Husband's Delight

This past week I made "Husband's Delight" a meal that I made often when Darryl and I were first married, that is once I learned to venture out beyond the box. Since I have not made in a long time, I thought it would be good to make again. Guess what? It is still good and the dish was empty at the end of dinner. I looked for it online so I could put on my Pinterest Board “Recipes I’ve Tried and Liked”, but all the ones I found were different than the one that was given to me, thus this blog. I wished I could remember who gave it to me, or where I found it, but that little piece of information has completely escaped me.

Husband’s Delight

1 pound of ground turkey

2 cans of tomato sauce

1 ½ tsp. Salt

1 ½ tsp. Pepper

1 ½ tsp. Garlic Salt

1 medium onion chopped

1 container of Weight Watchers Whipped Cream Cheese, softened

1 8-ounce carton of fat free sour cream

1 8-oounce package of elbow or penne noodles

Grated Cheese

Cook noodles according to directions on package. Brown meat in skillet. Add tomato sauce and seasonings to the meat and continued to heat on medium. In a separate bowl combine chopped onion, cream cheese, and sour cream and mix well. In a baking dish layer cooked noodles, ground turkey mixture and top with sour cream mixture top with grated cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Serve with salad and French bread.

It kind of looks gross, but it is creamy yumminess = comfort food!

We had a salad and French bread with the Husband’s Delight, but since we received some monstrous sized home grown tomatoes from family in Shawnee, I decided to try another Pinterest receipe as a side dish. It is called Cheesy Tomatoes that was pinned by my friend Heather Dorsey and they were yummy too!

Proverbs 5:18 says: "Let your fountain be blessed,
         And rejoice in the wife of your youth."

for she makes Husband's Delight and Cheesy Tomatoes.

So the Bible doesn't say the last part about Husband's Delight and Cheesy Tomatoes, but it does instruct men to delight in their own wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in His providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his own. Let thy fountain be blessed and delight in the food she prepares for him. <Smile>

Lazy Dione? Not today! Lazy Susan? Yes!

I’m on Pinterest. Pinterest to a woman is like a honey to do list for men, in that there are so many things that don’t get done. I have so many items pinned. Creations I want to mimic, new recipes to try, outfits to recreate, haircuts to dream of, places to visit, my to do list grows and grows. I have however done many recipes that I created another board titled "Recipes that I have Tried and Liked". Partly because I need organization in my life, but mostly because I am getting older and I forget that I pinned it and then I pin it again.

Friday, Darryl and I hit a few garage sales and I found this really useful Lazy Susan. I wonder how in the world they named this handy little rotating tray a Lazy Susan? Do you know?

The problem is there was a letter L etched into the wood. We don't have any L's in our household. I suppose I could say it stood for Lazy, but after being indoctrinated into all the creativity that Pinterest affords I decided to put some of that knowledge to use. I have seen all kinds of really cool items refurbished with fabric, scrapbook paper, and other items, so why not our Lazy Susan? So off to Hobby Lobby I went!

I bought some scrapbooking paper, four sheets total for a whopping $1.18.

I then decided I wanted the crosses for the background and the words for the cross. I used a cross off my wall and laid it on top of the Lazy Susan and it fit, so I traced the design on the paper.  The cross was bigger than the 12 x 12 scrapbook paper, so I had to overlap it on another one. Next, I cut the cross out and set it aside.

Since the scrapbook paper would not fit over the Lazy Susan and I only had two pieces of paper I had to cut the paper in quarters. Most people would have probably used a compass or some other mathematical way to determine how to cut the paper, but I am one of those people who think the world would be fine without numbers. I elected to turn the Lazy Susan over and put the corner of the paper in the center of the Lazy Susan and marked a couple of pencil marks on the paper, then I put the Lazy Susan on top of the paper, lining up the marks and then traced the outline. Then I cut it out and used that pattern to cut three more.

Then I laid it out all to see if it fit and how it looked. It fit, but the two colors did not contrast at all and I thought the outline of the cross was getting lost in all the crosses. So I took my trust black Sharpie pen and outlined the cross. Laid it out all all again and I liked it much better. Then I took the Mod Podge and put it on the back of the paper and then put them on the top of the Lazy Susan until the entire Lazy Susan was covered with the cross scrapbook paper and let it dry. Then I put the cross I cut out with the words on it and mod podge it on top, let it dry and then added a second coat and wa-la...our new Lazy Susan that will sit on our new custom made stone table.

Now when you need something on the other side of the table, just give it a whirl. So for $3.18, we have a new Lazy Susan. I also seen on Pinterest that some people put the Lazy Susan in their fridge with all their condiments on it and they can just turn it and get what they need, but this one is too pretty to put in the fridge, so it will sit on the table for now.

Going for the Gold...It's Serious Business

I don’t know if you have been watching the Olympics, but we have been trying to catch some of it here and there. Not only are we watching the Olympics, but we are having our own Olympic Games XBOX 360 Kinect Style. You should see the world-class athletes in action on my living room floor; the athletic abilities are flying off the couches!

It's true the Lord gifts all of us in different ways, and after careful consideration of our God-given talents, I do think that there are several areas where our family could possibly compete on an Olympic level:

1. Darryl – the amount of loaded grocery bags he can carry from the car to the kitchen table in one swoop – Gold Medalist!
2. Darya – mispronouncing American words and names.  It all began when we were singing at church “He is risen!” and she was shouting at the top of her lungs, “He is freezing!” In her world  KFC is known as Kifs and most recently she thought a lady on the Olympic’s name was Camel, not Camille.
3.  Jayden – eating pizza playing Halo Reach and impersonations, there are Jayden’s Gold, Silver and Bronze.
4. Bryleigh – Counting her rice grains up to ten.
5. Maddex – Olympic napping!
6. Me - Googling on YouTube, I know it is a rare talent, but I have it!

Future Rice Counting Gold Medalist

In training for Olympic Napping

A disclaimer: we have not consulted with any professionals (yet), but we are certainly willing to consider additional training under the supervision of a serious coach and/or mentor. The Harjo’s are going for the GOLD! What would you receive your Gold Medal in?

July Status Update

Sitting...in my 2 Corinthians 5:17 chair. It was once tossed to the curb, thrown-away and counted as useless; but, through a work of restoration at Truman’s it is beautiful, comfortable and useful! The very reason I have named it my 2 Corinthians 5:17 chair, it is reflective of the restoration work that the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) is doing within me.

Drinking...the last bit of my dandelion tea, cranberry, lemon water

Realizing....that it is quiet at home when my kids aren’t here and that July is almost gone

Pondering…the fleshly struggle within to not be the one who stumbles, sins and offends; but rather the one that is found faithful every day in every way. Instead I struggle with spiritual ambivalence, as Paul, desiring to do right but not doing it. I never claim to be perfect, I am a sinner, a shameful no good hypocrite, saved by the glorious grace of a sovereign loving God. I am set free through Christ’s gift of forgiveness and will continue to strive to do all which is right.

Grasping…first hand why a lost world doesn’t want anything to do with “Christians” or “churches”.

Loving... the joy of seeing and experiencing pastors who live out Godliness in practical, everyday ways in the lives of their flock.

Humbled…by true believers and followers of Christ who choose not to slander, gossip, criticize and backbite; who don’t pass judgment based on one side of a story; who have reached out and supported our family as we follow His leading.

Thanking...the Lord for what men (or women) have meant for evil, God has meant for good.

Excited...about the new journey and adventure the Lord is taking our family on!

Enjoying...working through this study on the Sermon on the Mount. I'm only into it about a month but so far, it is so good and it was free! My plan is to work through it in my own time. No rush, no time frame, no deadlines, no group, just me and the daily discipline of exploring God's Word, giving Him time to marinate it in my spirit and soul.

Transitioning...slowly into blogging again. Thanks to national planning events being cancelled, my life isn’t as crazy as it was this time last week.

Remembering…watching Joseph live on stage at the Sight and Sound Theater in Branson with my family.

Wondering…if I would remember my password to even post this status update.

Happy July (what’s left of it)! May you enjoy the simplicity of a summer!

Benefits of Cancer

Cancer sucks. You see that statement on silicone wristbands, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other places. Yes, cancer sucks; but, what I think is worse is watching people who call each other family and friends fight and argue or watching people cast judgment on others through their words, deeds or looks. Pride, selfishness, and hate are all around us, consuming us like cancer. Being selfish, doing whatever it takes to get what you want in life regardless of the cost to others.  Believing and living as if your wants, desires, and needs are more important than everybody else’s. As long as you are happy and content then life is good. Pride, judgmental attitudes and selfishness are SO ugly. To me, it is uglier than cancer. I can see why God instructs us to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility considering others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

Pride, selfishness and a complaining or judgmental attitude are all around us, just read 10 statuses on Facebook or listen to people talk for 10 minutes and you’ll hear it. It doesn’t matter if it is a big or little complaint; the root of the complaining is pride and self. Yuck. Complaining because we feel violated and mistreated or we feel as if we are entitled to something. Listen up folks! Life is too short. In the light of eternity it is all little stuff, completely petty and meaningless.  I can see why Rodney King asked, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

I am embarrassed to say but God has been dealing with my petty complaining attitude for some time. In fact, about three weeks ago as I was driving in to work I was complaining about the traffic. I said, “this is taking foooorever!” God gently spoke to me and said, “No, it is not taking forever. Eternity is forever. You don’t know what eternity (forever) really means but one day you will, but this traffic Dione is not fooooorever.” Okay, well maybe He didn’t hold the “foooooorever” out like I did but that is what He told me. I quickly asked for forgiveness and repented for my complaining attitude with a promise to try and do better. First with memorizing, “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” (Philippians 2:14-15) I can’t shine like a light if I am shooting out complaints. I am learning that my sinful flesh wants to please itself and because of that, I complain. Ouch. I am so thankful God is patient with me.

Another lesson these past 11 days as I have watched my dad very graciously without complaining battle two forms of cancer, enduring the pain of failed procedures, broken bones, the prodding of the nurses and nursing assistants, the many mishaps of the café, even the mess ups of the doctors and nurses; yet, through it all I haven’t heard him complain. I have only seen him keep his sense of humor and very graciously extend grace to those who have messed up, noting we are all human, we all make mistakes. Isn’t that the truth!?

Even through watching my dad suffer is hard, even though the earthly physicians’ prognosis for my dad is not good, and even though it is difficult watching my strong and courageous dad become physically weak because of the cancer there are some positive things the cancer has done.

Yes, positive.

Cancer has confirmed that our family loves beyond self.

Cancer has sharpened our eternal focus of glory.

Cancer has strengthened and displayed our love for each other.

Cancer is perfecting our hope.

Cancer categorizes what is truly important.

Cancer although the enemy has meant it for evil, God has brought us all these good things through it all.

God is faithful. He is good, there is none other like Him. He is our Strong tower. He is our Rock. He is our Comfort. He is our strength. He will continue to perfect us in and through this cancer, so that in the end the cancer does not win, but through our Lord Jesus Christ we remain the victors. We have been saved from eternal separation and wrath from God because of His gift of reconciliation and because of that we have eternal hope. We don’t have to panic or fear death because perfect love casts out all fear and we are perfectly loved.

So with that said, I am so thankful and grateful for my family. For parents who have exhibited to us through over 50 years of marriage what it means to love unconditionally, to be committed and dedicated through the good and bad times, in sickness and in health. I am thankful for siblings who aren’t selfish, who love beyond self. Together with God’s grace we will prevail and through it all become stronger for His glory.

One of my favorite verses that helps move away from
that ugly complaining spirit.

God has been so good to show me my ugly, complaining attitude and so loving to help me change it. He is so crazy good to me!! Do you struggle with a complaining spirit too? If so will you join me in aiming for a life of less complaining, a life full of gratitude? If we are grateful we won’t be complaining.  Please inbox or message me, I would love to have someone walk through it with me, keeping each other accountable through prayer and messages.

Monday Minute Memories, February 6, 2012

Out in Blogland several bloggers do a Friday’s Favorite Five where they name five favorite things about the past week. Or Wordless Wednesdays where they just show pictures of the past week. Here I am introducing my own version of a once a week blog called, “Monday Minute Memories” of memories of my past week.

Pollyanna or Ninny-hammer? Anyone else know what these words mean? As I have mentioned earlier I am reading One Thousand Gifts A Dare to LIVE FULLY Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. I told you it would probably take me an entire year. I am enjoying the slow read savoring the learning and accepting the challenge of being a Pollyanna and not a Ninny-hammer. Do you know these words? I didn’t I had to look them up, I am such a Ninny-hammer! That one I guessed pretty accurately only because on Elf and his self-proclamation of being cotton headed ninny-muggin because they are pretty close; but Pollyana? I’ll wait to see if you know, without going to the dictionary to look up Pollyanna leave me a comment on what it means. Next Monday, I will share with you some of my Pollyanna moments.   

2011 or 2012? As I hit save of this document I just realized that the past five Monday Minute Memory posts were all saved under the name of 2011, I am such a ninny-hammer! February 2012 has arrived and I truly believe winter skipped Oklahoma. This time last year we were all uncovering ourselves from the big snow storm that hit our state. The effects of cabin fever were being posted all over Facebook. I know I am weird, but I loved the snow storm, because it forced some capital Q “Quality” family time.

American Heart Month Once a year I get to wear civilian clothes to work and it is on Wear Red Day and it is a Friday, which means casual day - which means jeans! During February's American Heart Month, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) reaffirms its commitment to increasing awareness about heart disease among women and helping women take steps to reduce their own personal risk of developing heart disease.

Facebook Follies Thinking about the virtual word slams that I have seen on FB this past week. Virtual land, I believe, increases boldness in people to create controversies, conflicts, criticism and confrontations that they would never do face to face. An acquaintance of ours through one of our child’s extra-curricular activities from years ago, asked if anyone knew where to get information about homeschooling. I shared the homeschooling information we use. Needless to say another person not a friend of mine, whom I later creeped on after they made this statement, “Most of the home-schooled kids I have met have been pretty creepy. So be careful.” I found myself in a nasty turmoil of “I am going to give it to him/her” after all; I had ammunition from my creeping skills. However, the Spirit of God that lives within me quieted my vindictiveness and quickened my desire to be still and know that He is God and the only Righteous Judge.

Heavy and mourning I know technically this one should go on the next week’s post, but my soul is hurting for a precious family in our church family who suddenly, unexpectantly lost a husband and dad by a heart attack. It was not the news I expected as I was getting ready for work this morning followed with the heartache and pain that physical death leaves us here with. I know that precious in His eyes is the homecoming of the saints (Psalm 116:15); and I know that we do not grieve as others do who have no hope (I Thessalonians 4:13); but we still grieve and only through the lens of God’s Word can we press onward. So thankful for His Word and the Hope we have in Christ Jesus. We are told that we will face difficulties in this life. In my study of learning eucharisteo the question comes up “Who would ever know the greater graces of comfort and perseverance, mercy and forgiveness, patience and courage, if no shadows fell over a life? Without God’s Word the world warps.” If we never had pain, we would never know God’s comfort. If we were never weak, we would never know His strength. If we always got what we wanted, when we wanted, we would never know the benefit of patience. Without trials, we would never experience God’s courage in and through us.

Monday Minute Memories, January 30, 2012

Out in Blogland several bloggers do a Friday’s Favorite Five where they name five favorite things about the past week. Or Wordless Wednesdays where they just show pictures of the past week. Here I am introducing my own version of a once a week blog called, “Monday Minute Memories” of memories of my past week.

1. Action Packed Movie. I must admit that I am not a huge fan of action packed movies, but the rest of my crew are, so every once in a while I get dragged into watching an action packed movie. I think I may have used up all my testosterone up as a tomboy way back in the day, when all I cared about was anything round, that I could throw, catch or hit. Speaking of testosterone reminds me of Shark Week on Animal Planet which we watched while on vacation last year at the beach, probably not the best idea! But did you know that sharks have the highest serum testosterone levels than any species on the planet, with bull sharks having the highest? No, I don’t have ADHD, I call it mind mapping…back to the movie I was forced to watch, even the name shouts MAN MOVIE...Real Steel. It’s about big robots, smashing metal in a UFC style competition. Yes, I really stretched myself. Surprisingly it was a fairly good movie. There were certainly “educational moments” as in my opinion there are with all movies. MY review of educational moments…while it was violent, metal smashing metal, and there were some tight fitting clothes and disrespectful attitude; there was still a human story of reconciliation between a father and a son and the realization that as a father he wants to do and be better. It was a nice reminder that the most important things in life aren’t always things….or in this case robots and a big win…but family.

2. Youth Teacher Planning Meeting. We spend a good portion of Saturday afternoon planning some upcoming activities and events for our youth at the church. Let’s see…pizza…red Kool-Aid…pizza….red Kool-Aid….throw in some outrageously fun events and we were done. I did try two new recipes, one from Pinterest (Crockpot Italian Chicken) and the other (Chicken Parmesan) from a trusted recipe site (SkinnyTaste) that have not proven wrong yet. I know it is stupid to try something new when you have people coming over, so I probably won’t do that again; I was stressed about what if it doesn’t turn out right. So I did a backup plan of pizza. After all, eating pizza and drinking red Kool-Aid are a prerequisite to working with the youth. I highly recommend both. That is the recipes and working with the youth. On my Pinterest Boards, I have a board of recipes, these are the ones I want to try and I have a board of recipes I’ve tried and are good. Both of these have moved to that board. My new culinary out is "pinterest made me do it!"

3. Sock Blessings. Let’s just say the past three and half years have been the most stressful time of my career. Work has been difficult to say the least. I won’t get into details, but I recently received an “eviction notice” from my office on the second floor to a new office on the first floor, which I love. So it wasn’t really an eviction notice, just my humorous way of dealing with the move and it was all for good reasons too, other than my exercise. Not much of a change, I still have an office with a window, just not a view of the pond and the cute ducklings. To tell you the truth I laugh about it, simply because God is teaching me to be content in whatever state “or office” I am in. So even if I would have been moved to a cubicle, life would still be good, because I have a job and I love my job. The blessing part? One of the ladies in the new area where I sit came in to my office last week and commented to me that she noticed how hard I work. I said, “thank you it is nice to be noticed. It is because of that reason (and I pointed to a scripture I have hanging on my wall in my office) is the reason I work hard.” The scripture? “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for me.” Col. 3:23. My big sis gave it to me and it is a great reminder, it has given me encouragement through these hard years and helped me keep my perspective straight. Even though it wasn’t a big accolade, it was appreciated and I know it was orchestrated by my Heavenly Father to bless my socks off.

4. WeightWatchers. 3.4 pounds this week! I left the My FitnessPal because one pound a week for me was not cutting it. I was used to see 2 pounds or more a week with WW; so I am back on the path to get back to my healthy BMI. I’m just thankful I haven’t gained all 30 pounds back that I lost in 2008. I am a big fan of WW. I have tried at least a hundred different diets over my lifespan, but I don’t look at all those times as failures, but a hundred ways that didn’t work for me, in other words an education. To me, keeping the right perspective about failure is important. I like what Margaret Thatcher said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” For me, WW works, but it is more than just WW but a battle with my mind and flesh. I am determined that my belly will not be my God. (Phillipians 3:18-20)

5. No Spend January. Have you heard of this? I know someone who took the challenge and you can read about her family’s “No Spend January” journey at Just A Little Happy. Ours was more of a Quit Eating Out Too Much January. Our goal was to eat out only one time a week. I am happy to say we’ve accomplished that. I know for some that is a lot, but for us we had fallen back into the convenience of eating out two to three meals a week. Eating out is expensive and not that nutritious. As I look back over the month, we have said no many times to eating out requests, , actually we have said, "I said no, quit asking!" I am happy to report everyone is still alive. Let’s see if we can keep it up!

Happy Monday Everyone, enjoy your week and remember He is faithful!