Strawberries and Balsalmic Vinegar with Vanilla Ice Cream

I love balsamic vinegar and strawberries but I never thought of putting them together. I have seen Ina Garten on the cooking channel do it a couple of times. But recently, she had a segment on quick and easy sides and desserts. This was one of the desserts and I have tried it. It is quick and easy and really good.

2 pints of strawberries, cut each berry into 3 sections
2-3 Tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of black pepper

Cut berries add vinegar, sugar, black pepper. Make sure berries are covered well with all the ingredients. Cover with saran wrap and let it set for about an hour. After it has set for an hour put about a cup full in a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I know this sounds odd but it really is good.

Cool Weather on the Way!

I'm so excited. Cool weather is on the way. I've just turned off the television from watching the weather report and finished my cup of coffee. It's just getting daybreak and I can't wait to get outside and do some work in the garden.

The heat has been so unrelenting this summer my garden didn't make it. But I am going to start planting my fall garden today. I wouldn't do it before because I knew the tender little seedlings would get cooked after one day in this scorching heat. Lots of spinach, kale, beets, swiss chard and several different lettuce mixes that will be my fall garden. I'll have lots of greens for juicing.

Speaking of juicing, I would like to tell you about a very interesting lady. A little over twenty years ago, I was having some health issues and had been praying for God to give me some direction as to what I needed to do for my health. One morning I got into the car to run some errands and a talk show was on the radio. A lady was talking about health and at first I didn't pay much attention but as she continued to talk I finally pulled over and started taking notes and then got her address for more information. That was my start of drinking barley green and I still drink it today. I started my kids on it back when they were small and honestly for years we were hardly ever sick. No colds and thankfully the flu passed us by. It is the single most important thing I think you can do for yourself. Now green drinks are really becoming popular and fresh greens are really great for you but if you can't get fresh check into getting barley green. The lady I was listening to that day was Dr. Mary Ruth Swope. She is 91 now and still going strong. I was recently listening to a broadcast of her from late 2010 and early 2011 on an LA talk radio show. If you are addicted to soft drinks you need to hear what she has to say because you will never want to drink one again. Go to latalkradio.com/Aging.php. There are 3 segments Oct. 7, 2010, Jan.6, 2011, Feb.10,2011. They are all good but if you have to pick one listen to Jan. 6. You can also get information to order the barley green.

Have a great Saturday!

The Room Everyone Wishes They Had!

Several weeks ago I stopped by to visit with a friend and as I was getting ready to leave she said, "Oh, let me show you what I've done." I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the conversion of one of her bedrooms. First of all, red is one of my favorite colors so immediately I loved it. Then as I stood there and slowly took it all in I was so amazed by her creativity and her organization was fantastic. I wanted to see every little detail. This is a room I would love to be in all day, just going from one project to another. I would be inspired by just walking into the room. Then add a little music to the atmosphere and I would be ready to go!

All of the room is wonderful, like I've already said, but my favorite thing is the red and white quilt her dear friend made her for her birthday. I love the red and white embroidery and the pinwheel pattern is adorable. She did and excellent job on the quilt and it is a wonderful finishing touch to her wonderful room.

Enjoy the pictures and I know it will give you lots of ideas to create a special room at your home. For once I had my camera with me!

Bridal Shower

My dear friend and I had a bridal shower for a dear friend son's fiancee. Laughing...all my friends are dear to me. :) Well, I wanted to share some of my ideas for the shower.

The bride is having a vintage wedding. She is getting married at her parents home which is out in the country on top of a hill over looking beautiful pasture land. They are getting married under an old tree that will have their initials etched in the tree with a heart around it. I'll show pictures of wedding later. They are getting married in October. This is just my kind of thing. I loved vintage! If my husband and I could get married again it would be outside and in the country. Yip eee!

Ok, back to the shower. We had a bridal brunch and the menu was quiche, blueberry scones with lemon curd and salad with mixed greens, fruit, nuts and champagne vinaigrette. Oh, and I can't forget strawberry pie with whipped cream for dessert.

For the table, I had a old crocheted tablecloth that I used and some old vintage hankies. I took my 3 tiered holder and layered cleaning supplies (as you can see), I stuck in a wooden spoon, spatula, garlic press, ice cream scoop, tongs and recipe book on smoothies. I also stuck in kitchen towels. I was very pleased with the way it turned out and it also gave the bride a lot of items to stock her kitchen. So often I see fresh flowers for center pieces at showers and flowers are lovely but I liked the idea of the centerpiece being useful after you are finished with it.

I'll have to tell you something funny. I used Ina Garten's recipe for lemon curd. The recipe did not specify how many it would serve. So from the recipe, the ingredients didn't look like it made very much so I quadrupled the recipe and I ended up with a gallon of lemon curd. I was able to send home lemon curd with a lot of the guests. Oh well!

I used a huge antique platter for the blueberry scones and I laid an old hankie on the platter before I put on the scones.

Hope this gives you some ideas before you have your next shower. I will have to say that I haven't given any showers in a long time but really enjoyed doing this and the baby shower that I did recently. It was fun!

Being Present

WHAT IS THIS PRECIOUS LOVE AND LAUGHTER BUDDING IN OUR HEARTS?
IT IS THE GLORIOUS SOUND OF A SOUL WAKING UP.


The first time I heard the phrase "being in the moment" was probably 10 years ago and I was in a friend's place of business. She was relating a conversation to me that she had with her husband the night before and she was saying what a wonderful experience it was because they were both living in the moment. I asked her what she meant by living in the moment and she said, "being aware and conscious of that moment." I understood what she was saying but I realized at the time that I really wasn't conscious and living the moment that often.

The last several years, God has brought this across my path more and more (being conscious of my thoughts and actions). The majority of our lives are lived unconsciously. How many times did I used to eat and I wasn't even hungry and I didn't stop and ask myself are you hungry? Why are you eating? Now, I'm mindful when I eat. We live by rote and as we live our daily lives our subconscious mind is going one hundred miles an hour. We have at least 60,000 thoughts a day and 80% of them are negative. Being conscious is being aware of what you are thinking and doing. Like the Bible says, think about things that are good and pure and lovely, be alert and sober. Have our minds been trained to believe the best about a person when something about their character is in question. Do we choose to walk in love when we have been hurt or offended. We have patterns of thinking that when something happens in our life our minds just take off in a negative direction. I want to say I'm not there yet but I'm getting there. It is really a battle to stay conscious and live in the moment. You need to try it for a few minutes :). You noticed that I said a few minutes. We are so programed to just exist and let our negative emotions run our lives. The thoughts are constantly there to bring you down. You are not pretty, you are fat, you are not smart enough, you are not that creative, she does it better than you, they don't like me, my house is not nice enough and the list goes on and on.

The main thing that started my change was about five years ago and that was when I started loving and accepting myself. I finally accepted who I am and the way God made me. That is a whole other story I will have to tell you about some other time. It happened through a little stray dog that showed up at our house.

I wanted to tell you about something that I am excited about in my life and I hope it helps you in some way.
Have a wonderful day and be PRESENT!

Beautiful sunrise Sunday morning. (pictures)

Don't Forget to Pray for the Farmers

I was talking to our neighbor today who makes his living by farming. He was telling me if we have another year like this one he will have to find another profession. He said all farmers are really hurting. All their crops soybeans, corn, alfalfa, wheat has been given to the cows because of the draught. Farmers get loans for their crops and with a year like this the crops have not produced therefore they have made no money. They still have to make their loan payments. Plus, they are going out of state to get hay for their cattle. He told me, "if we go into the winter without rain it's going to be bad."

In my personal opinion, the government should be making special consideration of farmers. Not only are they trying to make a living but they are providing food for our nation. If anyone should get a break it should be the farmers.

That is my two cents for the day!

My Summer

The heat is unrelenting. Some of my plants are starting to get a little stressed. I haven't done much outside other than water. The ground is so hard that for now I have stopped putting in the brick border around my flower beds. The owner of Wilshire Garden Market was telling me yesterday that she has purchased several large umbrellas to shade some of her plants. I thought that was an excellent idea. For those plants that you don't want to loose that's a consideration.

I have made several skirts this summer and have been swimming at the college here in Chickasha pretty much every evening. I really love to swim and that takes the inches off of me faster than anything else. And at my age, I can do things in the water a lot easier than on land. I am determined to get off this last 30 pounds. That old fat has been in there a long time and doesn't want to come off but it's leaving! :) I'm also reading an interesting book by Rabbi Berg called Miracles, Mysteries and Prayer.

Pretty quite summer for me. I guess the most excitement we've had was our field catching on fire a couple of weeks ago while it was getting cut and baled. Everything turned out ok. Nothing was destroyed and no one was hurt. We are thankful.

I pulled up my tomato plants about 3 weeks ago. If it wasn't the heat it was the wind and they had it. Hardly any tomato production. I so look forward to tomatoes in the summer and this has been a big disappointment. No peaches from our trees and my favorite cantaloupe from a local farmer didn't make it either. Not a good summer! Well, the saying that there is always hope in a gardener's heart, so I am already looking forward to next summer. It's got to be better than this one.

Hope the remainder of your summer is restful and cool. I'll be looking forward to that first real cold front! :)