In God I Trust

People in this country are going through Hell, right now. It matters to me – the fact that so many don’t know where to turn and feel so lost and alone. It is my responsibility to do what I can to help others understand that they are not alone – and they can climb out of that dark hole. Those who know me tend to feel I can be a little confusing to read. There are times when others may sum up my posts appearing like I’m going through mood swings. There are times when a few may consider me some kind of Hypocrite – “she claims to be a Christian but, look at this!” I say the confusion lies within the twists and turns of the goulash that comes out of all the churches – the many faces of Christianity that end up out there in public for the uncertain ones to view. The Book of Revelations warns of the Spirit of Division – Deceit – and false prophets – even inside the churches. And that’s why I stand outside. Maybe if I share my own self – it will help others understand they, too, can stand in the same place as me and find a boat load of peace in their lives. I’d rather people not consider giving me the label of ‘Christian’. Reason why – that label has become broiled with confusion within its definition. Bottom line – I’m a Believer with a deep personal relationship with God. And I’ve learned that living my life is only required to be much more simpler – and more REALISTIC – versus what all the churches prefer everyone think. The Churches are a very sore subject with me – but that’s for another posting. I don’t care who you are – when you find your life going through Hell – get your hands on a Bible. Get yourself settled into a quiet place somewhere – alone. Let go of every concern in your life for the moment and allow yourself to fuel up with answers – and some peace. Before you even open that Bible – know that your heart must really want goodness and truth for your life. Go to God in prayer. Ask Him to send you wherever He wants you to go inside that Bible to learn whatever it is that He wants you to learn for that day. Ask for the gift of Discernment (simple term - understanding). If your heart is in the right place – God will allow you to understand things inside the Bible as He intended. Go into that Bible and just start turning pages – flip through chunks of pages – allowing your eyes to land where they may - but pay attention to where they land. Keep going back and forth through the chunks and/or pages – until your eyes land on scripture that hits you right in the gut. You’ll be shocked when you find something that pertains to some problem that’s going on in your life that very moment. And that will be what God wants you to learn about that day. That will be the issue He wants you to gain answers for resolving. I was blessed enough to attend Sunday School in a Quaker church as a child. That gave me the seeds for always knowing where to go when life begins to turn on me. Through the years I have learned a few critical points in understanding God. The Biggie in the list – God really does hold all the power over this planet. He really does get the last word in everything – and it is always good. God, Himself – accepted defeat in His own efforts of wanting to create Man in the same form of Perfection as Himself. Because He was unable to make that happen – He has never expected any of us to be perfect. Actually - He relishes over honesty and realism. God is considered Father – but He also takes on the role of Mother in that He chooses his battles with his children, too. He pays no mind to the petty stuff – such as smoking cigarettes – going to the bars and nightclubs – yada yada. Bottom line – we only need to be concerned with what things are going on inside our heart, mind and soul – how well and proper we are taking care of the basic needs in our lives – and how we treat one another. Now – don’t get me wrong. You get your butt in trouble at the bars and night clubs – that’s an issue. Nothing wrong with going out and having fun with friends and others. Overdoing the drinking to the point that it gets you into bad situations - that just crosses the line. That's a good thing going bad. Get it? Overindulgence brings on the bad in every situation. Look at those without a home today – simply because they could not be happy with a home priced within their means. Foreclosures and repossessions of cars – boats – all those frivolous TOYS that they honestly could not afford and really did not need. Throughout the Bible you will find that God loves good and hates evil. He gives us that right to agree with Him and oversee life on earth with the same attitude. He expects us to defend what is right and good – refuse to put up with bad things being done – and deal with those who choose to do bad things that bring harm or painful loss to others. I don’t have to belong to some church to have my deep and wonderful relationship with God. I don’t have to be anything more than myself. I don’t have to wear a dress inside some sanctuary. I don’t have to cross my arms when I pray. I don’t have to kiss and wave a bunch of beads around my head when I pray. I don’t have to starve myself during certain times of the year. Ohhhh – I could go on and on! Those are all a bunch of rules that come out of churches – put in place by other human beings – and God never had a thing to do with any single one of them! The Fasting is a perfect example of the confusion thrown out here to us all. It’s a parable! The fasting we should be participating in pertains to letting go of things we’re forcing to make happen in our lives that aren’t working out. We’re supposed to stop burning time and energy on that and spend that time with God - seeking guidance and help to get through difficult times in our lives! Has absolutely nothing to do with making ourselves go without food for a handful of days! Sheesh! Get it right! One of our basic needs is food! The human body is supposed to consume food on a daily basis just like every other living being on this planet! That’s how God intended it! Do you see Monkeys starving themselves on a regular basis? But that’s how religions have melded themselves to suck us all into their churches. And that’s another posting there! Last, but not least for today – you need to understand about those that choose to bury themselves in arguments about God by using scriptures from the Bible – as weapons. When they’re sparring back and forth in an obvious defensive stance – coming back with a different scripture each time – that’s nothing more than abusing good in a bad way. And that leads to my final thing on that list I've learned about God... Satan exists, as well. And the Devil knows that Bible better than any one of us on this earth. Satan will use people as tools of his own. And the attacks with Bible scripture are one of his very favorites. I can be me – be real – do the best I can with what I have in my life – be good to others – stand up to evil acts committed by others – drink my wine coolers or my Crown ‘n 7 – smoke my cigarettes – and STILL have a close relationship with God! I can even get pissed as all get-out and raise absolute Hell! And I can even yell about my anger to Him! I might as well – He already knows what’s inside my heart at the moment! What He gets out of all that is my willingness to show Him my Honesty! Rather than nailing me into a corner about the petty crap - He gives me blessings for my pure Honesty. And when I calm down - He guides me to the help. Obviously – He must be okay with me. Because there have been way too many times in my life when I have seen God get me through Hell in my life – and find Him on the other side waiting for me – with wonderful blessings to gift to me! The secret in life is – making the physical effort to take care of the blessings in our lives that God has gifted to us. As long as we do the best we can – in good ways – and seek His help for matters beyond our control – for all the right reasons – God always gets the last word – and it is always good!

Get Your House in Order

People tend to laugh at me because of my involvement in my gardening. And I’m okay with that. The laughing doesn’t bother me. I’m all too aware of where it’s coming from. That only makes me more aware of the need to expand my gardening next year. My husband is even beginning to see reason for such. We’ve been paying attention. And we know that we stand a good chance of feeding quite a few people in the near future. Right now my emotions are running deep and very heavy. I’m angry. I’m angry with the trap that Capitalism in this country has led a few generations into - by its neglect to cover all bases and make sure the hand that feeds it would always remain secure. At the same time – I’m full of hope because I know my husband and I keep our lives in check preparing for worst case scenarios to occur in this country. We look around corners. And we invest in being able to survive nightmares. Lately, I’ve had numerous people around my circle in my life coming to me expressing their concerns about situations that, either, they are experiencing or reports of others caught in the middle of various events affecting their lives in serious ways. The fact that they have become aware is a good thing in such a serious manner and in more ways than most will even take time to imagine. This country is being torn apart. People were led to voting booths by a very sly play on words – double talk that is soon to reach around like a two-headed snake and take the breath of life out of those sucked in by a very vicious game. The media is now on a course of trying to convince us that this so-called recession is on a recovery. You can’t recover jobs lost at giant automobile manufacturing plants that have closed their doors forever. You can’t recover jobs lost at all the parts manufacturing plants that are closing their doors, permanently – because there is no auto manufacturing plant to receive those parts. And how about all those trucks that delivered all those parts? There is a chain reaction coming on like a fury. He said he would bring jobs. He now claims victory. Well – he brought jobs, all right. The thing is – he never said exactly how many new jobs that would stand outside the velocity of jobs that would be lost. He gotchya’. And the principles of that same game will apply to every issue unfolding in this country. And the chain reaction will spread like a spider’s web. Too many people have been born in generations that have been bush-whacked from the true survival. The mindset has been slowly manipulated into the thinking that we’re all supposed to get up each day – walk out our doors and go to a job – where we collect a paycheck – to bring home and use for - buying our necessities – from commerce. The careless boldness has grown to manipulating the mindset into thinking we just must have all these – other things. From there – our paychecks have been manipulated toward credit cards and financing. The cement has been poured all over the place to cram apartments – condos – townhouses – dwellings with absolutely no yard. What is going to happen if we suffer an attack that completely takes out all sources of electricity on the national grid? Do you really want to go on with your daily lives carrying an attitude of laughing at such a thought? Was September 11, 2001 just not enough to wake your lazy butt up enough to make you get serious about taking control of your own life with pure common sense? Was Hurricane Katrina – Rita and Ike not enough to convince you that the current generations in our government are not going to be there for you when the crap hits the fan? Hell – I expect them to come hollering at us for help with picking up our guns to help deal with the terrorists that come running over the borders from all sides! Mark my word. The day is near when many more will lose everything they have. And they won’t have a dime to buy food at a grocery store. And the number of grocery stores will even begin to shut down. If you have any kind of a yard where you live – this is no time to be growing grass. Whatever home you may have – you need to get things in order for surviving without a job – electricity – natural gas – and even grocery stores. And remember – you cannot get to whatever cash you have in the bank if we lose electricity. Gas pumps will not operate without electricity. Cash registers will not operate without electricity. The grills at fast food joints cannot operate without electricity.

Look at The Big Picture... It's Ugly

I'm about to jump onto my soapbox. With this post I am including two items that were emailed to me over the past couple of days. I choose to post both of them because I stand in support of both issues - wholeheartedly. And I can do this right along with my strong commitment to my personal relationship with God - who knows and sees all that I do and carry in my heart. He is the only one I have to answer to at the end of the day. And He knows my heart better than anyone on this planet. He gets me. He understands my level of compassion. And I understand what He expects out of me - despite what some churches and their leaders would like to expect from me. In the Big Picture - I have God on my side. And if some cannot understand that - no problem. I won't be surprised. Afterall - in the Book of Revelations it does speak of the spirit of division peaking its presence - especially in the churches. And I cannot be shaken! In God I trust! This is the email I received. I have noted that many elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, called upon America to unite behind Obama. Well, I want to make it clear to all who will listen that I AM NOT uniting behind Obama! I will respect the Office which he holds, and I will acknowledge his abilities as an orator and wordsmith and pray for him, BUT that is it. I have begun today to see what I can do to make sure that He is a one-term President! Why am I doing this? It is because I do not share Obama's vision or Value system for America; I do not share his Abortion beliefs; I do not share his radical Marxist's concept of re-distributing wealth; I do not share his stated views on raising taxes on those who make $150,000+ (the ceiling has been changed three times since August); I do not share his view that America is Arrogant; I do not share his view that America is not a Christian Nation; I do not share his view that the military should be reduced by 25%; I do not share his view of amnesty and giving more to illegal's than American Citizens who need help; I do not share his views on homosexuality and his definition of marriage; I do not share his views that Radical Islam is our friend and Israel is our enemy who should give up any land; I do not share his spiritual beliefs (at least the ones he has made public); I do not share his beliefs on how to re-work the healthcare system in America; I do not share his Strategic views of the Middle East, and certainly do not share his plan to sit down with terrorist regimes such as Iran. Bottom line, my America is vastly different from Obama's, and I have a higher obligation to my Country and my God to do what is Right! For eight (8) years, the Liberals in our Society, led by numerous entertainers who would have no platform and no real credibility but for their celebrity status, have attacked President Bush, his family, and his spiritual beliefs! They have not moved toward the center in their beliefs and their philosophies, and they never came together nor compromised their personal beliefs for the betterment of our Country! They have portrayed my America as a land where everything is tolerated except being intolerant! They have been a vocal and irreverent minority for years; they have mocked and attacked the very core values so important to the founding and growth of our Country! They have made every effort to remove the name of God or Jesus Christ from our Society! They have challenged capital punishment, the right to bear firearms, and the most basic principles of our criminal code; they have attacked one of the most fundamental of all Freedoms, the right of free speech! Unite behind Obama? Never! I am sure many of you who read this think that I am going overboard, but I refuse to retreat one more inch in favor of those whom I believe are the embodiment of Evil! PRESIDENT BUSH made many mistakes during his Presidency, and I am not sure how history will judge him. However, I believe that he weighed his decisions in light of the long established Judeo-Christian principles of our Founding Fathers!!! Majority rules in America , and I will honor the concept; however, I will fight with all of my power to be a voice in opposition to Obama and "his goals for America ." I am going to be a thorn in the side of those who, if left unchecked, will destroy our Country!! Any more compromise is more defeat! I pray that the results of this election will wake up many who have sat on the sidelines and allowed the Socialist-Marxist anti-God crowd to slowly change so much of what has been good in America! "Error of Opinion may be tolerated where Reason is left free to combat it." (Thomas Jefferson God bless you and God bless our Country!!! (Please, please, please. Pass this on if you agree.) Thanks for your time, be safe. "In God We Trust" 'If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.' - Ronald Reagan I WANT THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE BACK..... This is the second item I received. Some of you may have seen it posted on my profile at FaceBook, already. Need I say more?

No Time to Even Answer the Phone....

It’s been a rough ride for us. Dwayne headed off this morning for another round of his work schedule. The strange part about that -–it feels like he should still be at home today. Why? Because we’ve only made a dent in our efforts to get the house and porches power-washed and resealed. Please give yourself time to make note to self – if you ever decide to buy a log home. You do NOT want chinking. You do NOT want ANY portion of your basement constructed above ground so high that it requires extension ladders and walk-boards to reach the eves of your home. This has been a project that actually required help from friends and family. We’ve only made the dent on the front of the house. We’re not able to spray the sealant because of the chinking. We’re using cheap brushes. But the real pain thus far has been each and every spindle in the banister of the deck. I still have two sections to finish. Those will be worked on today while Dwayne’s at work. After that – I get the porch landing and stairs going down to the driveway. And of course – there is always weather to threaten our race to the finish. That sealant is like molasses. If you haven’t tried the new Palmolive Eco Gel Dishwashing Detergent – I highly recommend it. I’m showering with it to get the sealant removed. Not only that, but – I used it this weekend for pre-treating a pair of Dwayne’s jeans and it worked like a charm! He had solid grass stains all the way up to his knees. But you’d never know that now. This is one product I’d recommend everyone keep in their house - even if you don’t have a dishwasher. We have no more trouble cleaning those pain-in-the-butt chunks of cooked whatever on the pots and pans! Thank God – we began with the front of the house. The back of the house will be the easiest of all four sides. The two sides of the house will require extension ladders and walk-boards. We’re very lucky there. One of Dwayne’s friends at work happens to have the set-up. There is something wrong with our computer. I have done every imaginable thing I can think of to find the culprit and all efforts are proving fruitless. I may have to burn vital data and overhaul the system. My virtual memory keeps sending me constant messages when I’m on the Net – telling me that scripts cannot be run due to low memory condition. There are times when I shut the Browser down and find as much as 60MB of temporary files dumped into the system after being on any major website. And I mean – literally – just being there. Most of the major websites seem to be transitioning into the java layers and Flash – among others - for all the interaction they want to provide. They need to find a better way that will keep their game-plan from sucking up the memory in users’ computers. Talk about a great way to run people off! I bought an external drive that has 500 Gigibytes of memory. After moving files and programs over to the new drive – after running my cleaner - after Defragging and running all my scans – after doing a Restart – the problem remains. And I’m downright ticked off. At this point – it has created a problem with transferring photos from my digital camera to my computer. From what I am able to figure out – the Kodak EasyShare Program refuses to install anywhere else except the C-drive. For those of you that have that same program – in case you do not know this – that program slams your computer with a stored cache of every single photo you upload off your camera – from Day One. Thank God – I have consistently burned the originals onto cd’s before dumping them. They’re the same size as the files being cached. Each photo would eat up an entire sheet of paper if I printed one. If anyone knows how I can dump that cache – please let me know! In the meantime – I have installed PhotoShop Elements 7 - which gave me the option for installing onto my external drive. I’m hoping to find a way to get my camera to upload my photos to that program. If I succeed – I will be uninstalling my Kodak EasyShare. Sorry Guys. You should give customers the option of installing your program to an external drive. Despite the major challenges Dwayne and I are dealing with right now – life goes on. And that means all the other daily routine required attention. But the timing with the garden is proving to be another kick to our knees. The tomatoes are turning. The corn, green beans, squash and jalapeno peppers have been coming on strong. I’m only too happy that the squash is about to play out for this season. And right now – my kitchen is beginning to look like a produce stand. I can’t get to it all fast enough. And Dwayne can’t get the power-washing and sealing done by himself. We ran out of room in the freezer this round of days off. Dwayne left this morning with a bag of green tomatoes, packaged corn and green beans for Wayne and Charlotte. We’re only too grateful for being able to hand that over to them for all the help they’ve given to Jennifer. He also had five or six nice Zucchini squashes to hand out to the guys at work. All in all – I’d say the entire lot that he left with this morning, alone, would have cost at least $30 at WalMart. I pulled the remaining potatoes from the garden, yesterday. Found instructions for blanching and freezing them. Yukon Gold potatoes do not store for a long period of time inside the house. Considering the winters we get here – I’m not about to spend my days going out into the single digit temperatures to dig up and throw back a bunch of dirt to grab a few potatoes for the two of us. It’s not so much the effort. My greatest barrier is time. I could always use another twelve hours in every day! I’ve already put up six pints of jalapeno peppers. We have a mess of green tomatoes – no thanks to the rigging Dwayne talked me into using this year. That will be the last time. We begin growing tomatoes ‘Teresa’s way’ next year. I’m the one that gets to deal with the nightmare. I should get to choose! But the fried green tomatoes we had last night were absolutely delicious! Let me tell you – I chopped those plants! I had to! And ya’ know what – they don’t seem to care. I’ll bet I’ve got 400 tomatoes out there – even after the chopping. And the dad-gum things are STILL throwing new vine growth! I got all the acreage outside the hay pasture mowed while Dwayne was power-washing the front of the house. I even made the trip around the hay pasture to mow down the trail on the edge for being able to walk around. My butt was killing me afterwards. But it had to be done. We picked up my putt-putt last Wednesday and got her back home. But Dwayne had to go back to work next day and I was afraid to drive it anywhere unless Dwayne was at home. So it was Saturday before I made my first trip to Lenoir City for groceries. The loud whine was driving me nuts. I have low-tone deafness. That intensifies high-pitch sounds like you would not believe. I can’t hear my neighbors partying in their yards below us. But I can hear a plane coming from inside that log home – long before Dwayne can step out and find it. They wanted $1,900.00 just for putting in one of their transmissions – not including labor. The whole car is not even worth that much, anymore. Dwayne found another used tranny in Powell to buy and deliver to them. We still had to pay them over $800.00 for the labor. The manager told us that they had found water in the other transmission and recommended some other part be included – of course. They are in the business to rape wallets, afterall. But Dwayne informed them that the car had not been driven with the transmission they removed. That was ‘a lemon’ that he had purchased up near Nashville to fix the problem. And the radiator is only a couple years old. So – they agreed not to install that other part. Well – we had to have the shop leave the car outside on the parking lot for us to pick up after-hours - due to schedule conflicts. Over this round of days off Dwayne checked and found a couple of things. There was some hose for the air cleaner left disconnected and the clamp missing. The transmission was filled with too much fluid. Dwayne decided to go ahead and drain the transmission fluid. He wanted to add a conditioner with the new fluid to see if it would help knock out the whine – which it has so far. But he found water in the transmission – very little, but it was there. The engine was only cranked a couple times in the driveway with the other transmission before it went to the shop. And the wheels would only make a full turn before hell broke loose and we’d have to kill the motor. Dwayne is going to change out the fluid again in a couple weeks. If we still find water in the tranny – somebody’s gonna be in some trouble. All in all – we have put around $1,500.00 into this thing – this year, alone. I’ve conceded and put my foot down. One more serious problem and Dwayne will have two choices. He can part it out until we can send the scraps to the scrap yard. Or – we will donate it to the Loudon County Boys and Girls Club to use in a Smash for Cash. You know – I realize people are hurting right now. I realize businesses are hurting, as well. But the very last thing anyone – individual or business of any kind – needs to be doing is screwing somebody else over – especially during these difficult times. Doing a half-ass job at work and slacking off will only damage the health of the company you work for. You only threaten the promise of keeping a paycheck coming to your house. Greed will get the doors of any company shut and locked for good. This is a time in life when every business can discover that ‘profit by volume’ can pay off so much more and in so many – many ways. So what – if you’re mark-up is only 15% and much lower than in the past. You are only going to triple your repeat customer base. You’re meeting a demand that the majority of people actually can afford to pay for. That’s going to keep your doors open for business. And you’re actually going to reap more profits this way. When you choose to screw one customer over – they can shut your business down without even taking you to court and suing you. It takes 1000 voices with good compliments to help build your business for you. It takes only 1 voice to put the word out there about your greed and malice to run your customers off and shut you down. Okay… daylight has broken. I have to water everything this morning before getting laundry going and getting back to sealing the porch railing and stairs. Hope everyone is hanging in there. At this point I can think of several of you that are probably feeling grateful for not having so much to take care of. LOL

Me 'n My Putt-Putt

It was yesterday evening before Dwayne and I managed to get my car back to the house. Dwayne had taken the new transmission to the shop last Thursday. The told us it would be ready Friday. We made the mistake of mentioning it would be Monday morning before we could pick it up - since they would be closed over the weekend. We drove out there Monday morning - they were just getting started on the car. Ended up having to make another drive all the way to Maryville on Tuesday evening. Me and my little Putt-Putt are gonna need time to re-establish some trust between the two of us. The last time I was on the road in that car was over four months ago. And I ended up feeling pretty frightened by that. I don't know what I would have done if I'd been alone. I was - still - a nervous wreck while driving the car home last evening - even with Dwayne driving in front of me. I thought Dwayne had taken the car to a shop in Vonore. But noooooo..... he took it to a shop in Maryville. I doubt he'll ever do that again. They would have had it ready Friday - had we not been courteous enough to let them know we would have to pick it up on Monday. It's people like this that don't realize how much they can mess up the lives of others when they choose to slack off. Dwayne and I have been set back - again - with trying to get some major issues taken care of before he goes back to graveyard shift. It was our hope to get the front and back of the house and the porches power-washed before the next round of work days came. We would have to wait until his next round of days off for the logs and porches to dry enough before we can apply the sealant. With all the harvesting - processing and freezing going on - not to mention mowing and all the normal household chores - we ran out of time. He only managed to get the front of the house power-washed. But on the other hand - our freezer is beginning to run out of room. And now it's time to begin canning jalapeno peppers. Did you catch that word 'begin'? Yeah... about the time they start coming in like a flood - the tomatoes will - begin. And you would not believe how many tomatoes are coming. I have made an effort to invest in a little bit of relief. I yanked three of the five watermelon plants. They're flowering. But the spreading of their vines was already out of control. Dwayne would have been pulling feathers out of his butt if I left them all growing. I heard the last - "You planted too many, Teresa." Don't even remember what I was doing at the time. I just dropped everything - walked out there and yanked 'em out. We got another 11 packages of corn put up, yesterday morning. I picked 21 Butternut squashes. LOL Yeah - there's more coming. But I had to focus on getting some of the housework caught up for the better part of the day. Got all the laundry done as well - a never-ending story of the exercise up and down the stairs to and from the basement. I stayed up late to get these two layouts done. Finally! I got the photos taken care of showing the hay cutting! I've got to get outside to feed my flowerbeds and the vegetable garden. So - here goes! Remember to click on the photos to see a larger version! Kit - The Farmer Says by Kimberly Stewart at www.scrapbook-elements.com . I also used a special Add-On kit that Kimberly sent me as a gift. But it was the freebie offered for participating in her Font Challenge for the month of July in the Forums over at SBE , as well! How cute is that! She's done a wonderful job on this kit - as well as many others! You should see the kits she has for kids and babies! Wonderful! Wonderful! Well - time to get out there and get filthy, again. Have a wonderful day!

Blanching and Bagging Like Nobody's Business!

It's been wild during the past few days. Yesterday was about the worst we've gone through, so far. Seems like everything is beginning to kick in. And so far - we've been able to get away with processing foods that only need to be frozen. But now we have jalapenos filling up the crisper enough for - canning. We started out in the garden yesterday morning with the corn. Dwayne picked ears while I made my way around squirting mineral oil into all the new silks. Afterwards - found a few squash that were ready and got a few beans picked. Had to come back later to the better part of the beans - the plants were still a bit wet. Dwayne shucked corn while I began preparing things in the kitchen - once I was able to get the remaining beans picked for the day. Got the pots of water on the stove for blanching veggies. Got the beans all snapped. Hit the load of carrots and got those all peeled. By then - Dwayne headed into the house with the corn to get it soaking in the sink of cool water. I'm not allowed to use the big knife any longer. So Dwayne began cutting the ears of corn. I began blanching the green beans and came out with another 4 packages for the day. By the time we finished blanching and bagging the corn - we had another 10 packages for the freezer. Dwayne got the carrots sliced up. After getting that mess blanched and bagged - we had 12 packages for the freezer. Charlotte, Jen and Austin drove up to visit - which was really a nice surprise! The house looked like absolute hell - the kitchen much worse - and I looked even worse than that! It's always frustrating when you get through the worst part of the mess and somebody walks in after there's nothing but really nice packages sitting on the counter. Ya' just know they must be wondering what the heck you've been doing all day long. LOL During their visit we headed out to the garden and dug up potatoes - some for us and some for them. I made sure they were loaded down by the time they headed back home. We even sent them home with about a third of a brisket! But they now have fresh zucchini - yellow hookneck squash - potatoes - green beans - carrots and corn. And yet - I forgot two more things I wanted to send - cilantro and lettuce. But we're going to get my Putt-Putt on Monday and we'll be bringing those goodies to them before we head back home! Jen loves to make Pico De' Gallo! I have been having so much fun with Kimberly Stewart's Digital kits whenever I make myself take the time to sit down and relax. She got such a kick out of my last layout with the photos of our carrots that she sent me a couple of gifts! I haven't used one of them, yet. But then she sent me this one you're about to see and blew my mind! I went ahead and submitted this one into her Font Challenge for the month of July at Scrapbook Elements! Her font is called 'Truckle' - and I just think it's so cute! Kit - Eat Your Veggies by Kimberly Stewart at www.scrapbook-elements.com I'm finally gonna get to do a layout with the photos of Terry cutting and baling our hay during the first week of June. 'Bout time and isn't that just like me! He's gonna be due for a second trip up here in the next few weeks, already! So - be looking for that one! I'll go for now. Relaxing after doing the deed at Wally-World and coming home to put the mess away. Trying to finish my doggy bag from Angelo's before heading out to pick beans. It is the most wonderful Chicken and Spinach Calzone I have ever eaten!!! We had rain this morning and I wasn't able to get out there before leaving the house.

Carrots Coming Out Our Ears!

Have I mentioned that we grew a LOT of carrots this year? LOL I managed to get photos taken - yesterday - and got them scrapped into a layout this morning for posting. Take a look at this. And then - I have some pretty serious news to share. Don't forget to click on the photo to see a larger view! Journaling Reads - "One package of carrots was planted mid-April and on-time, just as they recommend for our area. We dealt with non-stop rains that began two days later and lasted long enough to wash out the seed. A second planting went in a couple weeks later. Only this time - we planted carrots EVERYWHERE! Three rows instead of two - and even under the tomatoes! As you can see - we're not short of carrots this year! I picked and cleaned. Dwayne sliced. We blanched and bagged together!" Kit - Garden of Weedin' by Kimberly Stewart at www.scrapbook-elements.com Okay - now for the news. My daughter, Jennifer, has been living with a roommate that is a few years older than me. This woman has been absolutely wonderful and the two have gotten along together really great. Jen has been going through a lot - lately - after losing her job. She's been fortunate to find another job about three miles from the house where they live. She started working at Sonic. As some of you may know - she totaled out her car in an accident not too long ago. Getting around has been a little difficult. But she has managed. I don't know which route she was taking. But I do know she tends to drive slowly. And it was taking her about an hour and a half to drive to our house from where she's been living. Very recently - my daughter decided it was time to come to me about a situation going on in the house. Her roommate had begun to involve herself with a man she had been previously married to - some time before marrying her last husband that passed away. This man is the same age as my mother. He began coming to spend the night with her roommate. Out of courtesy and respect - Jen chose to sleep in the living room when this man would come to spend the night with her roommate - because her bedroom was right next to her roommate's bedroom. From what I understand - events began unfolding at the point where this man was at the house during one day while Jen was at home and her roommate was at work. This man asked Jen if she wanted to ride to the store with him to get cigarettes. She thought absolutely nothing of it at the time - she needed cigarettes, herself. But the hair came up on her back when on the way back to the house - this man commented, "We don't need to tell _____ about this." Fortunately - Jen had enough snap to inform her roommate. Within one week's time - my daughter began unloading details of events on me that had been going on. I have been absolutely horrified. I have probably aged another ten years over this. Even worse - my car has been broken down for the past four months. I've had no way to get to her at a moment's notice. We've had to stand our ground about not bailing her out of situations in life. However - this was an entirely different situation. Yet - to bring her here would even be more difficult for her. She no longer has transportation. We live way out in the country. She would have no way to go find a job and get to and from work. I could only give her tools of advice and instruction for handling details and protecting herself. The situation reached a point yesterday that Dwayne and I agreed on one plan of action. Since we could not afford to help her with buying another car - we would pay the cost for attending gun safety classes and having her fitted for a gun that we would also pay for. At the same time - we were able to put my car into the shop this week. I had decided that - as soon as I get my car back - I was going to turn the cards on this man. At this moment - I can tell you that Jen has angels surrounding her and working diligently. I was on the phone last night with - a friend. She and her husband are very dear friends of ours - and they know Jen very well. I began filling her in on all that has been going on. Without a second thought - she informed me that she wasn't having any of it. She called her husband. They both have different work schedules. They both agreed on meeting up this evening and going to get Jennifer. They are bringing her to their home to live. She will be in a much safer place. She will be in a more fruitful area for being able to find a job. And she won't have to worry or be afraid - any longer. There are no words to describe how thankful and grateful we feel towards these friends of ours. They have become two of the angels in Jen's life that are there to help in this situation. Now I will give you certain details. I will not divulge certain details. It is imperative at this time that Jennifer's safety be protected. This man's name is John L. Mullins. His birthday is June 23, 1945. He did time in jail and State of Tennessee Felony records show a TOMIS ID 00004958 case number with parole/probation ending 02/14/1998. His last-recorded address is 5135 Gray Rd, Knoxville, TN 37938-2512. His last-recorded phone number is (865) 922-9661. I was able to find this much out on the Internet. This man is 64 years old and has a full set of martial arts belts. He is wiped out on OxyContin. My daughter is 22 years old and is only 4' 9" in height. That's how bad some of the details are that I'm not mentioning. But let me make clear - he has never managed to get a hand on her, as of yesterday. Once this man got her to ride with him to a convenience store - next move was verbal communication towards both - my daughter and her roommate - consisting of verbal attacks and accusations with a level of vulgarity that no other man would even tolerate - had he been standing in the same room at the time. His next move was making noise in the kitchen area in the middle of one night enough to wake up Jennifer so she could see him sitting and eating something while butt - naked. This event occurred several times. The man was merely reprimanded by the roommate each time and told not to do it again. Next move - this man began asking my daughter specific questions such as what her work schedule was - how she was getting to and from work - who was giving her rides home from work, etc. His next move - my daughter worked the closing shift at her job one night. Upon arriving home at 1am and opening the front door to the house - she was met by this man. He was standing butt-naked in the entry way waiting for her. This time - my daughter opened her mouth and began raising hell until her roommate woke up. Words were exchanged between her roommate and this man. He became angry. He picked up his belongings and left the house. The very next morning - he began texting messages to my daughter's roommate while she was at her job. Her roommate came home that evening and connected her cellphone to her computer. She transferred the text messages and printed each and every single one out on paper - which she handed over to my daughter. Those text messages from this man specified things he wanted to do to my daughter - with the use of the most vile - sickening - disgusting - derogatory vulgarity possible. I turn 50 years old this year. There are men I have known in my life that would not even be fit for living in a barn with pigs. But NEVER - have I had one single man EVER speak to me in such manner. Yesterday - my daughter called me - upset - after returning home from her place of employment. While standing outside smoking a cigarette as she waited for her manager to show up for a meeting - she spotted this man parked in a parking lot across the street from her job - watching her. As soon as he realized she had spotted him and began running for the inside of the building where she has worked - he started his car and drove away. I was absolutely horrified when my daughter informed me that she had WALKED HOME after seeing that man parked and watching her at her job!!! I don't know what in the hell she was thinking. His defense to my daughter's roommate was that he was there to pay his water bill. Until two angels stepped into the picture late last night and decided they would go get my daughter and bring her to a safer place to live - I was waiting for my car to get out of the shop - so I could go sit - and watch HIM. Law Enforcement was contacted. Jen followed my instructions immediately, as soon as she informed me about the text messages. She called and a county Sheriff's Deputy came to the house. With all the documentation she had - including entries in her diary regarding events - he could still do NOTHING. Why? Because this man had been invited into the house by her roommate. Because her roommate was returning communications with this man on her cellphone. Because her roommate refused to do anything to stop this man from coming to her house. Because this man had not used physical violence on my daughter - yet. After talking with my daughter on the phone yesterday - I made a phone call to the Detective's Division of the Knox County Sheriff's Office, myself - and spoke with a female detective. She gave me sound advice and instructions to pass to Jennifer - including NO MORE walking anywhere around town during the day or night. Jennifer was waiting for a return-phone call from the Deputy that had come to the house, originally, at the end of the day. I cannot take anymore of this. I am so glad she is now going to be living in a safe place. But despite this relief - we will be following through with enrolling her into gun safety classes and having her fitted for a gun. I can't handle knowing this girl cannot protect herself. Our friends that she will be living with are - both - registered gun owners. They completely understand and agree with my feelings about setting Jen up with personal protection. I will be going to class with her. It's time for me to get my own license to carry and conceal. I do not understand - I cannot comprehend - the mindset of this roommate my daughter has been living with. She is assuming this man's jail time was for assault with some woman she knows about from his past. She is assuming this man is the same man he was DECADES ago. What I see is a mindset that my own common sense tells me fits the kind of women who end up raped and dead by men they knew and assumed would never hurt them. I hold no anger towards this woman near as much as I hold concern. Obviously - this woman is confused and needs help. And I will do the only thing I can do for her. I will pray for her. And I will also pray for her two grandsons. At the rate things are progressing with this man's game plan - it's only a matter of time until the moment arrives when those two little boys end up in the same room with this man. The boldness of this sick man grows stronger and stronger - each day that this woman continues to allow him into her house. And with each day that he becomes bolder - the viciousness spills from his mouth even worse if he doesn't get his way with the slightest whim. Having all the belts achieved in martial arts - I worry that his desperation will begin to look toward those two children - not to even mention their mothers. Please pray for these people. Please join me by handing this man over to God. Since no man in the proper place of authority in this country is man enough to step past an unseen fence that pastures laws that only wake up after a beating, rape or death - ask for THE ONE WHO WILL to do so. As for my daughter - I hope and pray that - the adult she is today - will use her mind and common sense - and call me MUCH SOONER if anything like this ever happens again. On a much lighter note - our dog, Zucker, is trained to come and sit when he hears and sees a vehicle. I just went out on the porch to let him out into the yard to do his business. A small single-engine plane flew over our house. Zucker stopped dead in his tracks - sat way out in the middle of the yard - stared up at the plane - and would not even budge on command to come to me until the plane was far enough away. What would I do without my four-legged 'empty nest' medicine?! I guess God knew I needed that laugh!

Corn Ain't Fer' Quitters!

Dwayne and I decided to take the plunge. We harvested some of our corn day before yesterday. Ended up with over ten packages for meals in the freezer with this first batch. And the one word that comes to mind for myself during the process was – patience. I have learned there are times when I must remain silent and carry through to the end result. It will hush my husband’s angst and frustration much more quickly – versus feeding the fire with trying to verbally explain the outcome of the venture before it happens. In other words – I just let him rant and rave until he saw all the packages that I already knew would be making their way to the freezer! The sight of the harvest can become an optical illusion out in wide open spaces. Everything seems to look much smaller – until you bring it into the kitchen. I have already heard my husband comment, “You grew too much. You always grow too much.” By the end of this harvest – I can already tell that I will be hearing an additional comment – “we need a larger freezer.” LOL And in the meantime – he will go on with his barking about the bugs and the worms eating a few kernels – or – wasting a couple of the hoard of tomatoes hanging on the vines out there! Dwayne was thoroughly disgusted by finding a worm in each of the first few ears we pulled. This was our first experience at growing corn. I had not learned about squirting the mineral oil into the silks soon enough. I think my favorite that came out of his mouth after we’d pulled less than a dozen ears of corn was, “We’ll I guess I know what we WON’T be growing next year. We’re not doing THIS again!” This man will rig four or five different jigs in one single spot on a lake to try catching a fish – any fish – even a little sun perch. Need I say more? Of course I will! LOL Had I fed the fire – that male ego would have fumed justification for resorting to becoming a ‘Quitter’ – to corn. But I kept my mouth shut. And the last negative comment I heard out of him about the corn came when he was cutting the ears in half and dropping them into the sink full of ice-water. Ready for this? “We got a lot of corn here.” TA-DA! One fact about me in the kitchen that both – Dwayne and Jennifer will tell you is that I’m a disaster with knives and could be considered a possible candidate for self-mutilation. Sharp knives cannot be put into the mix of dishes in the sink when I’m doing the hand-washing. I will cut myself without fail. They’re always left to the side on the counter and dealt with last. I dunno – guess it’s that ‘git ‘er done’ and move on to the next thing on that haunting list behavior. I’ve gone through band-aids over this past week like nobody’s business! Scraped a chunk off the knuckle of my left thumb – just trying to pull a pan out of the cabinet. And sliced digits twice - attempting to slice some veggie. My left index finger became victim to the last incident – okay, the latest one - while attempting to cut the bad end off an ear of corn and that set off a sea of blood in the other sink and had me screaming for Dwayne. He was still outside on the porch finishing the shucking. Once he got the A&D ointment and band-aid wrapped around that one – he was done. “You’re not doing anymore slicing in this kitchen!” Well – carrots are next. ;) I am so glad I cleaned out the fridge. I get to go out and harvest all those carrots today that I planted with Jennifer! I get to wash them and toss ‘em in the fridge - where they'll wait for Dwayne until he comes home from work. Without a doubt – there will be a whole mess of pissing and moaning! He has to cut the tops off, first. Next comes slicing them into bite-size pieces before blanching and bagging. And did I mention – there’s a whole LOT of carrots? Not quite sure if HE will be safe with the knives by the time we get through this one. It may be best if I just go ahead and finish the mowing – outside - while he’s slicing – carrots.

Number Five Squash

Sharing a new layout with a photo of my precious granddaughter, Trinity, this morning! But first - gotta tell you about my little laugh I had yesterday. Went out to my garden to pick beans and squash. Got around to the zucchini and I knew I had four or five ready. Well - the leaves have gone nuts and I figured out how to thin them out around a squash I pick. Came to the fourth squash that was ready. Mind you - I'd lost my dad-gum clippers somewhere in the garden during the day before - where they were punished by the rain that poured on us later that day. So - I'm using a steak knife to cut squash. Hey - it works, okay? Anyway - I get number four squash cut. I get a few leaves chopped out of the mess. I find one more leaf to shred until I win. Yank it out of there and what do I find? Heh... one that got away from me. Ohhhhh, yeahhhhh - number five squash. That puppy was a foot long and about six inches wide! Bet it weighed over two pounds! Of course - it was of absolutely no use to us by then. Probably would have been a treasure for some Chef in California. He could have carved the damn thing out and used it for a boat to hold his fancy tuna salad on the table for a Champagne Buffet Breakfast at some restaurant. And then they could have jacked the price up two more dollars per person. But everybody wonders why Arnold's handing out I.O.U.'s these days and why Bankruptcy has become a new Buzz-word in that state. "Here's Your Sign!" Actually - not everybody in California is crazy. The smart ones would turn their nose up at the price for that Buffet Breakfast being jacked up two more dollars per person. They'd just hit the liquor store - go home and have Champagne with their Breakfast for Champions! Dwayne ended up humming that puppy into our gorgeous Pond - you know - the one with imaginary water. Who knows - we'll prolly have zucchini come climbing out of it next year like some Lockness Monster - if we don't get it filled in with concrete and dirt before then. We're back to work this morning. On to one more scrapbook page before I go out to feed my veggies. I had fun doing this one! And I've got several other photos I'm gonna put together that will go with this one! Take a gander! Remember to click on the photo to see a larger view! Just fits her style! Kit - Country Kids and Country Kids Add-On by Robyn Littlejohn at Digital Design Den - and YES! They're Back Online and you can still get this kit!!!

Watching the Big Fishies!

Hmmm.... two posts in one day. Yeah, I know. The weather has been so crappy here today that I thought I'd catch up on some scrapping. Ready to see some new pics of my grandbabies? They took a trip to the Herman Park Zoo in Houston, Texas just recently. I'm grateful and blessed enough to have one daughter who will make sure I get pictures - God bless her ten-fold for caring and understanding! Blake just turned 3 last month. Trinity turns 2 in November. It's very difficult having children and grandchildren and never getting to spend time with them. Kit - By the Sea by Carla Ware at www.scraphead.com

'Taterz 'n Sparkly Thangs!

Wow… this past week has been like a roller-coaster. Living some of it was more than enough. So, I’ll just pass by that and move on to the better things. Dwayne and I got brave Friday evening. We decided to go snoop in the potato plants and see if we could get lucky. Took a bit of digging – but look at what we had for supper that night! Cleaned those puppies up and spoiled ourselves with a choice that would make any doctor cringe. Peeled and sliced them up for a skillet plum full of fried potatoes! They were absolutely delicious, too! Went out and cut some of my chives to throw in with them. Wow! I was amazed. Last time I remember growing potatoes was when Ray and I put a garden together on the side of the house where Claire and Armando lived next door. And I don’t think we did that well with those plants. These we harvested were only from one plant. Not sure we got all that were there. And we have a whole row to harvest. We’re supposed to be able to leave them in the ground for best storage until we need them. Considering the size of those two big ones – not sure if we’ll be able to do that. But we’ll see. The amount of rain we’ve had this year gave reason for the Ag Extension Office to warn everyone about increase in problems with bugs. They’ve been right so far. Our beautiful corn has been threatened. I spent one morning drizzling mineral oil down into the silks of the ears. A couple days before that I had to spray the entire plants with an organic 3-in-1 to ward off ants, whiteflies and aphids. It was impossible to avoid over-spray because of the height of the corn. I didn’t just stink by the time I finished. It smelled like the Texas City Dike around the garden by the time I finished! That crap has fish oil in it! After having several guys approach Dwayne about whether or not we had plans for July 4th, we decided to accommodate. Several hadn’t made any plans. Well – apparently they found something to do. We had a no-show. Really sad, too. See the plastic bag in the photo of the potatoes? Best brisket we’ve cooked so far! We are lucky enough that we live in Loudon County – which allows us to buy and shoot our own fireworks. Dwayne and I spent time going back and forth between the front and back porches watching all the fireworks. It was awesome! Unfortunately - Zucker and Spinner did not feel the same. Spinner made a Bee-line for his carrier as soon as the first big bang went off. Couldn’t help laughing about that. The crazy cat usually fights me when it’s time to go ‘nite-nite’. Zucker ran for the hallway. Both were cases of rattled nerves. Dwayne is down in the basement putting my putt-putt back together. Noooooo… it’s not fixed. He’s going to trailer it to the shop to have them overhaul the transmission tomorrow. I get two blessings of relief in one, here. The putt-putt will be running again, soon. And God willing – we can focus on saving money for the wood-burning stove – finally. Dwayne says he is supposed to begin graveyards in August. And it’s going to suck even worse than ever before. He’s back to four days off – which will mean he’ll actually only get two days off to take care of things around the property – maybe. And he now pulls the shift for five months instead of four. Sean informed him that he wants supervisors to now be paid only eight hours of holiday pay when the holidays come on their days off. He’s already taken a five-percent cut in pay. And they lost their bonus checks a few years ago. We’ve had to contact the bank about re-financing the house under the recovery act. They’ve offered to do a simple loan modification to reduce the interest and the monthly notes. For me to go to work would be totally fruitless. We have hit over 9.5% unemployment around our area. The jobs are just not there. Supposedly – there are a few large companies coming here to provide jobs. But some aren’t even scheduled to begin hiring until 2011. What are people supposed to do in the meantime? More lay-offs and company closures are occurring by the week while everyone waits. All the more reason for Dwayne and I to focus on setting this place up for saving money at the grocery stores.