Please meet my friend Hilary!

I've been meaning to feature Hilary Bernstein and her blog, Accidentally Green, for some time now.  Hilary is one of the young women I am so blessed to have in my life.  She and her hubby were friends with my son and daughter-in-law first and before too long,  they became our friends as well! 

Hilary has written a book with the same title as her blog, and is patiently waiting for the right publisher to discover her.  I know it will be a huge success when that happens, and I'm right there in her cheering section!

A gifted writer and an avid researcher of cleaning products, personal care products, and just about anything that affects the health and safety of her family, Hilary seeks to honor God by making wise choices in her everyday living.  In the process she has discovered that many of these choices are not only personally healthful, but are kind to the environment as well.  

Hilary and I have a lot in common despite our age difference.  First and foremost, we are sisters in Christ.  We both love a good bargain at the store, and we are both committed to the well-being of our families.  We take seriously our roles as keepers of the home front.  Hilary has joyfully accepted her calling to be a wife and mother, and  she uses her researching and writing talents passionately to help others.

I heartily recommend following Hilary's blog as well as Accidentally Green's Facebook page, where you can scour for topics that would interest you.  She frequently has give-aways too.  I was the winner of  these fantastic personal care products not too long ago.  

In fact, Hilary has a giveaway going on right now. Leave a comment and tell her I sent you!  Check it out! www.accidentallygreen.org.

"...let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

2 Corinthians 7:1

just life-between-the-buns as usual...

Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks since my mother-in-law had her fall.  We got her settled back into her condo last Wednesday evening.  (We only had to wait 1 1/2 hours beyond the appointed discharge time until the hospital could send a person capable of pushing her wheel chair from her room to the hospital door.)  She's still in pain but navigating carefully with a walker.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned that my mom lives in the same seniors building.  So in a lot of ways it's   interesting  convenient.  We are grateful that the pelvic fracture wasn't worse, as in "dislocated" ... but it's still going to take another couple months to heal.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to  my Joanna's maternity leave.  She is scheduled for a C-Section on March 30, but as we know, babies make their appearance in God's time, not ours...so we shall see.  It makes it hard to plan a short trip to South Carolina, where my other daughter-in-law, Ellie, is looking at a due date of March 23!

For now, I'm trying to take one day at a time, and longing for spring.  I've eaten way too much comfort food this winter and I need to get outside and get my body moving again.  I'm almost in despair, wondering if I will ever see decent fresh produce in the markets again. Obviously we aren't getting anything locally grown and I'm just plain tired of pale, mushy tomatoes, blueberries that go moldy after two days in my fridge, and limp lettuces.

I did make a yummy dish the other day which I'm sure many of you are familiar with~creamy chicken enchiladas.  I actually toyed with two different recipes, and then added a few ideas of my own.  This makes enough for two casseroles, so either divide it in half, or make two and put one in the freezer for later or to give away.  Let me know if you try it!

3-4 medium to large chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

16 oz. light sour cream

1 26 oz can cream of chicken soup

16 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

approx. 14 regular size flour tortillas

1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder

chopped green onions or onion powder to taste

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro or 1 Tbsp. dried cilantro

a few drops of Tabasco sauce to taste 

1 15 oz. can black beans, drained

1 small jar salsa

Method:

*Bring to boil large pan of water and drop chicken in.  Cover and turn heat off.  Poach chicken about 15 minutes.  Remove from water and let cool.  Chop.

*In large pan, combine chicken, and half of the sour cream, half of the chicken soup, and half of the cheese.  Add beans, salsa, and seasonings.  Combine all with wooden spoon.

*In separate bowl, combine remaining sour cream and soup and set aside. (You can add a little Tabasco and/or chili powder to this also)

*fill tortillas, roll, and place seam side up in baking dish, touching each other.  When dish is full,

cover with soup/sour cream mixture, and top with remaining cheddar cheese. Cover with foil.

*Bake at 350℉ for 40 minutes.

Note:  This recipe will fill two casserole dishes.  Bake one, freeze one if you are not cooking for a crowd!

When serving, garnish side of plate with shredded lettuce, dollop of sour cream, sliced black olives, chopped fresh tomato, and tortilla chips.

Here's a simple and inexpensive craft I did with the kids last week.  They want to hang them on the wall in my "children's bedroom" so I will also purchase a "D" and an "O" for my other two grands, Deacon and Owen.  They can paint them next time they are in Ohio.  Can't have any sibling  cousin rivalry now, can we?  It will be a while till the two new babies will be ready to paint, but I'll buy letters for them too as soon as we know their names!  I think they will look real cute hanging on the walls in "their" room.

This is the paint we use for crafts.  I can find them for about 50 cents a bottle, and I squirt a little of each color they want to use onto a paper plate.  The sponge brushes are economical too, as well as inexpensive brushes.  While they were at it, they found a few other things to paint...

Hubby and I have also been busy helping to promote our church's theme for the year: "Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly" (From Micah 6:8).  We have started blogging for the local outreach ministries our church supports to help raise awareness of needs to be filled and ways that people can become engaged in serving.

As part of the Local Outreach team, we are getting to know the various ministries first hand by visiting them, interviewing people who are already engaged, and by serving in small ways ourselves.

So that's been my life for the past couple of weeks..what have you been up to while waiting for this long winter to be over?

Life's frustrations can lend perspective...

"You can pull your hair out over it, but then you'll just have a bald head."

That was a favorite saying of an older lady friend who I worked with years ago.

It's only Thursday, but it's the end of my "work" week. And I'm ready for it. By Monday night I was feeling stressed and the week had only begun!

For starters, our central air conditioning died (again). It's only 3 years old, and we've had to call the Company back several times since it was installed. Each time, they added more coolant and it worked again, for a while. Being a very reputable Company in our area, they have not charged us a penny for all these service visits. They knew there was a leak somewhere, and said when it got "big enough" they would be able to find it.

Not only did I have to deal with a hot house on Monday, but we also lost our land line and internet service! I mean it went totally dead. At first I thought it was just something acting up with our internet router, because we've had problems with it dropping the signal (too often!). I was irritated because I had bills to pay and like most of us, I've become pretty internet dependent. Techy that I'm not, I played around with everything I could think of and finally realized I had no internet because I had no phone service. Going to a library or other public place to use the free wireless was not an option, as I had the two grandkids here for the day.

So, I called the phone company, only to be made aware that things aren't like they were in the "old days" when you could call a local number and they would tell you if they were experiencing problems in your area. Now you don't even get to talk to a real person. I listened to all the options and of course none of them really applied. Eventually, without talking to a single living soul, I was able to file a service complaint and was "told" the problem would be fixed by Thursday night. I was also "told" the minimum charge, if the problem was found to be in my house, would be about $75! I felt trapped, like a caged animal. What choice did I have?

So while I was dealing with household matters anyway, and utilities in particular, I decided to call the gas company and complain about the $800+ credit that was building up on our account. I've always preferred paying with the budget system because we can have some pretty unpredictable winters here in NE Ohio, and while I sure like to be cool in the summer, I equally love to be warm in winter, and that can get expensive! So I pay a "budget" amount based on past usage, and the gas company has always adjusted it periodically to keep it in line. I knew the credit they were showing was totally unreasonable, and I finally had a chance last weekend to look over my past bills. I added up the "actual" charges for the previous twelve month period, and found the average to be just about $100 per month less than what the gas company is currently saying. I don't know about you, but that's a lot of money to me.

I suddenly felt empowered instead of trapped, and made the call (think napping children). I put up with all the computer generated options until I finally got a real person on the line. I told them I wanted off their budget plan and why, and that thank you very much, but I will figure out my own budget. Then I asked them to please cut me a check and send me back my money they were holding on to. All of a sudden, the customer service person couldn't help me anymore, because, guess what? My name wasn't on the account. My husband would have to call them (from work) and he is not nearly as patient as I am (LOL). But for $800, he did it. And supposedly we will get our money back in about two weeks.

Thus ended my Monday. Well, not quite. Hubby had an equally rough day at work and ended up having to stay (very) late at the office. Had our internet been working, he could have brought the extra work home. Frustrating, since he works an hour's drive away. Let's just say we finally ate supper at 10 pm, I left the dirty dishes, and we went to bed!

Tuesday came, and it was not a babysitting day, so even though I had no air conditioning and no internet, I was able to sit at the kitchen table and work on the bills and overhauling our family budget the old-fashioned way--with a pen and a calculator--while I waited for the air conditioning company to come out. They said they'd arrive between 9 am and 12 noon, and by golly, the serviceman arrived shortly after 9. I continued to work at the table for the next three hours until I heard a piercing "beep, beep, beep" and realized it meant the coolant leak was found! It was only a short time later that the house began to cool off again. Yippee! And for "no charge".

Still, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go off to Border's or some place and take my laptop with me. I needed a "fix" like a druggie needs heroine, I'm ashamed to say. No email access, no Twitter, no Facebook, no blogging--it was driving me crazy. Since I began babysitting grandchildren three days a week, and helping to care for my fairly recently widowed and legally blind mom on the other two days, the computer has really become my connection to the outside world. So off I went, and I nursed a cup of coffee for a couple of hours while I had some much needed "time out".

Wednesday came, and I got the kids again. We picked my mom up and we all ended up having a great day. By the time I took everybody home, I still had enough energy to stop for some groceries and come home and make supper. In spite of still not having the phone or the internet, we had a comfortable house. I guess air conditioning trumps the internet, though it's close (smile). My attitude is starting to improve...

Thursday, today, the phone company repairman called. He said he was just around the corner and would be right over. I was in the middle of feeding the grandkids breakfast and I was feeling a mixture of hope and dread. What would he find the problem to be? Would it be something really simple that we should have been able to fix ourselves (like the time my hubby called the computer repair service at work only to find out he didn't have the thing plugged in) and end up having to pay the $75+? The young man was so friendly when I answered the doorbell that he completely put me at ease. There really IS something about dealing with a problem face-to-face with a real human being. I knew it would be alright no matter what. He explained what he would be doing outside, and assured me if I saw his truck leave, he was just going around the corner to the utility box and he'd be back. And he was, within several minutes. The problem was solved just like "that" and no charge to us.

On Monday night, one of my sisters happened to stop over and she was telling me how she had been to calling hours for the son of someone she works with. The young man had a troubled history, and had moved back home, but was not getting along with his mom. The parents decided to go away for the weekend to get away from the stress of it all. While gone, they received an emergency call that their house was on fire. Firefighters responded, but were unaware the young man was in an upstairs room, passed out from drugs or alcohol, and he died.

Now that I am past all the "crises" of my week and have had a chance to reflect, things are coming into perspective. Yes, I was inconvenienced. No, life isn't always fair. But my problems were so minor by comparison, and they were able to be fixed. I can only imagine the grief and pain this family will live with for a long time to come. I hope you will join me in saying a prayer for them.

Hopefully the next time my life is interrupted by some inconvenience, I will remember how blessed I really am. All the stuff that so consumed my thoughts, energy, and time this past week were just temporary annoyances in the eternal scheme of things. How sad that we have come to think of modern conveniences to be almost life and death matters! What really will count in the long run is, was I kind to the people whose paths crossed mine this week? Was I patient? Did I take the time to show love to anyone at all?

Here is a quote that I've frequently seen on Facebook. I don't know who the original author is, but it sure rings true: "Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ~~II Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV

*I was just ready to publish this, and the phone rang. Hubby has a flat tire...I'm not kidding...

Why blog?

Recently several of my blogger buddies are either closing down their blogs or taking a break. This has led me to ask myself the question, "Why do I blog?"

I have seen some of the comments around the blogosphere, and I know that some people set a goal of reaching fifty or more followers. Others get discouraged if there are not frequent comments made on their posts. Sometimes bloggers run dry in their creativity and just need a break. Most of the time I think it is a matter of life just getting too busy to keep up the way they want, so they just give up. I'm sure there are other reasons that people quit blogging that I'm not aware of.

I started blogging in February of 2009. Blogging has opened up a whole new world for me. I really feel it is a gift from God. I've always wanted to write, but never really had an outlet. Blogging has become a very inexpensive hobby, and has blessed me with new friendships from all over the country, and once in a while, from other places in the world as well.

I've learned a lot along the way. One of the hardest lessons I've learned is how public the blogosphere is. I've learned this is not like writing in a personal diary. I've regretted some of the posts I've written. Hopefully I've learned to use greater sensitivity. I think blogging has sharpened me and has made me think more about my potential audience, not just about myself.

While I enjoy comments, I don't find my self-worth in whether or not I receive them. I once thought it was important to have a lot of followers, and it was exciting each time someone new showed up on my page. Soon I realized that it was more meaningful to me to have a few blogging friends who I connected with fairly regularly than to have 40 or 50 faces on my page who I really know nothing about.

My daughter-in-law once told me that more people read your blog than you are aware of. They just don't leave comments. I have found this is true...Every now and then I run into someone who tells me they read my blogs, or it comes up in a social setting.

I'm sure there are as many reasons that people blog as there are different personalities. And if you maintain more than one blog, usually it is because each serves a different purpose or a different audience. My main blog, "life between the buns" is a documentation of the stage of life I am living right now. I try to think how blessed I would be if I had access to this kind of information about my own parents or grandparents. It sort of says, "this is my life" and maybe someday my children or grandchildren will be interested in what my daily life was like.

My "mistress of my domain" blog zeros in more specifically about my personality as I am basically a homebody and have loved being a wife, homemaker, mother, and now grandma. I also enjoy mentoring younger women and while I'll never leave a huge mark upon the world, I enjoy passing on things I've learned on the homefront. The title comes from an in-depth Bible study I took years ago, and have actually taught a few times, called The Five Aspects of Woman. It was a life-changing study for me which helped me once and for all accept who I am as a beloved daughter of God, and revel in my femininity. (I think I'll blog about that sometime!)

The third blog I have, gingersnaps and black licorice, is basically a tribute to my dad, who left me the gift of many notes of his life story in his own words. Family was everything to him, and this blog is my way of sharing it with anyone who might be interested, especially family members and posterity.

So, I'm curious. Why do you blog?