In a pickle.......

As any good cook, baker, barista, canner, or pickler knows, you have to have a secret ingredient in your recipe to make it unique and uber-delicious. Here's mine.

Pickles (from both cucumbers or squash)
1. Start out with an abundance of vegetable
2. Heat some pickling spice, vinegar, dill, garlic
3. heat jars, either with a canner or the old fashioned way
4. combine ingredients
5. seal, allow to sit on shelf and "pickle" for 4 - 6 weeks
6. open, enjoy!

Strawberry preserves
1. start with fresh picked (washed) strawberries
2. cook mashed berries with pectin, sugar
3. heat jars
4. pour cooked preserves into jar
5. seal
6. when ready, open and enjoy

Blueberry syrup
1. begin with fresh picked, washed, mashed, ripe blueberries
2. cook syrup ingredients, sugar, water lemon juice, high tech stuff here....
3. cook blueberry ingredients, blueberries and water, imagine
4. drain blueberry ingredients through a cheesecloth (impressed aren't ya?)
5. combine ingredients, cook
6. heat jars
7. pour syrup into jars, seal.
8. when ready to use, open and enjoy.

Really, these recipes are nothing special, there are no secret ingredients here, you can find them on the Internet.....So, what makes my so special you ask? Here goes...........................

For picking, taste testing and general helping.............




For growing, having a green thumb, loving it and just plain being way too cute.......
and the big guns who helps with all of it, the growing, picking, canning, taste testing, recipe ad libbing, cheeseclothing, clean-up and encouraging.........................


You guys are the greatest.............I am proud to be your mommy and wife! I love you......

p.s. if the final products don't taste great, well, they helped with that too :)

Indelible footprints.....

When you have the chance to hold an angel, you know your live will never be the same. How you perceive the situation, how you cope with loss, how you resume your life afterwards speaks volumes about your beliefs, the depths of your love, the way you view life, the strength of your character. There are many who suffer a lose and view it that way...suffering. There are many who view a loss as an opportunity to be thankful for all that we have.

(((For the record, I am not speaking of your immediate (anytime within the 1st year really) reaction to a shocking loss.)))

There are some that never recover from losing a loved one and then there are others who search for ways to celebrate what once was. There are some that are saddened by the resemblance of a lost loved one in one still here on earth. There are others that use the physical features of an angel to embrace the love of that angel...the angels they have on earth...The One they know who will carry them when they can't walk on their own...

This is my reason....this is my why.......... this is me..........................

BEFORE

TEMPLATE

IN THE MAKING

OUTLINED

HALF WAY THERE

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Here are my indelible footprints.................................

It only takes sunscreen

I have a friend, very dear to me. I would open my home to her in a second. She is strong, resilient, beautiful. She has 3 wonderful daughters. Beautiful, they look just like their mom. They will grow up to be strong women too, all the while loving and kind...just like their momma. I have never met her in person. Yet, through the marvels of modern technology, I can feel her disappointment, hurt, devastation at the unraveling of her marriage. This brave woman has suffered more loss, hurt, and heartache than any other friend I have, yet she perseveres.
She recently got a tattoo. For her, this was an expression of hard work, remembrance of a loved ones, a birthday present to herself.

It got me to thinking....what if life were like a tattoo?

Some of you will be shocked (and may even tune out) to learn that I, myself, am going tonight to get my own tattoo. Mr. Producer has talked about getting a tattoo ever since I have met him. I always swore I N.E.V.E.R. would. Well, like many other things in life, I have learned that I should never say never. I am getting a tattoo of something that means the world to me....you will have to wait for the post tonight or tomorrow to see pics, meaning, etc. but in the meantime, know that I have been thinking of this for a very long time, this is not a rash decision. With that being said, the tattoo artist said that I only need to do 1 thing to my tattoo after it heals to give it longevity....

SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN. SUNSCREEN.

After I received my friends email of her troubled marriage (which I pray for all involved the Lord will repair). Mr. Producer and I laid in bed and talked about the increasing frequency with which divorce seems to be making its mark on couples we know. Sadly, it is happening to people whom have been together a long time, 8, 10, 12, 30, 40 years. Sadly, all of them have children. Unfortunately, there is not one race, religious preference, or age group that is immune to this horrible epidemic. As for me and Mr. Producer, we are great, but we are always vigilant!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if life were like a tattoo..........

Wouldn't it be great if there was only 1 thing you needed to do to be certain you were maintaining the longevity of your marriage. Wouldn't it be awesome to know that it would only take a kiss a day for your marriage to last forever. Wouldn't it be easy, perfect, wonderful to know that the answer to marital longevity could be summed up in one word?

Unfortunately, like all the best things in the world, there is nothing, not a one singular word/act/thought that can make your love, marriage, relationships, last forever....in the real world, it takes more than sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen.

To all my friends, family, readers, and loved-ones whom have entered into the battlegrounds of divorce, make sure you have sunscreen close so you don't get burned, know that you use to once love that person and how you BOTH deal with your children sets the stage for how they adjust, and finally, remember always that I will be here, doing the only things I can, sympathizing, listening, praying..... that is my 1 thing...my sunscreen.....my longevity.........praying............