Kellie's Second Grade Stories

Many, many years ago I was in the Second Grade.

Well, It wasn't' all that long ago because I can still remember my teachers name: Mrs. Batstone. She was lovely. A petite, blondish-red haired young woman, with lots of energy and a gentle nature.

She, as most second grade teachers, was very interested in honing our skills in writing. I enjoyed writing.

I don't remember writing these stories, but looking through the book pictured above is hilarious, because not much has changed for me, or my writing skills, since Second grade. I still adore babies (both human and animal) and flowers during this time of year. And I often start sentences with the word and. Even though i know grammatically it isn't always necessary, or even, correct. Those flowers on the cover? When I am just doodling on a paper with a pencil? I still make those flowers today.

Oh, and I still draw trees and sunshines with smiling faces, the exact same way.
In case you cannot see the writing, here is my Second Grade Thesis:

What happens in the Spring?
The flowers bloom.
And the butterflies come out.
And spring begens.
And the leaf bloom.
And the mother rabbbit have babies.

And I could go swimming.
And birds have babies.
And ducks go swimming.
And ladybugs come out.
And animals play.
And kangaroo's hope.
And turtles come out.
And leafs shed.
And the mole gos don the hole.
And a worm maycs a cocoon.
dragonlflies come.
A sckuck come.
And befers swims.

I was going to translate the Second Grade Code for those of you who haven't had the privilege to become fluent. But it's much funnier with kangaroo's that hope.

Happy Spring!

Spring Has Sprung!!

I am celebrating Spring here on the blog!

My sweet friend, Jo-Lynne of Musing of a Housewife, is sure to be busy this Spring as she starts a new business venture: Blog Design.

When I heard her announcement this week I knew that I had to get in on the action before she has waiting lists and a full time job!

I have been wanting a personalized header for the blog for over a year now but ran into some snafu's. Mainly, the affordable, and stylish designers out there were very, very, busy.

So I jumped on this, because having read Jo-Lynne's blog for over a year now, I know that she has an eye for fashion, and I was certain that she would be able to turn that talent toward fun blog design. She also seems to have an eye for detail, which makes me happy! She is also very affordable! Icing on the cake, my friends!

So here is the new Spring look for La Vida Dulce!

What'ya think?

10 Random Facts About Today

1. Spring Break in the desert is fun. The weather is fine and the days go quick.

2. When Granny buys a Wii (for medicinal purposes), everyone will show up at her house to play.

3. My niece, Jasmine Cat, was practicing her "jumping into the pool" technique, by jumping off her living room couch. Unfortunately she learned that jumping onto carpet isn't as forgiving as water. Upon landing she broke her clavicle. She is one tough kid!

4. I am apparently going through another phase of Anti-communication. Today I realized that I have 10 cell phone messages; 3 text mesages; 3 voice messages; and 52 emails that have been completely and totally ignored. I think I better work on correspondence tomorrow.

5. I just pulled a Diet Cherry coke out the the fridge. When I opened the tab it was slightly frozen inside. That feels like a little bit of summer.

6. The kids are lying on sleeping bags on the family room floor (a "vacation" thing), listening to the "bloopers", in Spanish, for the VeggieTales Jonah movie, and laughing like they might pee in thier pants. This makes me laugh because, 1. VeggieTale bloopers had to be intentionally created, since vegetables don't actually talk. And 2. my kids don't speak Spanish.

7. "I need to tell you something, I haven't got a belly button." This song is playing in the back ground as I type. If you have children between the ages of 2 and 10, you will know why I am going to loose my mind. I will now be singing this song in my head for two weeks.

8. Tortilla chips go well with my frosty Diet Coke. These will totally ruin my dinner appetite. It also makes me feel a little grouchy because it reminds me that Costco stopped carrying my favorite salsa. :(

9. When I sat down to type I just knew I had ten things to tell you about today, but for the life of me I cannot remember them.

10. I am making turkey tacos for dinner. What are you making?

Suddenly

When we lived in NC, Friday was Cookie Day. I would make a batch of cookies for an after school snack.

Today I made Snickerdoodles. I did it for the kids. Yeah, the kids.

I got out of the habit when we moved.

Speaking of moving, exactly one year ago this week we were making our trek across the country.

To my Carolina Peeps, it seems impossible that I haven't seen your faces in a whole year. I miss you!

You know, this week has been long. I want to write something cute and cunning, but I can't.

My heart has been heavy.

A 12 year old girl was killed last Saturday afternoon in the street behind our house. She was walking in the cross walk, when suddenly motorcycle hit her. meh and I watched as she was helicoptered out of our neighborhood to the hospital. She died from her injuries early Sunday morning.

She was killed in a crosswalk, that my family has walked in many, many times. It's just yards from my house. So close that you can look over the block wall in our back yard and see it.

Life is so incredibly fragile. When tragedy suddenly strikes it definitely makes me appreciate the things in life that are truly worth cherishing; and worry less over things that are silly.

I have been praying a lot this week for this precious grieving family (I didn't know them personally). I have been snuggling my kids more, hugging my man longer, and remembering to slow down a bit.

One of the thoughts that I have had this week is how quickly I become complacent in my day to day life. Since we have moved several times in the last three years I had learned that time is so short. I learned to make the most of where we were. To risk loving people and places, even though there is pain in the leaving.

Saying goodbye is not as bitter as death, but it has a sorrow all it's own.

When this tragedy happened in our neighborhood last week I realized how I have become very comfortable here. Settled. Which on one hand is good, but on the other hand is dangerous.

I never want to live in fear so that I cannot experience life, but I must hold that in tension with becoming apathetic and listless, because life, and death, happen. In the end I can be grateful, and thank God for the sweetness of life when it happens, and pray that He will strengthen me when life brings a suddenly.

I may not be able to predict it, but I can certainly remember to appreciate what I have while I have it.

This is a good time to be reflective, and enjoy my family more, because today starts Spring Break for my kiddos. I love when they are home. We can get back into the habit of being together. This time will allow for more leisurely conversation at the breakfast table and throughout the day, and give us the quantity time that is required for quality fellowship.

This is also the time when they eat more, make more laundry, make more mess. They ask more questions and interrupt conversations. They wake up early and go to bed late. They talk on my phone, use my computer, and monopolize the TV.

They are going to eat all my Snickerdoodles.

And because I have a new perspective, I am sincerely going to enjoy every moment of it...

Anyway, this post is so incredibly random, but it's what is on my heart.

La Vida Dulce.....

Granola Recipe ***Updated at bottom of post!**

Whip out your Birkenstock's and throw out you bra's, girls! We're making granola!

I have been accused from time to time of being a "granola", because I eat a relatively healthy diet and I don't really need to where a bra. Also, sometimes, in the winter, I forget to shave my legs. But I digress...these accusations have come from individuals who don't know that I always (meaning, at all times) have a 3 lb bag of Peanut M&M's in my cupboard. Y'all, sometimes a girl needs a little junk.

Anyway, the following recipe is my favorite granola recipe because it is yummy, and also because it comes from a family that is dear to my heart.

So without further ado, I give you:

The "Stewart" Granola

First, grab a cup each of your favorite nuts. I always use almonds and walnuts, cuz I'm nutty like that, but to each his own, you know?

Take those nuts and throw them on a baking sheet and place them in your oven at 375, to toast them up a bit. When they give off a nice smell, and the almonds start to crack a bit, they are ready (about 10 minutes or so). Take them out and let them cool.

While the nuts are in the oven, pull out the rest of the ingredients:

5 cups oatmeal
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup dry powdered milk
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
(almonds, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.)

A note on syrup: some say that using pure maple syrup makes this recipe taste better. I say that pure maple syrup is pricey, and the people in this house don't really taste food as much as they inhale it, so they don't know the difference.

Also, it seems that there is a lot of sugar in this recipe. There is. But I would rather my kids eat this for a snack than say, Sugar Smacks, or Pixie Sticks. Plus, if they eat this stuff, with the protein in the nuts and the whole grain of oatmeal, then I know they are getting some good nutritional benefits. It also means I can eat all the Girl Scout Cookies, without sharing.


Mix dry ingredients together.


Go check the nuts. Burnt legumes are never classy.


Next mix the oil, brown sugar and syrup up in a microwaveable dish (preferably something not plastic). Zap that sweet mixture for a minute or so. Add vanilla after heating. Set aside.


If your roasted nuts are cool, go ahead and chop them up a bit. If you have a "real" processor then go ahead and pulse them for a second or two. If you have a cheap blender/ processor that makes a mean smoothie but refuses to actually process anything, then go ahead and get the chopping board and a big knife out.

Note to self: save $$$; get a real processor.

Mix together the nuts, dry ingredients, and sugars. Pour out on cookie sheet...


Pat it down with the back of a spatula (preferably one in your signature col-ah) until it looks like this....




Place in the oven for 15- 20 minutes @ 375. More time for crunchy granola, less for a little more chew.

Let stand in the pan for about 10 minutes, then take a spatula and lift the granola off the pan a little. When completely cooled break into bite sizes pieces and store in an air tight container (I use re-seal able bags).

Personally, I don't like dried fruit, but if you do, be sure to add you dried fruit after baking.

I like mine crunchy. This is good to eat with an apple for a snack. Or on yogurt. The Mister eats his like cereal with milk poured over it.

Be warned! This is filling and very addictive.

Happy Day!

**before you spread the granola on the pan for baking be sure to oil the pan lightly, otherwise the granola REALLY sticks to the pan! Forgot to mention that!

Wednesday Answers!

Thank you so much for the advice on Lip Balm! I loved hearing from you! There were a few questions I thought I would address in a post!

Mattie - The Cupcakes were pretty good, and not at all hard to make! When you make a box cake you still have measure oil, water and break a few eggs. With homemade cake there are only a few more ingredients to mix! If you try the recipe I would love to hear what you think.

We should have a cyber taste test: Boxed vs. Homemade. Wouldn't that be fun?

Daiquiri - First, I just had to look at my comments three times to spell daiquiri...I am excited to hear from a fellow blogger I don't know and learn to spell a new word! To answer your question, I got my back ground from Pyzam. These are free templates, but don't browse through them with little ones in the room. For the most part, they are clean and fun, but there are a few that are not "kid friendly".

AutumnFawn: Another Zonie! Hi!

Thanks to all y'all for participating yesterday!

Works for Me Wednesday:Backwards Edition

OK, Y'all, I live in the desert. The humidity this week has been 5%.

I am so dry that my lips are about to fall off. So my question is:

What is your favorite lip balm?

Good Friend, Good Weekend

We talked, we laughed, we ate Mexican food.

We also got a sunburn after two days in the sun.

She just called to tell me she made it home.

The falling snow has greeted her with it's fluffy goodness, as if to say, "I missed you!"

Here's a picture to remember our warm weekend, meh. Hurry back friend!

Ready and Waiting

The cupcakes are frosted. The flowers are set.


The bed is ready.

But my guest has been stuck in a snow storm. So I am blogging and waiting and eating more cupcakes than a 35 year old woman should. (I had to taste them, you know, to make sure that they weren't poisonous.)

They are tasty.

I probably won't be blogging this weekend. Unless meh and I find ourselves in a heap of fun that we just can't wait to share with you.


Until then, have a cupcake.
La Vida Dulce!

The Cupcake Chronicle

I have always loved The Cupcake. Even before they were the Trend.

Especially a homemade cupcake. For about a year now I have tried to make the Perfect Homemade Cupcake. It's been elusive, let me tell you.

I know that boxed cake mixes make fine cupcakes, but there is just something different about a homemade cake.

Nowadays, if you live in a big city, you can find gourmet cupcakes for a pretty penny. I've heard mixed reviews on these cupcakes. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground. People either love 'em or hate 'em.

I will admit that if we had one here, I would probably plunk out my four bucks to taste their cupcake, just to say I had one, but I don't think it would become a habit for me. There is sweet victory in finding a recipe that is yummy and do-able in my own kitchen.

Do you remember back in December when my Mom and Dad went on that unfortunate 14 Day-Tour? My mom did bring home about 10 fresh vanilla beans, and I have tried a few new recipes without success. They tasted good, but it wasn't anything to write home (or on the blog) about.

I did find a recipe for making vanilla sugar. Here's the recipe:
1 fresh Vanilla Bean 2 cups of sugar. Split the bean and scrape the seeds. Place seeds in sugar (and I put the skins in also) in a reusable plastic container, or zip-seal bag, and give it a good long shake. Then let it sit for at least a day before using it in any recipe that calls for sugar.

I used it in my banana bread and it was delicious.

I wanted to make a fun dessert for tomorrow night when meh arrives so I decided to make another attempt at cupcakes. I have not reached my cupcake pinnacle yet. I am still but a young whipper-snapper who makes many mistakes (Including the tendency to overfill your pan, which is a guaranteed train wreck) My cupcake woes have yielded many thrown-out batches. But I am nothing if not persistent.

So I making cupcakes as I type. That way, if they don't turn out, I can run to the store and buy some ice cream and call it a night!

Every once in a while I read a few cupcake blogs, and this week I read a few threads by people who take food seriously (man! there are people out there who really know their cupcakes!). Anyway, I kept hearing great reviews about the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe. Today I am following this recipe with one change, I will use the vanilla sugar.

All right the first batch are ready to take out of the oven.

I hope every body is having a great Thursday!

Things

While making lunches this morning I heard The Girl singing this:

Jeremiah had a bull frog! He was very, very, green...

Now I can't get that tune out of my head, and I have to keep reminding myself that Jeremiah was the bullfrog. Also, I keep wondering how in the world does she know that song?

This week I am very excited to be getting ready for a highly anticipated weekend. Which is why the blog may be slow. My dear friend meh is coming from the Big Cold North to thaw out for a couple of days, and I am preparing for her arrival.

With the weather predicted to be in the high 70's/low 80's for the weekend, it will be perfect for my parka wearing friend.

OK: one more thing. I joined a book club with a gal I met at church. We'll call her SmartGirl.

SmartGirl emailed me the book list, and now I am scared. I know my friend is like, really, really smart, but I think that the rest of this group may all be smarty-pants's too. The books they have chosen are, well...let's just say, if I was in high school I'd have found the Cliff Notes, quick! And I'm being totally serious. You are listening to a woman who has read many a Cliff Note.

Right now we are reading Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. Sayers was an English author known for her detective fiction. It was written in 1923, with English humor and style. I am one of those crazy people who doesn't often find British humor all that funny. I just don't get it.

I am really trying to work through this small novel but it's been very slow going. I picked it up almost a week ago and I am still on page 25. It's not that it's hard reading as much as it's different reading.

However what really scares me is the book after this one, Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Hello? if there ever was a time for Cliff notes, this would be it.

The Mister saw it sitting on my bed side table this weekend and asked if he could start reading it, you know for fun, without the incentive of 8 other women who have read it and expect conversation about it. Oy Vey!

He says it's really good. A great book, to get you thinking.

Yeah, like I have time for thinking. Of all things.

Anybody out there reading a good book?

It's Finished

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about being inspired to make something fun?

Well, I finally decided to be brave and branch ot from handbags and aprons and try to make an Easter outfit for The Girl.

I peiced together this outfit using three different patterns, and I am pretty sure this won't be the last thing I make!

Oh! and my model is a total ham. And she is walking around the house asking why she has to wait until Easter to wear her new duds.

(As a side note, she will wear a little pink sweater over this top when we go to church on Easter, but as I type the temp outside is 81 degrees, so this will be perfect for after-church Easter egg hunting and festivities.)

La Vida Dulce!

Anticipating Spring

These are the fabrics I am using for The Girls Easter outfit.

All the pieces are cut and my machine has been busily humming all weekend. Finished project to be revealed soon (of course it is.)

Yesterday I went to The Boys first basketball game of the season. I know nothing about basketball. But I do know this...I think I am going to like learning the game, it's so fun to watch your kids play sports.

OK, I also have to say this, June over at Bye Bye Pie is about to experience her very first NC spring. And I am so excited for her I could almost act silly, instead I am going to post a few of my old NC spring pictures to share with y'all. Especially to my friends who live in the great white North, or other fairly cold places.


All these pictures were taken in our back yard. It starts with the sweet daffodils...

Then the trees start to wake up with their happy little leaves....
And the little shrubs start to come to life...
And the iris bulbs (that somebody put in the ground long before I ever lived there) start to pop up. Just on time...
Oh! but the azalea's! Pink...

...and fuchsia and white! All my favorite colors...
And more Iris. These would come up every year in the bed right outside my kitchen window. They would grow almost three feet tall. They would be taller than The Girl!

Hosta...so green you could almost eat it.


But I think my favorite of all are the camellia's. I'll never forget walking outside to take the dog out in late January, maybe early February, and seeing these beautiful flowers growing in the midst of winter. They are like a little pink gift from God letting us know that the long days of winter will someday come to an end. That warmer times are on the horizon.


La Vida Dulce!

Yee Haw! Rodeo Days!

Howdy Pardner! Out here in the Wild West it's a holiday.

The kids didn't have school yesterday or today because the whole town is out whoopin' and hollerin' in their spurs and cowboy hats.

It's rodeo time baby!

One of the highlights of this weekend is the gigantic Rodeo Parade. Having grown up in this town, my Dad would bundle us up and we would shlep downtown to see almost 500 horses, old time wagons and many a marching band. It's a non-motorized parade. It's a tradition in this town.

So I corralled my chil'ins and my oldest niece and got up at the crack of dawn (for the three of them who had visions of sleeping in on thier holiday) to get good seats.

Once we got there, the kids complained just a bit about waiting over an hour on that curb for the parade to start, but I told them that it was tradition...that I had to sit on that curb as a child in the freezing cold, after we walked up hill both ways to get there, barefooted, and I liked it!!!!

Although we had dressed warm, because the weather-man had predicted rain, there wasn't a storm cloud to be seen. Just sunshine and a cool breeze.

There were ropers....
Rodeo Princesses...
And many, many horses.

Where there are horses, there is....well, a need for the one and only motorized part of this great parade....

...about eight street cleaning trucks.

After that Blue Princess pictured above, there were about 50 horseriders all riding in a big group. That many horses all together is the West's equivilant to Santa and the Macy's parade. Y'all, It's a sight.

Right behind them horses were the street sweepers.

The kids and I walked to the car, and as we were waiting in line to get out of the parking lot I asked the kids what there favorite part of the parade was. They promptly answered, "All those street sweepers!" Then they talked about horse poop for about 15 minutes.

Ah, the memories they will have.

La Vida Dulce!

A Cry for Help

If this isn't one, I don't know what is.

Speaking of calling for help, if you don't hear from me in the next 48 hours, I have:

1. Fallen into the washing machine while trying to rescue that illusive "missing" sock.

2. Been overcome by toxic fabric softener sheet fumes.

3. Got eaten by the scary things that live in my sons closet.

4. Cannot type because the constant folding have rendered my arms useless.

In the event that any of these things should happen, please come quickly bearing chocolate or coffee, but preferably both.

Happy Little Boxes Make Me Glad

I have a ton of things I want to write about, and in the interest of procrastination, I do believe I will write about them now.

First of all, on Sunday morning before church I decided to use a face scrub in the shower. I was running kind of late so I very quickly began to scrub away at my face. When I put my face under the shower head a little piece of that scrub got into my right eyeball, and I haven't been the same since.

By the time I got to church I had to take out my contact, and I spent the all of Sunday School winking at our teacher who is a retired pastor and old enough to be my grandfather. My eye was a mean color of red in the corner, and I am sure that everybody was looking at the beautiful effects of my facial scrub. Of course I didn't talk about it, but just acted as if I was not contagious, or at all in pain.

Unfortunately, I haven't updated my glasses in almost 8 years, so the prescription is a little (a lot) weak. Which means I can only see half as good as when I am wearing my contacts.

My eye is better, but is still swollen and a little bit painful so I have been walking around, half blind, feeling grateful that The Mister had been home to be my chauffeur. Unfortunately he had to go to work today, so I am on my own.

Today I really needed to go on a run, but I don't like to run in glasses. Nor do I enjoy not being able to see where I am running. I thought I would get on the treadmill this morning and run off the weekend, and let me tell you, that would be A LOT of running.

Why?

Last night, after a weekend of parties and celebration, I finally decided to just eat all the ice cream and Valentines candy in the house, so that it would be gone, and I wouldn't have to eat it anymore. Is that not the best logic? It sounded perfect to me at the time. But before I tell you about the running off of gluttonous calories, I have to back track...

On Saturday I rented Hairspray for The Mister and I to watch together, but when we put it in our DVD it wouldn't work. We cleaned the disk and tried again to no avail. Yesterday, my seeing eyed husband took me to the Blockbuster to exchange it for a working copy.

The plan this morning was to put the movie in and watch it while on the tread mill. Of course I had to move my treadmill to be directly in front of the TV, because of the whole Infected-Eye-Blind-As-A-Bat problem.

I got everything all ready and popped the movie in and IT DIDN'T WORK!!!!! It loads, and loads, and loads, and then the DVD turns off. I know it isn't the player because the kids and I have all used the player several times in between these Hairspray DVD's. Maybe I am not supposed to watch Hairspray? Maybe I am not supposed to run? Maybe I should be doing a thousand other things, like say, laundry, cleaning bathrooms or something of that nature.

Nah....

I can't see, can't run, can't drive, can't watch a movie. So I thought I would make boxes from the tutorial that Mer has on her blog. They are fun, and they make me happy, cuz they are way more fun then laundry or running or anything else.

All right. Writing this post did not take as long as I wanted it to, which means I should go fold that laundry that you see in the picture below. You don't know how hard I tried to make the picture so you couldn't see that laundry, but in the interest of being transparent....there you go!



Happy Tuesday!

Presidential Day

There is something so sweet about having a husband who gets all the government holidays off.

Having him home to hang out with makes up for the fact that I don't get any mail on days like today.

I like my mail. But not as much as my male.

Oh, you don't know how clever I think I am over that last sentance!

Anyway, before I share some pictures with of Presidents Day with The Mister, I wanted to share just a bit about The Girl's birthday party.

Sometime before Thanksgiving, The Girl said that she wanted a Parisian themed party. She is very enamored with Paris and speaking French. I think she thinks it's all very fancy.

So we asked 6 little girls to come dressed in fancy dress and ready to eat "french" food.
We had crossaints with ham and cheese (Croque-Monsieur), strawberry kiwi salad (salade fraises kiwi), potato chips, and fresh squeezed lemonade (citron presse).
For dessert we had Petite Fours and ice cream (glace).

I think it was a success....and now I can go to France and order something to eat.


OK, back to celebrating Presidents in the desert...The Mister and I went on a hike and had a picnic and the weather was beautiful. I took a few pictures:

This is me at the top of the hike. We actually could have hiked higher but we had hiked steadily for 45 minutes and I couldn't stop thinking of (or talking about ) the lunch we were going to eat. I had worked up a powerful hunger. So we snapped a picture and made our descent. Can you see the snow on the tippy top of the mountain behind me?

When we hiked past these cacti I couldn't help but think of Ecclesiastes 4:12:

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A "cactus" of three strands is not quickly broken.

(Actually , I thinks it's a "cord", but I'm just telling you what I thought when I saw those cacti)

The birds were happy and the air was fresh. But the views on this spring-like day were fantastic...


But for me, this view was the best. ;)

Happy President's Day!

Snow and Interviews!

Do you remember when I was bragging last week about flip flops and sandals?

Well, I jinxed us. Last night a winter storm blew in and today it was cold, and was even snowing!

The good news?

The weather man says that I will be wearing those old tank tops again, maybe even before the weekend is out! I am an optimist!

I want to keep todays post short. Mostly because I would love for you to go over to sweet Megan's blog.

Megan is a bloggy friend of mine, whom I am really enjoying getting to know. Several weeks ago she asked if she could do an interview of me for her blog. I am not sure I am qualified to be interviewed, but it was really fun getting to "talk" with Megan.

Megan,
What an honor it was to share a bit of myself with you, and in the process hear you say that God has used this poor creature (me) to teach you more about Him! God amazes me, every single day.

I pray that we will meet sometime "in real life"! I'll bring the coffee!

Happy Friday!

Happy Valentines Day!

In our house we have a Red Plate tradition. It's a way to mark a special time.

We pull out the Red Plate on birthdays, and when guests come to stay. We also use it when big things in life happen, like when The Mister graduates from school (again, and again, and again), or when the kids face something particularly hard with bravery and perseverance.

Sometimes, when life throws us a curve ball, we pull the plate out, to encourage, or to celebrate (depending on what curve that ball takes). For instance, on July 17th, 2005, The Mister had taken The Boy and The Girl hiking through the woods near our house in NC. The Girl spotted, with her eagle eyes, a large copper head snake on the trail. She was able to warn her brother and Dad right as they began to step over the deadly snake. We still talk about the day "The Girl saved the their lives."

How do I know the details?

Well, I also have a Red Plate Log. A pretty, spiral bound, note book. Before the honoree of the Red Plate gets to partake of his/her meal (or dessert), he/she must write the date, their name, and description in the Red Plate Log.

Anyway, I was thinking about Valentines Day today, and listening to all the love songs on the radio, and hearing people call in, and tell how this day is hard for them. They don't want to celebrate love because they don't have someone to share love with. Or they don't have a valentine that cares. There is no joy for them today. And it made me think of two things...

First, it made me feel sad for those who do not know the love of God.

Y'all, it sounds cliche, because it's plastered all over bumper stickers, and it is sometimes yelled from street corners, and it is often said by people who don't express it lovingly, but God loves you.

Not just today, but every single day.

While I try not to get preachy on this blog, I feel certain today is a good day to say these things, cause if you're feeling a lack of love on this one day a year that everybody, christian or not, focuses on being loved, I want you to know you are loved...and there's not a valentine in the world that could compete with His love.

That is worth celebrating...

My second thought was that I wish I could take out my Red Plate for all who read this blog. Most of you I know in real life. Some of you I don't.

If you could come over I would serve you home made Valentine sugar cookies on the Red Plate, and you could tell me what you are celebrating. It might be love, it might be a goal attained, it might be that you got all the kids to school today and got a shower!

If you feel like sharing a bit of your joy, I would love to celebrate with you...the comments are open.

1 John 4:19
We love because He first loved us.