night with a few showers sprinkled every little once in a while.

I made it to the temple in 3 1/2 hours, no traffic, very little rain, and found out that my appointment was for 9:00 instead of 8:00.

Oh, Well. I arrived safely thanks to the Lord, Joan and some cucumber snacks that kept me awake.

I also had a safe journey back home.

CUCUMBER BLT’s

1 Cucumber Sliced into 4 pieces lengthwise.

2 Cherry tomatoes thinly sliced

2 pieces of slim lettuce (or two leaves of wild lettuce)

2 pieces of well cooked bacon (the best part)

a touch of mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

Wipe off the cucumbers and press them several times to a paper towel to get the moisture off of them. Then sprinkle 2 of the slices of cucumber only on one side of each with some salt and pepper.

Spread a little mayonnaise on the bacon.

Next take one of the salt and pepper cucumber slices. Place the lettuce on top, then the bacon. Spread the sliced tomatoes on top and cover with the other cucumber slice.

Make another one.

Wrap the cucumber sandwich in parchment paper or wax paper then place it in a baggie.

Remember to grab some napkins.

When you get to a rest stop, munch away.

Enjoy!

Kamikaze humming birds

Since my experiment with putting up hummingbird feeders, I have had more hummingbirds than I know what to do with. 

I put up 2 feeders a small one that feeds one at a time and a larger one that 4 feed off of at a time.

9 out of ten times they choose the small feeder.

There are at least 2 humming birds that have become territorial over the small feeder and have started fighting over it.

Unfortunately I did not get a video of it, but, this morning there were 5 of them dive bombing each other for the use of the small feeder.

I didn’t realize humming birds, those cute tiny birds, could be so vicious.

I think you might classify them as kamikaze birds!

They are very entertaining to watch. I have thoroughly enjoyed having the feeders on my porch.

I use the clear concentrated syrup without food coloring. I hope it’s healthier. They sure go through enough of the liquid.

I have only had the feeders up a week. I have to fill the small feeder nightly because they won’t use the large one.

It is 3:00 in the afternoon and I need to fill the small one up again.

It’s worth it.

Better than a movie.

The day after…

It rained all day yesterday.

And today….

Beautiful!

So green and lush.

The hummingbirds came out.

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds 2

Two of them come by, one about every 20 minutes.

Can you tell I’m procrastinating getting to work?

Don’t want to miss God’s creations.

They are better than chocolate chip cookies.

Quick rasberry chocolate chip cookies

1 sm package of raspberry or other flavored biscuits

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 egg

1/3 cup of olive oil.

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Macadamia nut halves (1 per cookie)

Mix together ( all but the macadamian nuts.). Spray baking sheet and drop dough by the spoonfuls. Press the macadamia nut in the center of each cookie and press cookie a little flat.

Bake at 350 for 8 to 12 minutes depending on size of cookie. Watch carefully until the are touched with brown on the edges. Remove from tray immediately.

And enjoy nature while eating a cookie.

Serve with a glass of cold milk (your choice.)

Rainy day!

Rainy day, no sunshine. What ya gonna do?

Rainy day

It is a great day for indoor activities.

Oh fun!

My kinda day!

Being an introvert I love rainy days. You don’t have to make up excuses to stay away from people.

So will it be a good book day or a cooking day or a craft day.

I have a carpet to lay or a lasagna to bake maybe some cookies too. Or do I want to finish sewing my dragons? 

I can’t decide. Mmm. It’s another day of fun.  Just like yesterday or the day before except with the rain I don’t have to give others excuses to stay home.

I love rainy days!

Zucchini Lasagna

Sliced zucchini (2 or 3 yellow zucchini)

Meat sauce

Mix together the following for cheese layer:

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 block cream cheese

1Tablespoon chopped oinon

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix well

Spray a casserole dish

Spread meat sauce thinly over dish and lay 1 layer of zucchini slices on top of sauce.

Spead cheese mix on top of zucchini

Add another thin spread of meat sauce on top of cheese.

Spread another layer of zucchini on Top of sauce.

Then spread sauce and extra meat on top of zucchini with zucchini again layered on top of sauce.

Spread a last thin layer of sauce on top of the 3rd layer of zucchini and top it all off with grated motzerrela cheese or Colby jack cheese and parmassan mixed.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min to an hour covered forthe first 30 minutes. uncover the last few to brown the top.

Enjoy.

Now I still have time to play with dragons. Yeah. And it hasn’t stop raining.

Love North Carolina!

I’ll work on the carpet tomorrow.

Oooh I’ll have time to read a book tonight.

Perfect day!