Problem or Solution, which one best suits you?

good morning from my neck of the woods.           it rained a little earlier this morning but the sun is shining right now and it's really pretty.          I'm hoping to get outside and work on/in my garden area and get ready to transplant more and possibly get some seeds sowed directly in my containers.        first, I have to combat the squirrels.        they dig in everything and are the bane of my existence right now.    rotten fuzzy tailed rats won't leave my containers alone.           so I've got figure out how to keep them out of all my containers!!!         big chore, but I've got an idea or two.            we'll see.

yesterday's post was possible the beginning of me getting a lot of stuff out of my head into writing for myself and to just try to free up some head space for the good stuff.         today's post is another rant of sorts, so if it's not for you, then I'm sorry.           I have found that for me, getting it in writing helps me a lot.           I can forget about and move forward.           and all the while I put it in writing, I also realize there are lots of people that maybe could benefit from what I might have to say, either directlly or indirectly.         anyway, if this isn't for you, then you can stop right here.         hahaha

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I have come to the conclusion, in life, that we are either part of the problem or part of the solution.       we just have to figure where we fit in.          I have always tried hard to be part of the solution.           we live with a lot of people that work hard at being a part of the problem and they are surviving and thriving.         but I work hard at trying to be a part of the solution.           sometimes that involves pointing out stupidity and ignorance when I see it.           

do you want to know how rediculous and stupid people have gotten over the last few years?            well, if so, read on.           there is a facebook page, I can't remember what it's called, but they post old pictures on there.         pictures of how things were done early on when people were opening this country up to actually live in.         right after the invention of the camera.           there are some pretty spectacular pictures on that facebook page.

we live in a day and age now, where everyone thinks they know better than everyone else about what should or should not have taken place with the early settlers.           most of them are like myself, once they set their fingers to typing, they prove just how ignorant and stupid they are.         99% of the comments on one set of pictures was of tree huggers blasting what the settlers had done in cutting down trees back in the day.          well, my friends, if you want to live in something, wear something, drive something, eat something..........nature has to be disturbed.         there is NO way around it.         for the settlers, they had to do it all, figure it all out, make it happen and just do it.          today, all we have to do is bellyache about what they done.          some of these idiots don't even stop and think for a split second how it ALL affects them.         when the people of today, that have helped make lives better, are gone, these bellyachers will be wishing they had taken better notes on how to live, survive and thrive on the land that the early settlers cleared for us to live on.          the greatest generation this country has ever seen has been long gone.          and from all appearances, the generations coming behind my generation will be doomed when my generation is gone.      

I read a lot of the comments on that one set of pictures and I responded.           while there were several people like me, looking at pictures in amazement at what they accomplished back then, most of the commenters were bashing what they had done.         they had never thought for a split second what that generation had done for them.          you can hug trees all day long, but, if at the end of that day, you have to sleep on the ground, what did that tree do for you?         God created the earth and everything in it, on it and around it for us to use!!!!!!        and I do mean EVERYTHING on it, in it, above it and all around it, to be used by us!!         He knew and still knows what He's doing.          and I think He may be like me, wondering how those people think they would or could ever survive without using the supplies He provided for us!!!!

of course all the disparaging remarks from those people only apply to the comfort of others.          if anyone else is comfortable, it's wrong.         they can always find ways of shaming others.          using plastics, using oils, using gas, using wood, using coal, using rock, using the soil, to name a a few.    take any one of these away from those people and their lives would fall completely apart.          take them all out and they would be waiting for lightening to strike.            do you see how utterly rediculous these arguments sound?

well, I sure do.          below is my response to all the tree huggers.          I was pretty proud of it when I got done with it and posted it.          it got lots of responses from like minded people who have lived and have worked hard and know the value of the work that the preceeding generations have done so that we can have a level of comfort that they didn't have.         the best thing I can take away from that particular post, and from the tree huggers, is that this country and world is not in good hands and I think we are starting to see that.          the tree huggers have too much time on their hands and are not working hard enough to provide for their families.          truth be known, the taxpayers are supporting them so they have to berate and belittle those of us who have worked and tried to make this country and world a better place.

"""If they had not cut trees, we all might be living in mud, thatch houses today.         but then again, that would require disturbing the soil and using water to make mud.         People are gonna be people, and complain.              But then people would be complaining about wasting mud.           Go figure.                  I think the world has already seen the greatest generation of all time, and after that generation; the quality of each individual person has declined tremendously.            I'm thankful that I came from people that done what it took to help make this a great country, but there are too many today that are doing their best to destroy this country.               If anyone lives in a stick built house with stick built furniture and writes on paper that is made from wood or uses pencils that have wood outer covering, should I go on, then shame on those people!!               Think of all the trees that have been used for your comfort.                If you live in a brick house, think of all the earth that was damaged to dig the rock that was ground into making the block foundation and the rock that goes into some of the brick.               We can get very silly with everything we want to shame others about.           But in the end, if you live in a house, and have heat and air in that house, and electrical appliances, wear clothes, drink water, drive a car, buy gas for the car or charge your car because you have an electric car, eat food, then be careful about the stones you throw, they may bounce off of something that you are taking advantage of, that you are beating others up with.              Talk to some of the older generations that are still alive, get their opinions, not that opinions mean a whole to me, because I go by my own life experience.               I am working on my Doctorate from the school of hard knocks and I've seen, done, and heard a lot.                  At the end of the day, I am thankful and grateful for the heroes of this great country that has helped make it a great country.            But there are those among us who are bound and determined to tear it down.                  I'm thankful that I have fewer days ahead of me than what is behind me.               So hopefully I won't have to see the greatest part of destruction that is coming, for the people, from the people that are bound and determined to undo all the good that has been.      Success is viewed differently from each individual.           Just something to think about.         And yes, I do have a "block" button and know how to use it.          Oh yes, and thinking of technology, without any of the "tree cutting" that took place many years ago, we wouldn't be sitting here on our fancy technology.               Take tree cutting out of the picture, and you take just about EVERYTHING out of the picture.                 We could even go back farther than the stone age.              What if we had to wait for a lightening strike to get fire?             And then what if we had to figure out what to do with the fire once we got it?            I for one, am thrilled with all the modern conveniences we have.           I haven't seen many of the protesters going naked or hungry either."""

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well, that's it for today.             I hope and pray that if you read this thhat you can say that you area part of the solution and NOT a part of the problem.            God gave us everything to use!!!!!           He expects us to use it.            if you don't believe that, just be careful of how you throw stones, because they bounce off a lot of the stuff that we take for granted in our fancy homes.        

be blessed today and know that everything was made by God for our comfort.          He loves us that much.         hugs, love and blessings be yours today, patty

"Channel or Vessel", which one am I?

good day beautiful people.          I hope and pray that you are all doing well these days.         I'm sorry for being absent for a while, but I needed a break.         I don't know if I'm back for the long haul yet or not.          I think I have decided to just take it a day, week, or month at a time and see what I have to share.         I do have several things that I can share about different things and I'll try to start that soon.

for now, the weather in my neck of the woods has finally started turning towards spring weather.         but yesterday the temps got up to 87*.           it was hot but it felt good and my seedlings loved it.         I have a lot of gardening to try to get done over the next 3 or 4 weeks.           I hope I can do it all.         it seems like it gets a little more difficult each year.           I'm sure it has nothing to do with age!!!         hahaha

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the title of this post is where my heart has been for quite a while.         "Channel or Vessel", which one am I?            which one are you?          what does it mean for us and those around us?

I had to take a serious look at this.         time for some soul searching and seeing where the Lord leads me in this.          some is good and some is actually ugly.         the ugly is what I've got to try to get rid of.         

we live in a world of instant technology.         in your face technology.         we're constantly bombarded with that said technology.          we was promised early on, 40 to 50 years ago that it was good and that it would makes our lives better.         boy was they ever wrong.           you know what, with all the instant bombardment of whats going on around the world, that's why our hearts are always racing, our blood pressure is always off the charts high and our health is failing.         you know what, human beings weren't designed to carry the weight of the whole world.         Jesus has done that for us.          we weren't designed to sit in front of a tv screen, or cell phone, or computer  and watch all the world events taking place 24-7.           we just weren't.         that's why home life is suffering, that's why we have children that don't know whether they are boys or girls.          that's why grown men and women that don't know what gender God designed them to be.          that's why this world has gone to hell in a hand basket as quickly as it has.           that's why no one knows who they are; who God made them in their mother's womb to be.         are you bucking the system so to speak, by denying yourself to be the male or female that God formed you to be while in your mothers womb?          if so, you are hell bound.        that's as simple as I know to put it.          that's not my opinion.           that's what the Word of God says.          if you don't believe me, read His Word.        you'll be quite astonished at what His Word says.         so when you're reading this, if you get upset, that's fine,  just make sure that you know that the Word of God says this and it's not just my opinion.          if I tell you it's just my opinion, then I'm part of the problem.      because when we go against God's plan and design for men to be men and women to be women, we are going against His will and that makes us the problem.         so I need for you to understand that this in not my opinion, but Gods Holy Word.

so as I struggle within myself to even find it within me to care about those out here that are living worse than animals and indoctrinating those that don't know any better, I have found it very frustrating and  hard to be a voice of reason while living is such an insane world.        this is insanity.         it can be described as nothing else.         insanity!!!!       

we murder babies on a daily basis!!!           insanity!!!!!!!            claiming mothers rights.      insanity!!!!         what about just going to the vet and getting spade or neutered.         that's what people do with their cats and dogs.            if you can't keep your legs closed, then maybe you need to see a vet.      people have more care and concern about dogs and cats than they do about human beings.         call it a blob of cells or a fetus or what ever you want to call it.        it's still a baby, created in the image and likeness of God, in the womb and it's a human being.         if you don't believe me, read the bible.         it's in there.       

all of this backwards insanity has just about taken it's toll on me.          something else that's just about pushed me to my limit is the state of our health care, or lack there of and the fact that no one actually cares.        everyone is of the mind, as long as it doesn't affect me, who cares?           well, I care and always have.         one person can't do much, but lots of people can.

we live in the day of indoctrination.           what ever evil and wicked action and behavior that one wants to participate in, they can and they have the right to indoctrinate those around them at the same time.         but Christians don't have those rights.           do you realize that we can get thrown in jail for telling someone that what they are doing is evil and wicked.            yeah, it's getting that bad.         we can't tell anyone that killing their baby, just because they didn't have enough self control to keep their legs closed can get us in trouble, all the while it's perfectly ok to kill a human being.    

when I think of all the crap that we have been indoctrinated with and are constantly bombarded with, it actually makes me sick.          sick enough to step away from my blog for a while.         it make me sick enough to try to even decide if I want or need any of this so called technology any more.

so that's why I took some time off and started to think about "Channel or Vessel, which one am I?"

lets look at these 2 words.          I haven't done any looking in the dictionary for any formal descriptions of either word.          what I'm going by is my uneducated definition of both words.         I figure my life experience can speak well enough for me in my descriptions of both words.

what is a channel?         when I envision what a channel is, I see a stream, or creek going from place to another.          water running from one area to another.          water in a running tributary stays pretty fresh and free flowing and most of the time, it's a very pleasant sight to see.        sometimes after a flood, it's not so pleasant to see.       a channel can also become blocked on one end and then it's a hazard and becomes a problem to others.      another description of a channel, to me, is something like a moat.          a ditch or trench with standing water to keep something in or to keep something out.          usually the water standing in something like this kind of channel, it will get stagnate.           it stinks, the soil and ground holding it is rotten with foul smell.        a channel can be full of good stuff or bad stuff.      

what is a vessel?           a vessel is something like a boat, pot or a bucket or a vat or large container to hold or carry stuff.        from liquids to grains to rock.            I most generally think of water again.         a water bucket holds something essential to life.             water is one of the essential elements we can't live without.            but when that vessel of water becomes stagnete, it's not good for sustaining life anymore.         it can be full of sickness.          a vessel full of soup is a wonderful thing, but when it's set out on the counter for 2 weeks, what ever was in that vessel is not healthy for consumption.          vessels can be full of good stuff or bad stuff.

a channel and a vessel are very similar in most all ways.           when I really look at what each are, they are very similar.         looking at our lives, which are we?           so, are we a channel or a vessel?            I've come to the conclusion that we are both a channel and a vessel.         but what I really need to decide about myself is, am I a good channel and vessel or am I bad channel or vessel.    

I want to be a  good vessel and manage the life that God has given me as well as I possibly can, with His help.        I've made a ton of mistakes along the way.         my vessel has been filled with life saving water that has turned stagnate at different times in my life and I think I'm in one of those stagnate times right now.        but the Lord is working on me and I know it.         so I really pray that it's short lived.         I want to be a vessel that is full of life giving, life saving love.          whether those around me want it or not.     

I also want to be a good channel and be a good steward of all the life giving and life sustaining blessings that God gives me on a daily basis.         I want the love of God to flow freely thru me to share with others as He so freely shares with me.          at different stages in my life, I have given of myself and shared more than I actually had to give.        and that's not being a good channel or steward of what God gives us.         we need to keep enough for ourselves so as not to get burned out and just falter at serving the Lord.

how can I continue to be a good channel and a good vessel?         I don't want to become stagnate and rotten and I don't want to let all the good that God does for me slip thru my fingers without clinging to a little for myself.        I pray for God to fill me up as His vessel and to help me share what He fills me with and be a channel for someone else to experience the blessings of God.      

just for fun, goggle the great hymn of faith, "Make Me a Channel of Blessing"  and read that hymn paying careful of the wording in the song.        I'm here to tell you and me both, that we can't ever be that channel of blessing for God with know sin in our lives.          yes, we all sin every day and we should all be repenting every day too.          the known sins in our lives are those sins that God call abominable and actions and behaviors that He says over and over in His word, that these actions and behaviors will not enter into the kingdom heaven.          they will not be found in heaven.          God is holy and He will allow unholy in heaven.  

so, this is why I've been struggling so much here lately.         I'm being bombarded by the evil and wickedness of this generation on a daily basis and I have grown hard hearted.        I've always been pretty much straight forward and blunt about things and not beat around the bush.          so when a person like me calls out sin and those around me look at me like I'm crazy, well, let's just say that all the insanity has just about caused me to not care about others anymore.        my head says, "let them go to hell, I'll hold the door open for them!!!!"          but my heart weeps and breaks because they can't see the seriousness of it.         I don't want anyone to go to hell.          and I think the Lord is showing me that it's everyones own individual choice and I can't make that choice for them.       

so my prayer for myself and for anyone else that dealing with this on a daily basis is for the Lord to hold us close and keep reminding us that the choice is for everyone to make and it's not mine/ours to make for them.  love them where they are and be a willing vessel for Him.         if I make myself a willing vessel for Him, then He'll make me a channel of blessing too.         

I don't know if this is where I was really planning on going with this post today or not.         but it is what it is and this is the struggle that I've been having.          how do I love those that are persistent in wallowing in sin when it feels like I'm casting pearls before swine.        Just like Jesus consistently loves me.           I can't love anyone in my own power, but I can love others thru the power of Jesus.         it takes a lot prayer to be a willing vessel, ready to be a channel in which the love of God can flow thru to others.        a lot of prayer.         it takes being in His word consistently.         it take a lot of forgiveness of self, on my part to let God use me as a channel of blessing to help fill other vessels with good stuff.

I still have a lot to sort thru in my head.         I don't mind telling you, it's been a struggle.            but again, the word of God says that following Him is not easy.           and it isn't.         the enemy will attack you.        the enemy will attack you!!!            THE ENEMY WILL ATTACK YOU!!!!!!!!          just know that.          we have to stay strong and in the Word and call on Jesus with every inhale and exhale of our lungs.  

I don't know if anyone else besides me needed this today,  but I know I did.         I pray that if you are having any kind of struggles like this that you will stay in the Word of God and ask Him to give you  clarity of mind and ask Him to help you stay faithful to His call in your life.         ask Him to help you know that people purposefully living is sin can NOT truly be Christians, even if they call themselves such.          when we have an experience with Christ, our lives change for the better.          killing babies and living in Sodom and Gomorrah are not actions of true Christians.         just remember that.      they call themselves that to make themselves feel better, but they are not Christians.        I have to remember that and ask God to help me remain faithful to the calling that He has over my life.

I pray that you can gain clarity over some of this.         I pray that I can gain more clarity over this and the only way to do that is to stay in the Word of God!!!           It cannot and will not fail either of us.

Father God, I pray that you will protect our minds and our hearts from all the wickedness that is in our world today.        I pray that you will give us clarity of mind in all this.        the enemy is running rampant and destroying lives in record numbers.           Your Word has told us that good will become evil and evil will become good, according to mans ways.           we are now living in that upside down world and I pray that You will protect us, Your people from this destruction.         please give us peace in our hearts and joy in our souls as we try to continue to serve You in this wicked and perverse generation.         Your will be done in our lives.         in Christ's Holy name I ask these things, amen.

be blessed and have a wonderful day, hugs, love and prayers for you all, patty 

It's Sunday Morning Y'all

good Sunday morning my friends.            it's 39* here in my neck of the woods and I'm  not loving it.         an old old friend of mine has come to visit and I'm not very happy about it.           I had hoped and prayed that I would never see this friend again, but alas, this friend showed up and now this friend is here and I have to deal with this friend.        what is this friend?          a horrible flareup of my body when we have a lot of cold, cool, damp weather.           I started feeling it thursday, but pushed on thursday.            with all the rain we've had, it actually popped into my head on tuesday or wednesday of this past week that I haven't had any signs yet and then there it was thursday morning but I ignored it.        a little worse on friday, I still ignored it.         yesterday, I couldn't ignore it any longer.         I did get a batch of bread made yesterday and by the time I got that done, I was done for the day.        I got my shoulder heating pad on and wrapped up in that and the heat in my recliner going.        I had a tear in the muscles across my back at the lower part of my shoulder blades about 40 years ago and I guess that's why this particular area of my body is so affected by arthritis and ra.         not only my upper back and shoulders and neck, but my wrists and certain fingers and my ankles and certain bones in my feet along with my hip joints.        so it seems to be everywhere.          it's everywhere, it's everywhere!!!!         hahaha          oh well, just wells to get a little grin out of it.          hahaha            my good friend that lives in arizona sent me some essential oil blends and that is what I'm using to get me thru this.          I'm so grateful to her for all she has done for me.         it's about the only thing that has helped me keep my sanity.

so, I didn't make a post yesterday and that's why.          I think I've missed 2 days since I got started back to blogging in november.         that's the best record for me, ever.          I've got to get it worked out so I can post about 3 days a week and keep the routein.            especially with spring and summer just around the corner.          so we'll see what I can come up with.

thursday, I filled my dehydrator with produce in the fridge that needed to be dehydrated.        plus a bag of frozen corn and some oranges.         I got all that going and took a couple of pictures in the process and I truly wish I had taken more.           this is where I feel like I'm failing right now, not getting enough pictures for good explainations.         I guess that's something to work on.          anyway, I'll share what I did get done.

this is the pictures that I did get.            first off, let me say that I dehydrated oranges, bell peppers, tomatoes, green onions and a bag of frozen corn.           the corn went on the bottom tray.         next tray up from the bottom was the bell peppers cut up and that took only a half tray.          so I filled that tray with cherry tomatoes,    the next tray up, was another tray of tomatoes.         the next tray up from the bottom was orange slices and then the top 2 trays was green onions.  

when you learn how to use your trays, in a stackable dehydrator, you can dehydrate all kinds of thing together.          my heat comes from the bottom, so I start with what ever has the least aroma on the bottom, working my way to the top with the most aromatic on the top.          if you have a stackable that has the heat unit on the top forcing heat downward, then you would reverse that order.         this right here is how you can dehydrate all kinds of produce together and not have apples smelling like onions or garlic.           it works.         I've been doing it this way for years. 

when I got my produce from the fridge, tomatoes and bell peppers were well shriveled.            I look at that as a lot of the dehydrating having already been done for me.             wash and inspect each piece really well before you cut and maybe get some bad pieces mixed in with the good pieces.           as you can see, when I got to the tomatoes and bell peppers, there was stuff I had to cut away.              notice on the left hand side of the picture, some of the stem ends of the tomatoes had started turning black.         so with my good sharp knife I just sliced that off and then cut the tomatoes in half as usual.           just inspect each piece and do a good smell test and if you have to, taste a piece and see if it tastes funky.         if so, toss the other half.           

in the bottom right hand corner is where I was cleaning the bell peppers.            I washed them and cut the tops off them.         I had 4 bell peppers and when I got the tops cut off, I started cutting away the flesh from around the stem area.            gotta save all that good yumminess.           when I got to the last one, the biggest one, I turned the stem end over and it was molded on the inside, just at the stem.          so I made another cut across the pepper, cutting off a ring about 1/4 inch thick and then sliced off another sliver and tasted it and it was fine, so I cut that one up too.           but that's something that you have to watch for in bell peppers, especially the little snacking bell peppers.           those stems get hollow as they get dried out in the fridge and will allow bacteria to come up thru the stem into the pepper.           so when you're cutting them, be sure and check for mold on the inside, especially if they have started to shrivel a little bit.

at the top of the plate is the way I cut my tomatoes in order to expose the insides in the best way.         the top one is how I used to cut them, the bottom one is the way I now cut them.           yes, the top ones will get dry, but not as quickly as the bottom ones.            I would suggest you to try it next time you dehydrate grape tomatoes.               

so this is what was in the top pic, just a more closeup shot of it.           cutting them east to west always exposes the most of the insides possible.            you can see the top one looks like it still has seeds hidden by the interior design of the tomato and it does.

this is my green onions that I dehydrated.          notice all those lovely roots.            I let that pkg of green onions stay in the fridge until the roots had grown.           there was 15 green onions in that pkg and all but 1 grew roots.         the root area of the onions had been cut away from that onion in the pkging process.           but the others still had the root bed intact, so that's why they grew.          

this is how much I cut away from the green onions to save.            I got them all cut up and on my dehydrator and then the fun started.             once I got the dehydrator completely loaded, I went outside, in the 60* temps on thursday and planted all these lovely green onion roots and I fully expect them to make it.          if they don't, it's no great loss, but if they do, wow, free onion blades all summer long!!!!          

green onions make a wonderful powder that is super fantastic used as a garnish with a ton of flavor.       I also love to just crush into fine flakes and use it that way as a garnish.         I love to use it on deviled eggs, potato salad, pasta salads, open faced tuna salad and the list goes on.            larger crushed flakes is good in salsa.       if you buy a jar of salsa and it's lacking something, try adding some green onion flakes.         it's always good to put in stews, soups and casseroles.           I always say that I'm only limited by what I can't think of, when it comes to using my dehydrated goods.           there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to using them, we just have to use them.          and have fun.

this next little picture is a pic of my little measuring spoons.            the tiny little things are so hard to take a picture of.          I think they are shy because they are so small.           hahaha           these are the "bees knees" as far as I'm concerned.             the tiny one on the left, the "nip" is what I use in my vanilla powder when I make my breakfast bowls.          these came from a local Amish store.          I'm sure there are other places to get them too.         

well, I think I'm gonna get off here and try to get a little rest for this dreary body.           I feel good other than where I don't.           hahaha           but I keep thanking God for the winter I've had up to this point and I know He'll see me thru this bump in the road.         Lord give me some sunshine.            but I'll take what ever You give me.           it did feel so good to get out thursday and get my hands in the dirt while I was planting the onion roots.          if/when they come up, I'll take a picture of them. 

I pray that you all have a wonderful Sunday.          let's keep God at the top of our list and keep Him first place, and even the days that hurt won't hurt so bad.           you'll still have your joy that comes from knowing Him, and with that joy, we can handle it all.          Lord, bless us all with a great day and may we share Your love with someone that needs to know You.    

blessings of love, joy, and peace be yours today.          hugs and love, patty

Happy Friday Afternoon!!!

good afternoon y'all.          it is your friendly weather lady coming to you direct from her neck of the woods.          hahaha            the temp is 60*, yay!!!            the sun is not shining and it feels really cool just because of it.        but I was outside for a little bit before lunch and got my hands dirty and that felt really good!!!         I'll share that in another post though.        

before I went outside, I had a couple of things to get done.          I needed to make the filling for my husbands breakfast sandwiches for 12 days.          if I had a couple more of those silicons muffin top pans, I would make 24 at a time.           so I may get a couple more of those just to make that time a lot more prosperous.

I took pictures as I was going thru the process of packaging them for the freezer.          this is some of my short term freezer cooking.

 

here in this first picture, the first tray that came from the oven is now flipped over and cooling the bottoms off.         I try to get them cooled down pretty good before I put them in the freezer.

once I get the cooled enough to take them from the muffin top pan, I'll set them on my trivet for a few minutes more.         while they are cooling, I'll get my fllip top sandwich bags out and ready.

once they are cooled, they go into the sandwich bags.             they smell so good while they are cooking.          hahaha            I thought hubby was gonna just eat thim right off the trivet.

once I get them bagged in the sandwich bags, then I'll put them in my freezer bags and press out as much air as I can.         they are only in the freezer at a maximum of 10 days, so I'm not really concerned about any kind of frost  on them.         but if they were going to be in the freezer for an extended period of time, I would use vac seal bags once I had them in the fllip top sandwich bags.      the vac seal bags will keep them for a long time.

so I have 5 freezer bags with 2 each in the freezer and a container in the fridge with 2 in it.          when I use the last one in the container, I'll take a bag from the freezer and put those 2 in the container and they will be thawed by the next morning and ready to put in a skillet and reheat while I'm toasting his brioche bun.

hope you enjoyed this little tine in the kitchen with me today.       I thank you for your time and I hope you come back soon.          let's keep God first in all we do.         hugs and love, patty

Good Rainy Thursday Y'all!!

good evening one and all.           you're friendly neighborhood weather lady with the latest goings on in my neck of the woods.            it''s been a balmy 60* all day today.         guess what it's been doing here all day.          go ahead, one guess.          well, if you guessed rain, that would be 100% correct.              but hey, I'm not complaining, really I'm not.           wanna know why I'm not complaining, because it's not ice or snow.         yup, that's right.        it's supposed to be pretty tomorrow and I'll take that.          next week, we're supposed to start drying out, so I'll be looking forward to that.          

anyway, I hope to get a little grocery shopping done in the morning early.         nothing would please me any more than to get that done and behind me.          I don't really have a lot going on today, but just wanted to touch base.           I don't have any pictures of anything I've done to show you and I don't think you'd be interested in knowing if I took a nap today or not.          hahahaha           well, I didn't, but that don't mean I didn't try.         hahaha            my husband on the other hand, he just kicked back in his recliner, ready to take a nap for the 4th time today.           hahahaha           oh and sppeaking of my sweet husband, I did give him a haircut today.         I don't mind telling ya, I'm getting pretty good at cutting his hair.        the only thing I don't like is that I never get a tip.        I really don't understand why.       hahaha

I also put on a big old electric pressure cooker of pinto beans and we had some for supper and they are delicious.         so we'll be eating good for a few days with these.         I love having several big bowls of good stuff in the fridge at all times.        I have some soup and also some corn chowder.       that's what I always call our "fast food".          plus I keep a lot of homemade bread on hand at all times too.        tomorrow I'll make a batch of cornbread wedges to have with our beans.           and I need to bring in a loaf of my homemade brioche from the freezer in the garage.          I love having that ready to thaw out and eat.           so everytime I make a batch of brioche rolls for my husbands breakfast, I'll be able to make a loaf of bread, maybe 2 loaves.          I think I shared the recipe for that and if you haven't tried it, well, why not?          go ahead, make a loaf, I'll wait for ya.         then you can come back here and tell me how much you love it too.         hahaha

well, I guess I'll sign off for now.        lets remember to keep God first in all that we do and acknowledge Him in all of our ways.            our days will be much better when we put Him first.         I want to thank you all for hanging out with me for a few minutes this evening.          your time is valuable and you can be anywhere, but you're right here for the time being and I do appreciate it.         I hope to see you back here real soon.           have a great evening and a wonderful night of refreshing rest and sleep.         

hugs and love, patty

Happy Hump Day from the Giraffe, hahahaha

good afternoon and happy hump day from your wild and crazy weather lady out here in her neck of the woods.          hahahaha            it's a glorious 59*!!!!!           can you believe that???!!!!?!           one week ago today it was a frozen tundra around here coming in at NEGATIVE 9!!!!!!        yes, -9*!!!!!            a temp change of 68* in a weeks time.         and I'm not compaining one little bit.         it's raining and has been raining a solid 48 hours with that many or more hours to come.         that's ok.         it's not ice and it's not snow, so I'm good.       hahaha           I'm praying that it will reflect nicely on our utility bill.

we got out  for a few minutes this morning and done a little shopping in the town over from us a little ways.          it's still in our county, just on  the other side of the county.           got a few staples back in supply that we used when we didn't get out of the house all the time it was snow and ice and a frozen mess. 

one of the things that I got that wasn't on the list was fig newtons.         my hubby loves them and they were good price, so I picked up a couple packages.        I stocked up on my coconut milk in cartons.         I couldn't find my canned canned coconut milk like I usually get, so I guess I'll order it from amazon and get that back in stock in my pantry.

now is the time to stock back up and get ready for the next round of bad weather that may be rolling thru sometime in February.            we've already had the heads up for that and we could get another snow and ice storm worse than what we just had.          so, now is the time to stock up.          and pray that it doesn't happen.      get prepared.          plan for the worst and pray for the best.       and when you do that, you can rest assured you've done all you can do to be prepared and know the rest of it is in God's hand.        I do believe that He expects us to do a little/lot for ourselves and not wait for someone else to do it for us, if we're able to do it for ourselves.

so if you're on the other side of the bad weather that a lot of us have had, just know that there is no time like the present to get prepared.            take stock of your cabinets and fridge and freezers and shop according to your needs.        for the next couple of weeks, I'll only be replacing things that we used while I couldn't get out and go to the store.         once that goal is accomplished, then I can get the extras and frivolties, so to speak.         

check your fresh fruits and veggies, eggs and cheeses, flours and cornmeal, oils and butter, meats, chicken, fish and seafood, breakfast meats, popcorn, coffee and tea, sugars and sweeteners and creamer, shelf stable nut milks, quick canned goods, peanut butter and crackers, canned tuna and whatever else that you like to keep on hand in your prepared pantry.         and plenty of food that can be eaten without any heat, because we could have a power outage.     just think about all the things that can be eaten without heating or cooking and stock up on some of that.  

just be prepared.          it's always good to be prepared.

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a funny little story:  I don't even know how this came about over the last couple days, but my hubby and I were picking at each other and he said something like, "you're a keeper!!"         I laughed and said that I "guess" he was too.          and he questioned me for using the word "guess".           I just laughed and told him that he still owed me.           he wanted to know what he owed me for.         I just told him that I can't believe that he would ever forget the debt  he owed me.           he kept looking at me with seriously questioning eyes.           he finally asked me what he had forgotten.         and I laughed real big and told him that he had forgotten all about being a bought, kept and paid for man.          and we both cracked up.           he said "and I would have it NO other way!!!"           so that has been our running joke for going on 45 years.     

if you want to know the back story to him being a bought and paid for man, well, here it is.           we were and still are as poor as Jobs turkeys, but when we went to get our marriage license in september of 1979, he didn't have to money to pay for them, but I did.         later on when we sorta got on our feet a little bit financially, we laughed about it.        and he's the one that said he was a bought and paid for man.          so that has been our running joke for all these years and we still get a laugh out of it.       I'll have to say that it was the best $10.00 I ever spent!!!          who knew it would be the best investment I ever made????    

I'll tell you who knew, God!!!!           He knew!!!!!!!          He has been in the midst of our marriage even before we knew  would get married.         He knew we would!!          and I am so thankful to Him that He has been such an integral part of our lives as one together in Him and as individuals.         He knew what He was doing when we didn't think we knew.         

the last Friday in January is the first night we had a date.          it started snowing that night when he was bringing me home and it was 3 weeks before we had another date.         sometime in February, we had another date and you guessed it, it snowed again that night and it was another 3 weeks before we had another date.        all the people that I worked with told me that I couldn't go out with him anymore until it got to 100* outside so there would be no chance of snow.         hahaha

so even thru all the snow, we have a lot to be thankful for.           45 years of being best friends!!!       I am so thankful to God every day for him and all that we have been thru over the years.         we've been thru enough that would cause others to throw in towel.          truth be known, we both may have thought about it over the years, but we always kept God where He belongs.         if God is the head of all you both do, then He will keep you thinking right and straight.  

so while this little story was kinda funny, it's something that we cherish and hold on to, because we know that God has been first place in all of our days.         have we both always been perfect to each other?             absolutley not!!!           but we've always kept God in first place and that makes a difference.  

I hope if you haven't put God first place in your lives that you will do it today.          He can make all the difference.            He will make all the difference.           but you got to want Him.            I pray that you do.           He is readily available, tthru the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.        He has provided a way for us to be in right relationship with Him thru Jesus.        that's it.         that's the only way to the Father, is thru the Son.         I hope you know Jesus.         Jesus sure wants to know you.        my prayer is that for everyone who has ever read my blog to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that we can all hang out one of these days in heaven.         wouldn't that be a wonderful gathering, it sure would!!!           so I'm just gonna say it, I'll see ya in heaven one of these days.        

well, that's all I have today.         blessings of warm weather and warm hearts and fond memories and exciting days ahead.        hugs and love, patty

"Jesus Loves Me This I Know", do you know this?

good morning wonderful people!!!    you're friendly neighborhood weather  lady reporting in with a rainy 47* this morning!!!!!          yes, you read that right and I'm pleased as punch!!         hahaha         most of the snow and ice is already gone, what a blessing!!  

I don't think I could ever thank God enough for His hand of protection over us during this arctic blast that lasted for what seemed life forever.        while it was bad enough, if the electricity had gone off, it could have been a whole different scene with losts sorry and heartache.         so while nature done it's "thang", our wonderful God was watching out for us.         Thank You so much God for your protection!!!

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I found this on the internet today and thought it worthy of sharing with you all, so I copied it.        sometimes we do forget just how much Jesus loves us.          let this be a fun reminder to have a childlike faith and trust in Him.   

everything copied is between ******, at the beginning and the end.

******A church in Atlanta was honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age.

After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gait to the podium.

Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he began to speak....

"When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me...

The only thing that would comfort was this verse....

"Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
We are weak but He is strong.....
Yes, Jesus loves me....
The Bible tells me so."

The old pastor stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course) during a hymn sing, and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."

"Here for you now is a Senior version of Jesus Loves Me":

JESUS LOVES ME
Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS)
YES, JESUS LOVES ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME..
YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.
Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.

(verse 2)
When the nights are dark and long,
In my heart He puts a song..
Telling me in words so clear,
"Have no fear, for I am near."

(Verse 3)
When my work on earth is done,
And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love.

(CHORUS)
I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.******

what a lovely sentiment to remember as our age becomes more and more evident in our lives.          may we always be found as an example of believers who loves Jesus and know that beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus loves us.          let us have that childlike faith to sing this song, that believes and knows that Jesus loves us even if the sky is falling around us.          let's remember this song and sing it loud to anyone who will listen.

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just a little short and sweet post today.         I hope this is a little bit of encouragement for anyone who needs it.          I sure did.          and it gave me some perspective that I didn't have.          let's keep God in the forefront of all we do today and maybe sing our senior song today as we go about serving Him.

blessings of love, joy and peace be upon us all.       hugs, patty

Using some of my dehydrated goods, Cran-Orange candy!!!

good morning folks.            this is your friendly weather woman coming at you once again from my neck of the woods with the latest on the weather.             it was a glorious 20* when I got up this morning, woop woop!!!          it is right now, as of 8:08am, 25* hot degrees!!!          oh yeah!!!          I'll take it.      hahaha          it is supposed to get above freezing today, praise the Lord!!!!            I just have to say it and I can't keep saying it enough, we truly are blessed to have gone thru this weather event and not lose our electricity!!!            thank You God, for Your watchcare and hand of protection over us.         I know others weren't so blessed and I grieve with them over the loss of their loved ones.         so that doesn't go unnoticed by me at all.          I'm just thankful and grateful for what God has done.

so, yesterday evening late, we wanted a little snacky snack.            I'm usually not one for a snack after six or seven o'clock in the evening.            but I got started at this early enough that I got it made and we got to sample it before going to bed.           ok, who am I kidding, we ate it.         there I said it, we ate it and it was delicious!!         hahaha

I have shown some of the cranberries and oranges that I have dehydrated in the past and that's what I used.         I had made a batch of powdered cranberry orange powder and that's what I wanted to use.        I got out the cran-orange powder and a make shift double boiler along with some white almond bark and commenced to melting the almond bark.         mission accomplished.          I thinned it down with another couple of ingredients so I could get a couple of tablespoons of cran orange-powder mixed in before it set up too quickly.

the above pic is of the mixture once I had in my silicon pan.           I popped it in the fridge and let it set up.             that little dab of mixture is about the size of a small saucer, so it's not a lot.

this is just the mixture without the jar in the picture.              it looks so good.            after it had been in the fridge for about 20 minutes cooling down, I took it out and used my metal spatula to loosen it from the silicone and turned it bottom side up for another 20 minutes.          when I was satisfied with what it was feeling like, I took it from the fridge and rolled it in a tight tube.            it looked kinda like a short fat sausage.           I thought I had a picture of that too, but I didn't see it on my computer.        I may not have sent it from my phone.

this is what it looked like once I got sliced into bite sized pieces.            this right here is the picture of yumminess!!!          this should be in the dictionary as a picture of "yummy".        hahaha

and I love that there are pieces of cranberry and orange that you can see.          this has a hint of tart along with sweet and creamy along with crunchy and chewy.         it truly is good.

and I'll tell you something, I was worried about what it would do to my blood sugar.           I'm not diabetic, but it runs in my family, so I keep a check on it every morning.             I figured my blood sugar would be sky high this morning.           it wasn't!!!       it was at 91, so I was thrilled with that number!!           usually, if I eat something like this, my blood sugar will be higher, sometimes a lot higher.          now, this doesn't give me the license to have this every day, but it looks like it's a treat that I may be wanting to have on hand for a bite when the craving hits.         but I was totally surprised by the number, yet thouroughly thankful and excited.           I will test my blood sugar the next time I have this and see if it's still running like that, if so, then it may be a good, one or two bite snack.

well, that's about all I have today.          it looks like it will get above freezing today and we have a couple of errands to run a little later on.           I hope everyone has a wonderful day.         let's all thank God for His hand of protection over us and keep Him first place in all we do today.          blessings of peace and mercy be yours today.           hugs and love, patty

Vanilla Powder, who knew?

good morning y'all, it's  another  balmy nippy  morning in my neck of the woods coming in at 0* at 7am.           in case I haven't told y'all yet, I'm so over it!!           hahaha       oh, I guess I've mentioned a time or 20 since Alaska decided to move to TN.        hahaha              I'm cashing in my winter card for my spring card.            hahaha             ready to move on.            but the good news is, we are supposed to warm up with a lot of rain.           that will at least get rid of the salt from the roads.            we are so ready to get back into walking.            I'm hoping we can walk between the rain drops.           hahaha

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I got to thinking about something that I had done back in august of 2023 and thought it would be a good project to share, since I'm getting ready to do this again in a little while.           this will be a good refresher course for me and hopefully give y'all some fresh ideas too.          think outside the box with everything we do.          when we do that, we can come up with some amazing things.

I love vanilla, real vanilla extract and flavoring.           not the stuff they use to scent candles with.        a short story: my husband and I was out just driving and seeing interesting things and stopping and going in.          there was a huge store on the outskirts of a larger town where we used to live and we stopped and went it.     they had a lot of christmas stuff year around.         and I forgot to mention that this was just a family owned and operated store.         it was fun to browse.            we stopped and went in one saturday afternoon and they had just gotten a new display of vanilla candles and it was right in the front door area and the fake vanilla flavor was so strong, and I don't know what else was in it             but it was so strong that it just hit my face like a wet blanket.           had it not been for my husband, I would have hit the floor like a rock!!!         he had me by the arm and got me back outside about as quickly as that happened and we never went back.           so I can't do imitation vanilla at all.            even smelling imitation vanilla in desserts, I can't do it.       

I have to keep real vanilla on hand at all times.            last summer I got to thinking about vanilla beans.          I couldn't find any info on anyone dehydrating vanilla beans.           I did find that "grade a" vanilla beans are a lot more oilier that "grade b" vanilla beans.        those are the preferred beans for making vanilla extract with liquor.          but in all honesty, I had no idea that vanilla beans were oily, but learning that info helped me realize that "grade b" is the grade I needed for what I wanted to do.       

so I set out and ordered my vanilla beans from amazon.             there are a lot places to get vanilla beans from, so you can get yours where you wish to get them.          I need to get some that was affordable and had a good reputation on amazon.          I can't remember exactly where these came from, but when I need more, it's in my amazon history and I can find them that way.

this was a bag of 25 or 26 vanilla beans, vacuum sealed.        they were about 6 inches long.          and they smelled so good.

this is a tray of my weston dehydrator.          as I took them from the bag, I had a paper towel and I wiped each bean down real good, just to get some of the oils thats on them, off.          oils on the dehydrator can and more than likely will, go rancid.          so I wiped each bean real good.           I wish I had taken a pic of the paper towel that I used because it was amazing to see the oils that came from these beans, being grade b beans.          during the dehydrating process, I would keep a paper towel close by and I would check on my vanilla beans and wipe them down again.          I probably wiped them a half dozen times during the dehydrating process.           I spent way more time with the vanilla beans than I ever have spent witth any other product that I've dehydrated.           but it was worth it get the finished product.

they are off the dehydrator and ready to be put in my dedicated mr coffee, coffee grinder.            I don't grind coffee, but I do grind herbs and spices, so this is my herb and spice grinder, now vanilla bean grinder.    hahaha            I broke each bean into smaller pieces and you can them on the paper plate.          and as I was putting the pieces in the grinder, I broke them even more.           

my motto for dehydrating is "cracker crisp, rock hard, and bone dry".           these were cracker crisp, breaking like a crispy cracker.          if they don't snap when you bend it, it will gum up and probably mold when you put it in a container.          but you won't get a good grind.            so if you try this, just make sure you get them crispy.            and my temperature was 110* as per my standard temperature these days.          I know it took more than 24 hours, but I don't remember how much more it took.

 

as you can in these 2 pictures, I got a really great grind on my vanilla beans.            I used my brush that I keep in the kitchen to clean my grinder with and you can see the bristles are a little oily.         I wouldn't want to even try dehydrating grade a vanilla beans, seeing how oily these were once I got them done.           but I did get a good grind on them.            I even went searching for grade c vanilla beans and apparently they don't have that grade, just a and b.        

I really wish there was such a thing as smell-a-vision.            hahaha, you would love the smell of this if there was such a thing.          the smell truly is incredible.            

this little jar is a 4 oz jar and that's how much these ground up vanilla beans made.           I have used it every day since I made it and I still have about half of it left.          I have these measuring spoons that have measurements smaller than regular spoon measurements and that's what I use.           the smallest one is a "nib".           and that's what I use everyday.            a nib of vanilla bean powder in my breakfast bowl each morning and it gives a wonderful touch of vanilla.

so I have another vac bag of vanilla beans and will dehydrate them a little later on.           I'll keep a bag handy at all times just to dehydrate when I start running low on my vanilla powder.          it will be interesting to see how much longer this little jar will last before I have to dehydrate the other bag of vanilla beans.           I recently came up with a recipe for "instant dry egg nog mix" and I've been using a half of a teaspoon in the mix, so it's going down a little quicker than it would if I was just using in my breakfast bowls.     

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I guess that's about all I have today.            I hope you enjoyed this adventure into making dehydrated  vanilla bean powder.           I enjoyed making it and I also enjoyed sharing it with y'all.    

I hope and pray that we all remember to keep God first place in all we do today.          if we do, it'll be a good day.           blessings of warmth, grace and mercy be upon us all today and every day.           hugs and love, patty

Pics of some of my dehydrated goods

good morning y'all!!!!!            it's another frigid morning here in my neck of the woods.        it was +2* when I got up this morning, almost high enough to break a sweat!!          hahaha          it was another night that we had to leave the faucets dripping, so we did.         I'm thinking tonight will be more of the same.          I don't think it will get above 17* or 19* today, so it's gonna stay a little chilly for a while longer.         yippee!!!!!!!         not!!!         hahaha          

thank you Lord for your watch care and protection over us during this cold spell.        please don't be  upset at me Lord, for having a weird sense of humor.         but on the funny side of this Lord, please take Alaska back where it belongs.          please!          but if Alaska has to stay here, we'll deal with it, because You will make a way for us to deal with it.         but I am grateful to You for keeping us safe during this.          I love You Lord and I know You're working in this as with all situations that come before us.         You're already there, working it out.        thank You!!!       amen

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just wanted to share a couple of pictures. one is of some of my dehydrated goods.         I work on dehydrating bits at a time, really. just trying to keep fresh produce from going bad mostly, especially this time of year when gardening is at a halt. my motto is "cracker crisp, rock hard and bone dry" for a reason.          I don't like losing one morsel of hard work or food. it's like throwing money away.        I don't have money to throw away.         when I accomplish the goal of my motto, I can make powder from anything in my cabinet, if it's been dehydrated. if it's not up to my motto standards, then it's a short term project and will be used up quickly, within a couple of weeks up to a month and no more.        but for the most part, I dehdyrate for long term. sometimes long term for me means six months to a year, sometimes it means 5 years. and when I dehydrate to my motto, I know I'll get up to 5 years out of it.

low and slow is what helps me reach my goal.        setting my temp low and taking all the time it takes to meet my goal is how I do it.        low temps and forgetting about time. it works for me.        and when I need to powder something, it's cracker crisp, rock hard and bone dry, so it's pretty easy.

 
the cabinet has a lot of powders on the top shelf as well as some dehydrated marshmallows.     yum!!     I also have a couple of good sized jars on the top that are vegetable blends from 21 different veggies, all listed on the side of the jar.         it's not really powdered, it just blended to a size about like a coarse salt.        I use it in a lot of soups.      I have 2 jars of that, one has hot pepper and the other one doesn't.

the 2nd and 3rd shelves used to be in order, but I went thru them all at Christmas and made some gift packages for a couple of friends that I thought would enjoy sampling a bunch of dehydrated goods and I just put stuff back and not in place.        so it's jumbled up.

I also do fermenting too and my fermenting jar is on the top shelf and theres some fermented honey and garlic on the bottom shelf.         and there is little jars of honey and maple syrup scattered on the shelves.         it's fun and very tasty to dehydrate some of my fermented veggies.            I have some dehydrated fermented red onions.         I have dehydrated dill pickles and I make what I call dilly dust with it.             you can season just about anything with it.          it's fun to dehydrate and then figure out ways to use it.

I needed to make some cranberry powder this week and I used oranges for one jar and lemons for the other jar.          I use this in my breakfast and like to keep it powdered up.          I just make a small batch at a time.              I filled my coffee grinder half way with cranberries and then put 4 or 5 slices of orange.         I done the same thing with lemon and cranberries.       wonderful combinations too.        I need to get blueberries and lemons and then rhubarb and orange made into powders too.

I love using these in my breakfast bowls every day.         I'll make 6 at a time and they'll rehydrate really nicely.          it's wonderful.

I slice my oranges and lemons with my mandolin to get perfectly thin slices and they dehydrate completely.

while I spend a lot of time dehydrating, I also spend a lot of time using my dehydrated goods.

there's potatoes and mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, stevia, purple basil, cucumbers, garlic, onions, leeks and green onion blades, all kinds of hot peppers, lots of tomatoes ready to make powder from and I don't know what all is in there.         and a lot of it is stuff that I have grown.         I even made zucchini and yellow squash flour from some of my zucchini and yellow squash.         it can actually be used as a substitute for up to 1/4th the regular flour in a recipe calling for flour.           so I'll always have that on hand from now on.

it's amazing at what you can with a couple of cheap dehydrators.

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this is about all I have today.        if you're in the deep freeze, please stay safe and think before you do something.         let's keep God at the forefront of all we do and praise Him in all things.        hugs and love to all, patty