Monday Musings: Thoughts And A Keto Recipe

Good morning! I hope everyone had a delightful weekend? Ours was quiet, which is always nice. Didn't go anywhere or do anything of note on Saturday. Sunday was Church with all my dear sisters and brothers. 

Afterwards we shopped at a new place called Warehouse 203 in Blackshear. They have "train wreck" items: second hand products sold at bargain basement prices. Unfortunately, it's super hot and humid here and they had no A/C in that metal shed. Even with the fans blasting away I wilted after about 5 seconds. I subsequently scooted back out to the truck, turned the A/C on full-blast, and waited on Steve to finish his purchases. Thanks to underactive thyroid my thermostat does not work too well.

On Sunday, we all learned that Jill Biden will not seek a re-election this November. Read that again. Y'all know that's true since according to sources she is the one that's been signing Bills and running the show for the dementia patient. So I hear the Democrats want to run the Queen of Word Salad, Kamala, instead. Good luck with that.🤣  

I made the above dish a couple of days ago. It is pure heaven in a dish. This recipe is a true keeper. Trust me, it doesn't taste keto. It's rich, satisfying and tasty. 

Keto Reese's Lava Brownie (link)

Ingredients
1 large Egg
1/3 cup Cottage Cheese 
3 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 serving sugar-free Chocolate Baking Chips
1 tablespoon softened sugar-free Peanut Butter

Directions
Blend all ingredients except peanut butter or chocolate chips.
Pour into a small greased glass dish. Stir in chocolate chips gently.
Microwave for 1.5 or 2 minutes. Watch closely. 
Remove. Whilst warm drizzle softened peanut butter on drop. Enjoy!

Serves 2-4 depending on size of slices. 

May what I share give God the glory and edify the Saints. Sunday, I woke up with a start. I dreamed(?) that Jesus Christ our Lord was standing at the door knocking with uncountable amounts of small lights before Him. Everything around the lights was in total blackness. Suddenly, He stopped. Then all the lights gathered together and shot straight up into the Heavenlies. I had to think about it for awhile because it was so startling. (I'm a slow thinker) During Bro. Bob's sermon it all together in my head. Jesus is giving everyone one final chance, then all of us who trust and believe in Him will be gathered up and removed. No, I don't know when and I'm not going to guess. That's up to Him. But, we are close. 

Today it's laundry, clean house and yard before it's 100*, straighten this and that. The same 'ol same 'ol. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I hope the rest of your day is delightful. Keep witnessing, praying and looking forward to that glorious resurrection that is to come. Love ya.

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Monday Musings & Another Birthday

Good morning folks! What a weekend huh? 

First of all I want to thank everyone who prayed for me concerning my sour attitude. Things feel a whole lot brighter. I know it's because y'all are Prayer Warriors plus Church was really fulfilling yesterday. I felt lighter inside after the uplifting service. God answers prayer and I'm super blessed that there are others who pray too with loving hearts. God bless you!  

Now on to the sad news, there was an assignation attempt on President Donald J. Trump Saturday the 13th. Those of us who are keenly attuned to what is right and wrong according to God's Holy Word have been expecting an attempt what with all the hateful rants that spew from the hellish Leftist media and our Government. We're all aware that the ranting, raving, lies and threats was meant to enrage some looney tune to make such an attempt. Sadly, one innocent bystander was murdered, others wounded and many traumatized. Their lives are forever changed because of the evil hearts of those in 'power' and in the propaganda machine. But we know that God is bigger than all our silly doings. The Left mean it for evil but HE who is our God and King means it for good. [Genesis 5:20] I'm sure we're all praying for the victims families, for President Trump and his staff and family. My question is, how did the shooter get within 130 yards of our President on a rooftop and in plain view? Some in attendance even pointed the shooter out to authorities before the terrible event! Hmmm ... This kind of reminds me of how the CIA murdered President John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and the men who did the dirty deed. I hope someone will follow the money trail on this one. 

On to something more pleasant.

Today, our two Jack Russell Terriers brothers, Sam (left) and Jack, are 11 years old.  Where did the time go? I remember those first few weeks after bringing them home. As puppies they were so rambunctious and destructive! I thought I was going to go completely crackers before they finally calmed down. I even threatened to take them back to the breeder at some point. Glad I didn't now. Now that we're feeding them "real" food from the table (cooked eggs, chicken gizzards, etc.) and not the store bought kind in a bag, their health has improved greatly. That's saving us major bucks too. It's so much cheaper to be healthy. 

Why does the font suddenly change here on Blogger like that? Strange ... 🤔

This week will be busy. There are the usual errands of groceries and the like but one very important errand will be Steve taking our friend Tommy to his first eye appointment on Wednesday to start the ball rolling on the cataracts removal. Poor man is nearly blind now but good news is his life is improving as each month progresses. Things are looking up for him and that makes us all so happy! Thanking the Lord for answered prayer. And thank YOU for praying for him. Maybe soon Tommy can return to work too. He's really excited about that, I can tell. 

Thank you for stopping by, your prayers, and kindly words. Remember you are prayed for too. I hope the rest of your day is happy and bright. Keep looking up! Jesus may be taking us out of the way of what is to come very soon. God bless.

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~ Sparky ~

Monday Musings: In A Relationship With An Air Conditioner

Who can relate? 🙋🏼😆

Gosh, it's been hot. 🌞 And it's dry as powdered toast. We need rain badly! The weekend was going along swimmingly, we were chillin' inside after Church, then late in the afternoon our big, beautiful, expensive Trane central air conditioning unit decided that 3 years was long enough to behave and it quit cooling. "WHAT??!!!"  😒 was my first reaction. Not cool (literally). Ok. DON'T PANIC (I did). 🤦🏼 To keep me from whining Steve retrieved the 8,000 btu window unit from storage. Panic subsiding. We keep this one on hand ever since the last time the A/C quit. It doesn't cool like the big unit but it does alright.

Note to those living in Southern climes or other areas were heat is brutal: keep one of these bad boys on hand for just these kind of occasions. We can't afford one of our usual local A/C repair people anymore since they upped their call outs to $300, so, we've hired a fella from Church for repairs. This will be our first time using him. I pray he's a good one. 

Thus, I sit waiting for help to arrive. It's all good though. God is still in control and whatever happens may it bring Him glory. It's His Royal Way. Amen?!

To cheer me up, my dear blogging buddy at MadSnapper sent some pretty cool (there's that word again) graphics of the swirl she made on her blog recently. Mad is so talented! I tried to figure it out on my own with Corel PaintShop Pro but this is above my pay grade. Which one is best? I like 'em all. Thanks MadSnapper! 

We've had a couple of nibbles on selling the motorbikes. Thank you everyone for the prayers. There's nothing concrete yet, though. I think the economy may be suffering too much to sell anything other than necessities like food, medicine or gas right now. We can wait. I know everyone is trying to survive. All in God's time. 

Well, I'd better go. That laundry isn't going to finish itself. 

Thanks for stopping by. I pray your day is wonderful, joyful, healthy and very cool! 😁

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My 16th Blogoversary And A Birthday

 

🎉 June 15th, 2008, I made my first blog post. 🎉 What a greenhorn I was! I had no clue as to what to write about or who would care. I had no audience or contacts yet. Off I went blissfully ignorant of all these things and more, dipping my toes into the warm writing pool along with everyone else hoping someone would notice. Eventually others did (thank you!) and it went from there. Back in those days Blogger had a "Next Blog" button on the upper right hand side where we could proceed from wherever we were to the next blog of like minds. Remember that? I miss that feature because I made lots of contacts who became friends that way. It was fun to go exploring other blogs. Most of the time lately it's been a "friends of friends" type of contact where I'll leave a comment somewhere and some kind person will click my link to see what's up and maybe 'follow'. That's fine too. I've done that lots of times. As long as we get to talk to one another, share ideas, opinions, recipes, photos, life events or simply polish our writing skills, it's all good. Writing keeps me sharp that's for sure. Sadly, some of my original blogging friends have passed into Glory, others have fallen by the wayside or moved on for whatever reason, but I appreciate you all 🙌 whether an old friend or a new one and the time we all spend together. I do miss the ones that have passed or are no longer blogging. Lord willin' I hope to keep blogging for many more years unless the Rapture happens or God calls me Home some other way.

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Also, today, is what we believe to be our Maggie's 5th birthday. 🥳🎈 When we rescued her as a puppy, it was her, her brother and one other possible sibling that got away. That was almost five years ago when we found them abandoned, starving, and obviously living in neglect, on our nearby country road that cold October morning. I had no idea how much our lives would change for the better that day. We were heading for a Day Trip but immediately canceled that plan after the puppies were in the truck. Took the poor little mites home, named them, bathed them, pampered them, took them to the Vet for a check-up and shots the next day and eventually bought personalized collars for the new crew. The Vet estimated that June 15th, 2019, was their day of birth. I had every intention of keeping them both, but, after awhile the Boys (our Jack Russell Terriers Jack and Sam) did not like the male. They liked Maggie just fine. What to do? I owed the Boys first, of course, thus we sold Sport to a local fella so his mother, who had just lost her dog of many years, would not be lonely. I think about her brother Sport from time to time. The guy who bought Sport kindly sent photos of him after being groomed and his new home with that fellas mother. I'll bet he's matured into a good dog too. 

As y'all can see Maggie is my little buddy. She even 'helps' me with everything even blogging. I call her Brat but she really is a sweetie. She's the smartest, friendliest, most fun dog we've ever owned. God knew what I needed even before I knew I needed her! He's always looking out for us, isn't He!? 💗 

Let me end with a heartfelt thanks for joining me in this journey of virtual journaling. I know y'all are praying too but please keep petitioning the Lord concerning our Country. I know God hears and answers all prayers according to His will and may His will be done but the criminals running this Country really need to be gone. 😟 So many people are hurting terribly especially children. Thanks. 

Love to you all. Have a wonderful day!❤️‍🔥

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Monday Musings

This past week and weekend has been quiet for us. It's only been running errands, buying groceries, housework, and so forth. The Wednesday ministry at the Rehab Center went well. There's still quite a few residents showing up. It's lots of fun and I'm making new friends with some there. After the service and before leaving all the Church members try to walk through the group to pray and chat. I highly recommend this type of ministry for anyone looking for some way to share the Gospel and help others. This edifies me too. So I'm sitting here in my nice air conditioned home, counting my blessings that things could be a whole lot different and not for the better. Thank you Lord for these blessings and more. 

Have y'all noticed that as we age we mark our days by medical events? These type of medical things seem to happen with more frequency with each passing birthday. 

Last Friday the silliest thing happened. I was walking across the yard, on level ground mind you, and felt my right ankle go *snap*, then there was this burning pain. Ouch! Seems I sprained my ankle simply walking!? What?! It's not super bad, only annoying. I'm resting it, elevating the ankle, putting ice on it, then wrapping it gently so I can walk a little. I feel confused. Don't know how this happened. At any rate at least my Dislocated Finger is improving every day. I can almost bend it like before. I've been using a small soft stress ball to exercise the whole hand. That works wonders.

The motorbikes are now officially on the market [Craigslist].Craigslist now charges $5 to sell a vehicle. Guess they had to because of the rampant inflation. Anyway, please pray that the bikes will sell? Thanks my friends. This is so hard for us to do but it's time. Just can't take the chance of a catastrophic fall, you know? *sigh* It hurts though. I'll get over it. I always do. Oh, and I am going to keep all my gear, you know, "just in case" I can ever get back into it. One can hope!  😁

Hang on Brothers and Sisters in Christ! We're getting ever so much closer to that glorious day! 

Thanks for stopping by. I pray everyone has a wonderful, courageous in Christ, prosperous week. 

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Thursday Thoughts

Yesterday's Church services at the Rehab center went well. There were fewer residents than the last one but that's possibly due to people coming and going as they heal and other reasons. Whatever the future holds we plan to keep soldiering on until instructed to do otherwise. 

Steve is not unhappy. He was simply caught unawares. We had a good time listening to the Gospel, singing a couple of old hymns, then praying together. There were even fewer Church members that could show up but those of us who could tried to keep the joy going and move through the participants to pray individually with anyone who wanted comfort or had a need before leaving. These photos were snapped by our Pastor's wife. She was playing with my new little yellow camera. I told her the photos looked like a filming of a Batman episode. Ms. Jackie is always such fun. [below] Look at that impish grin.  😁  Hopefully her rehab will end soon too and she will be back home. 

This is Bro. Bob giving the sermon and sitting is our piano player Kathy. 

In other news we heard something good concerning our not-too-distant neighbor Mr. Tommy (the one the Church gave the A/C to on Monday). Yesterday, in a scheduled phone call with the Government, he received the welcome news that he will receive the partial SSI funding with medical insurance he requested almost a year ago. Now he can find an eye surgeon so he can get in line for the much needed cataract replacement surgery. He wants so desperately to rejoin the workforce and also move to a more desirable neighborhood. Possibly even be able to drive again some day. Yippee! My heart is singing to our Lord in praise for His infinite kindness. God answers prayer y'all. Thank you Lord! We're all so very excited for him. Thank you everyone else who has been praying about this too. 

Today, it's mundane things: laundry, light yardwork, clean the house and other housewifey things. My Dislocated Finger is almost completely healed but I still can't grasp a clutch for more than a few seconds. I'll keep working on strengthening my grip so I can ride again. I certainly do not want an automatic. Might was well buy a sports car if it comes to that .... 

Hmmm ... now that's a thought ... 😉

Have a lovely day folks. Thanks for stopping by. 

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Monday Musings On A Tuesday

I'm a day late and dollar short on posting for yesterday. Sometimes I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland mumbling, "I'm late! I'm late!" 😂

Steve is in the kitchen right now humming a lively tune as he is making Cucumber Sandwiches for later. I've been wanting to try one of these sandwiches since forever. I think it's easy enough to make them so that even someone who is Recipe Impaired as I can do pretty well. He said he will take the remainder of the cucumbers and make cucumber salad for tomorrow. That goes so good with grilled Rib Eyes and garlic bread. Yum!

On Sunday the Church kindly voted to pay for Mr. Tommy's A/C. I searched diligently for the best price with a warranty. Walmart had the best deal, so, yesterday we drove there to pick it up. Ordering it on-line then picking it up at the store I saved (well, the Church saved) $31.00. Every little bit helps. Steve installed it in his trailer yesterday afternoon. He said it felt like it was over 100* in there. Bless his heart. I'm so grateful to attend a Church with such wonderful, generous, loving, living the Christian life folks! We are small in number and pocket but big in heart.  💞

By the way, the background image on the blog is a photo of some of our Palmetto's this year. They have bloomed like crazy because of all the rain. That means there will be lots of berries. Aren't they pretty?

I'll close for now. It's too hot out to do any work. Guess I'll spend the afternoon finishing up the "God's Smuggler" book by Brother Andrew. What an adventurous life he's lead! It's making me reexamine if I'm trusting in the Lord as much as I should too. I can see lots of mistakes I've been making about not believing in how big and great He truly is. 

Thanks for stopping by. Hope y'all have wonderful remainder of the day. 

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Sanguine Saturday

The Ortho Doc released me on Friday. My Dislocated Finger is almost completely healed. He was amazed at how quickly that happened. That made me smile. I know why. Anyway, I'm so grateful to not have to go to a Doctor for awhile. God is good!

We were planning on running a couple of errands this morning but during my early morning prayer walk and devotional, I spied that this had fallen inches from our front gate and across the driveway! 

At this point the gate could not be opened without a great deal of effort and the fence must be repaired so Little Miss Escape Artist (Maggie the dog) couldn't get out. "Ok, Lord, I see we are to be delayed or perhaps remain at home," were my thoughts. We have opted to stay put, at least for now. He's either protecting us from something harmful or He wants us do be available for something. Whatever His plans are may this bring Him glory.

The fence is fixed (better than before too!) and the area cleaned up. Time for lunch coffee. Right now I'm watching old films on YouTube. It is nice to sit and relax.  

What are y'all doing this weekend? Other than Church tomorrow I 'suppose we'll be staying close to home unless God has other plans.

May the Lord bless and keep you. Thanks for stopping by.

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Thursday Thoughts

Good morning! 

Yesterday's Church service at the Rehab center went fairly well. There are still a few 'bugs' to work out but we're going to keep at it as long as the Lord wants us there. Between 20-30 of the residents and staff showed up off and on to participate in the songs and Amens. It really warmed all our hearts to see all those smiling faces rejoicing in His Word. I'm not showing the residents faces to protect their privacy because I didn't ask their permission. 

During the service (YouTube link) there was a lot of background noise, music over the loud speakers and other distractions. Plus Bro. Bob didn't have a microphone. It wasn't until this morning that we did at least one thing wrong. We forgot, I forgot, to begin in a group prayer! *face palm* I'm so forgetful sometimes. Anyway, I know this because during my morning devotional which was on John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful." The lady that wrote today's devotional for Journey-Daily Devotionals For Women was distracted by noise as she was trying to worship, so, she became frustrated and angry. Then it dawned on her, she should have prayed instead of getting emotional. Hmmm ... that's my error. Lesson learned.

Right?! Keep sparkling! Because my earthly father was habitually cruel, critical, vulgar, full of anger, I tend to be terribly hard on myself when things "don't go right". Mistakes aren't the end of the world. They don't define me. They don't define you either, never forget that. Our Heavenly Father is loving, forgiving, kind, generous, gentle and knows we are only dust. Amen?! We learn, dust ourselves off, adjust our thoughts to Him, then keep moving forward. I am so thankful that I now have a real Father that loves me. I want to reflect Him more and me less. 💙

In other news, our Nephew-in-love is out of Hospital. The final diagnosis, I believe I have this correctly, was 'only' double pneumonia, not that that isn't serious. The Doctor(s) put him in a very nice room for a couple of days on a slow antibiotic drip. Yesterday he was released into his wife's loving care about Noon. It's such a relief to have him home and on the mend. Thank you for praying dear Saints! 

My Dislocated Finger is healing rapidly for which I give God the glory. The stitches fell out last Friday. I haven't worn the brace since then except when sleeping. I've even quit wearing the brace since last night. The healing is so perfect it's almost like it didn't even happen except for the scar and some slight swelling over the wound. I see the Orthopedic Doctor tomorrow. I really expect him to release me. All that needs to be done is Physical Therapy which can be done at home. I have the list of finger exercises. The clutch on my motorbike is on the left side. When I can grip the clutch without pain or trouble I'm riding. Of the mornings it's not ultra-hot yet and our little dirt road is like a super highway after the last time it was graded. The Road Department actually did a great job.  

Have a wonderful day my friends. Thanks for stopping by. 

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Ride Safe,

Thursday Thoughts

Ok, I know, it's only been one week but I've decided that the new space age brace has got to stay off 😬 except to sleep or if I leave the house! It's making me coo coo bananas! Whilst at home I'm going to spend this time gently flexing the fingers and wrist. I don't want to lose flexibility in these fingers. The left is me clutch hand. This may not be the smartest thing I've done all year but I'm going to give it a go. I am healing super fast since I don't eat sugar/carbs. Even the bruising is already gone!

So, Steve has very kindly volunteered to ride to Walgreen's to buy one of these for me to wear on the pinky around the house:

The splint is only $7.29. I pray it does the trick. Hope I'm not being foolish.

And, yes, I said he'd ride. 😎 Little stinker. Not fair I wanna ride too. 😁 The temp's have been pleasant of the morning. Isn't he cute in all his gear ladies? 😍 We try to always ATGATT (all the gear all the time) when motorcycling. Safety is cuteness on two wheels .. to me. 

Guess I'll play around with me genealogy sites while he's out being sweet. Can't get into any finger problems there. 😜 Thanks for stopping by and for your prayers.

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