Food to Eat

30 Days of Thankful 2014 - Day 7 - FOOD TO EAT

As a very picky eater, I remember numerous occasions that my mother dealt with my complaining about meal choices with a remark that sounded something like "Think of all the starving children in Africa."   At the time, I most likely responded with a roll of my eyes and secretly (or maybe not so secretly at times) thought "I'd  be happy to ship this over to them."   Now, as an adult, I have become so much more aware of how very fortunate I am to have plenty of FOOD TO EAT.  While I may have hunger pains from time to time, it is generally from not getting to eat right when I want to and not from a true hunger or shortage of food.  

In my state alone, one in 6 people struggles with hunger and 23% of all of the children experience "food insecurity".   Those numbers are astonishing and heartbreaking at the same time.  I am thankful that I have the opportunity to work with organizations that help provide FOOD TO EAT for those that are less fortunate than me and hope to work on some new projects to address this in the coming year.

Today is the day for you to be thankful for FOOD TO EAT.  How will you capture that on Instagram?

Too Much Food

"Food is an important part of a balanced diet." ---Fran Lebowitz

A couple of months ago, my good friend Pam and I decided to try out one of the new businesses in town where you can prepare dinners to go. After researching a couple online, we settled on The Dinner Station that is not far from work/home and had the most interesting menu. We scheduled our first night of making meals and had such fun, that we signed up to do it again the next month.

Last month, there was a local church there with us who does this as a "party" each month--to earn points. Our attendance helped them earn extra points for them and for us! We've had such fun doing it and hopefully I'm beginning to eat a little healthier--certainly there have been less meals of fast food since I began.

But, I've learned that the minimum number of meals really is just too much food for me. Each of my meals feeds 3 people and since there is only one of me, I usually eat it for several days. Granted, this month had some interruptions, with days spent away from home due to no A/C, but still it is just a little too much food. So, this next month, I'm going to send a few of the meals home with Callie and Jordan.

Now, I have to choose which ones I can part with . . . .

What I Did On My Spring Vacation . . .

"Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends." ---H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Spring Break has been great!! I had a list a mile long of all the things I needed to accomplish during my week off, but, as usual, not much has been checked off that list. The first half of the week, I spent really relaxing (which is something I don't do very often). Then, for the last half of the week, I joined my best friend for a weekend of antique shopping.

We had such a good time. The weather ended up being pretty good---only a few drizzles and no real rain until the trip home. It seems like we did lots of walking and lots of shopping, but we also managed to eat some great food! Pasquale's was one of my favorites--the food was good and sitting out on the deck listening to live music was fun. But the food at Fishes And Loaves was also great, as was our favorite "steak on a stick" booth at the festival itself.

We stayed at our little farmhouse B & B and enjoyed visiting, sharing purchases and chatting over bakery goods and were able to get on the road pretty early each morning, pushing our carts past the hundreds of local and national vendors. Valine and I never seemed to be able to keep up with the rest of the group (much to their chagrin, I'm afraid) because we stopped to browse so much. And, of course, Valine makes friends with everyone, so each purchase meant extra minutes spent chatting with the vendor.

But, taking that extra time meant that we found the things that were the most special to us. And for me, it meant noticing a few extra things---for example: the flowers that many booths used as decor were absolutely beautiful and no matter what the booth actually contained, we seemed to be drawn in to any booth decorated with fresh flowers. One vendor even displayed this great vintage truck full of spring blooms!

And as I was perusing the merchandise on the front porch of a small shop, I noticed this little guy sunning himself on top of a vintage quilt.

All in all, we had a great time and came home with our vehicles packed with our purchases. I had a couple of favorite "buys", but I think this was one of them---my small glass bird vase. It makes me smile every time I look at it. And when I got home to find my "peppermint" azalea in full bloom, it seemed appropriate to display a few in the vase.

Now, if only I could have one more week off to get all those "other" things done around here. . .

Round Robin - Food Prep

For this theme, Food Preparation, I pulled out a couple of pictures from earlier this year. You've seen them before, but since my usual food preparation often consists of getting a box out of the freezer and sticking the contents in the microwave, I thought this one would be much more interesting.
I love to chop vegetables---and these I even liked to eat!!

From Mommy's Treasures

From Mommy's Treasures

From Mommy's Treasures

Be sure to take a look at what the other Robins have been preparing.

Valentine Party Fun

This afternoon, the members of the Good News Sunday School class of Noel UMC gathered at my house for the first time for a Valentine Party. My good friend (and our Sunday School Class's angel), Leah, helped me pick people up and assisted with whatever was needed.

Just before I left to pick up friends, I took set out all the food and snapped a few pictures of the food and decor.

Almost all of the party goods were picked up at Dollar Tree---they had a great selection of doilies, cups, plates, napkins, straws, cupcake liners and even decorative toothpicks.

To make this garland, I simply sewed many of these embellishments onto a piece of string with a zig-zag stitch.

Everyone was anxious to eat as soon as they arrived, so we enjoyed the really tasty cupcakes---the sugar-free ones were everyone's favorites!

After the food, we moved to the table for a game of Valentine Bingo. I printed out the great freebies offered by Confetti Sunshine and we used candy for the markers. While this is a game that is routinely played by many, I was reminded of how special even simple, common things are to my friends.

The favorite activity of the day was the photo booth that I set up in my hallway prior to everyone's arrival.

I used a couple of plastic tablecloths hung from a tension rod and decorated them with more garlands made of hearts. Using hats, boas and other fund props, everyone enjoyed plenty of laughs as they hammed it up for the camera.

Finally, we decorated travel mugs to take home as a souvenir.

It was lots of fun and I'm so thankful for the perspective offered by these special friends.

Happy 2009!

Happy 2009! My new year began surrounded by a bunch of teenagers! I chaperoned a youth lock-in at my church last night. After agreeing to help out, I was really beginning to dread the night as the time got closer. But, things went well! There was a good crowd of kids and Jonathan had planned plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. There was a scavenger hunt, a short devotional, fireworks in the parking lot (awesome fireworks), a 2009 song performance by Cate and Susan, sparkling juice in the Ark and food, food, food. We tried out Susan's new game, Pictionary Man (which was really fun, by the way) and spent a couple of hours playing Sardines(a variation of Hide & Seek) throughout the church--in the dark most of the time.

EARLY in the morning, kids seemed to be winding down. Most gathered with sleeping bags and pillows to watch a movie while a few played Guitar Hero in the game room. However, right on schedule, at 5:00 a.m. they all jumped up, eager for a game of trench ball in the gym! Ugh!

By 7:30 this morning, all the kids had been picked up and I was snuggling into the covers of my own bed for a "long winter's nap."

Pizza Anyone?

I can hardly believe it, but BabyB has his second birthday coming up very soon.  For Christmas, he received a state of the art "Kitchen" (that he calls his "house") along with lots of dishes and cookware.  He has a great time cooking for his mama and daddy, however, most of his toy food consists of wooden likenesses of milk, waffles and juice cartons.

I did a quick search on Etsy and found some really great in-the-hoop embroidery designs for felt food.  For those unfamiliar with the terminology, "in-the-hoop" designs refer to the fact that the entire object is stitched on an embroidery/sewing machine, within a hoop.  The backing is even attached during the process and all of the edges are finished.

Looking for the most bang for my buck, I decided to make miniature bags of food, pizza and sandwiches and purchased the designs from Sewing For Sarah and NewfoundApplique.  After a quick trip to Joann's for additional colors of felt, I set to work.

They are so cute and while a little bit time-consuming, they are quite easy--and fun-- to make.

By the end of the day, I had snacks ready for a toddler's kitchen.

Pizza, anyone?

New Year, New Focus - One Little Word

Welcome 2018!

Well, here we are, a couple of days into the new year and I am knee-deep in getting my next box out for Dot To Dot Connections. I did most of the work just before the holidays so that I could sit back and just relax with family, but all of the last-minute details have to be taken care of before the box ships out this Friday.

This past year was one filled with grandkids, family and the beginning of my new business.
There were some difficult times, to be sure, but they were overshadowed by the good times, as is often the case.

The last holidays of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, were spent with family, which is pretty much my favorite way to spend any day. Carmelle, Chad and the kids came in for Thanksgiving and instead of squishing everyone into my tiny dining area, the weather cooperated and we had our feast outdoors in the backyard. Jordan fried a turkey for us, and I made all the trimmings.


One of the ladies from my Sunday School class joined us and it was such a nice time to remember all of our many blessings and enjoy each other's company.

For Christmas, all of Ron's kids and families were able to come to our house for the first time ever. I regret that I never got a photo of everyone, but I got a couple of so-so pictures of his kids.

This time it was too chilly to eat outdoors, so we just set up an extra table and enjoyed the meal crowded together.

There was plenty of food eaten, games played, "snowballs" thrown and new toys tested.

The day after Christmas, Ron, Dan and I headed to Georgia to meet up with Jana, Callie and their families for a few days.

We rented a wonderful Airbnb and once again enjoyed exchanging gifts, hiking, train rides and just being together.

The time together is always too short, but I am so grateful for any opportunity to be with family!

January 1st arrived quietly at our house. Along with it came a new focus for me, a new One Little Word to invite into my life this year. This year's word is "Gather". (This wonderful dough bowl was a gift from my dear friend, Debbie.)

In 2018, here are some of the areas I plan to focus on:

• gathering with friends, especially old friends that I have been missing 
• inviting people into my home (I have always felt a bit uncomfortable being the hostess, and it is something I really want to work on.)
• gathering the tools I need to become more organized (even if that means getting rid of things, too)
• gathering the materials for my business (supplies for my Connection Boxes, accounting paperwork, email addresses)
• gathering (and keeping on hand) ingredients for healthier food choices
• gathering flowers from a cutting bed I hope to plant this spring
• gathering and using veggies from my tiny garden

There are so many exciting things ahead and I have a tendency to try to take on more that I can handle sometimes, but most of the things listed above are things that I am already working on or things that I feel like I am really missing and willing to add, even if it means cutting back in another area. While I LOVE photography, I have generally spend so much time editing photos that I never get around to posting them. I've decided for this year, that I will edit only my very favorites and will post photos on here regardless of whether or not they have been edited. I have also decided to discontinue creating new Instagram challenges. I love taking a photo a day and will continue that practice, but I am going to use the prompts designed by Katrina Kennedy over at Capture Your 365. I'd love it if you joined me!