Natural Pruning

Weather challenges and some natural pruning going on around here this week. It's been HOT here in Ohio 100+ degrees hot. First came one storm that toppled 3 big beauty trees in my back yard....then another storm, hail and another toppled big tree. Wow...my back yard looks very different. It feels strange and is a mess. Once a full canapy shaded almost the entire back of the yard...now there are lovely spots of sunshine. I won't lie....it was hard to see such big strong trees toppled over so easily...but really we were very lucky...they hit nothing....and there is plenty to hit in the back yard...a pool, the back of the garage, the shed...a swingset. Plus we did not lose power...I know many are still out even today and it is HOT! We cleaned up the first tree, sawed and stacked it's wood ...but were only able to go about 2 hours due to the heat. Clean up will take a while...quite a bit till things return to normal. Isn't it really kinda like God? When He prunes things out of our lives??? Kinda all a wreck and messy...not sure why it happened or how it's gonna look? But ultimately for the good? God's been pruning people and things out of my life this year....it feels kinda strange. But I am sure just as these fallen trees will make room for more sunshine and new trees....God's pruning will make room for more SONshine and better relationships in my life! I sure hope so as the work has been hard! Stay cool and be blessed today and always friends!!

A Poem On Homemaking

Having a Mary Heart and a Martha Mind 

Lord of all pots and pans and things, since I’ve no time to be

A saint by doing lovely things, or watching late with Thee,

Or dreaming in the dawn-light, or storming Heaven’s gates,

Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha’s hands, I have a Mary mind,

And when I black the boots and shoes, Thy sandals, Lord, I find.

I think of how they trod the earth, what time I scrub the floor:

Accept this meditation, Lord, I haven’t time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love, and light it with Thy peace;

Forgive me all my worrying, and make my grumbling cease.

Thou who didst love to give men food, in room or by the sea,

Accept this service that I do -— I do it unto Thee.

—Cecily Rosemary Hallack (1898-1938)

Easy Quick Coffee Cake

Here's a quick easy coffee cake for those mornings or evenings when you want something sweet.
EASY Coffee Cake:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
2 tablespoons veggie oil (or melted butter)
brown sugar
butter
Mix first 6 ingredients in bowl then add the 2 T veggie oil...stir all to combine. Pour into 8x8 greased pan. Sprinkle top with brown sugar....dot with butter. Bake at 350 x 25-30 mins. If you like cinnamon you can add some to the batter and some on top too.

As the butter melts and gets HOT it falls down in to the batter taking with it the yummy brown sugar...dragging it through the cake....some will pool on the bottom too....so GOOD! You could probably add chopped fruits or blue berries to the batter too to change it up a bit!  
ENJOY and have a Blessed week!!  
Jen
Come add your recipe to the Weekend Potlock at The Better Baker!!

When getting through is enough....

Oh my...yesterday was such a bad day. Stress got the better of me. Problems problems problems. See I forgot to let God handle them all...and I paid a heavy price. I lost a perfectly good day to stress and worry. I have a lot on my plate right now. A dear friend and mentor who is a true Mother to me is dealing with cancer....it is hard. She is a trooper though! I've been helping drive her to her radiation treatments. I am so thankful I am available to do this. I am best friends with her daughter and I have been seeing her more too....she just needs the break. My own kids lives are filled with business right now too....trying to finish the last things to do for school. I have been gone "doing" for nearly two week straight. This month is always a busy one around here. I thought  "I" could handle it all. Well last night we went to install our window air units and guess what? Three on them decided to die at the same time. Figures right? Well sadly hubby and I fought about it. Stupid air conditioners of all things. It was dumb and we both knew it....yet we both did it anyway. We both repented this morning and laughed that well at least we made it through that day! Sometimes getting through is all you can do. Next time I am giving the whole mess....whatever it is....over to God. Hubs and I agreed that we should have both just turned to God and prayed together and asked for HELP instead of turning on each other. Lesson LEARNED!

Starting Anew: Kitchen

Man a little business...and little laziness ....a little lack of organization....and BAMMO my kitchen is a wreck! End of the school year always is cRaZy at my house.....state tests....end of year projects and lots of last events! I've kinda flown by the seat of my pants these past to months and I've paid a big financial cost for it! I decided to clean out my pantry as it was a wreck....it kinda happens with the 6 of us getting things in and out. But this time was different. Too many doubles and triples of things I had. See I haven't been making a good grocery list and checking in the pantry. I over bought many things....thinking they were used when they were not. We've eaten out too much also. I just need to be more prepared. I am recommitting myself to better kitchen management. It's my job. Summer is almost here and the kiddos almost out of school...this is always a time of change anyway as summer menus are a bit different for us and everybody is home for lunches. I'm gonna sit down with everybody and re go over family meal choices and get a good list of meals ready. I will stock the pantry with more of the things we use. I will also take a few weekends to make some freezer foods to stop the eating out so much. Next year we lose busing so I will have to drive kids both ways. I need to be more prepared with easier fast meals as more is required of me next year. I'm going to focus on meals I can prep, store in gallon freezer bags and plop into the crock pot or oven. Once  we settle into the new routine in August...things will be better. I just don't want to spend an arm and leg on food. This is the one area I save my family a ton of money! Dear hubby is counting on me! Financial things are changing for my family too. One Child will be driving after the summer...and College is in our very near future! So it's time to start anew and put some more effort into cooking and maintaining the systems in my kitchen that I know work. When I'm not on my A game....I swear I pay double in  my grocery bill. I made the first step...always the HARDEST! I've admitted I've messed up....then I went and cleaned my pantry and saw for sure my folly....LOL! It was kinda frightening!

Good Things

Do you all have a wonderful Easter weekend? We sure did! We took our family to my best friend's Church....it was a beautiful service. As much as "I" wanted to attend the sunrise service...I got vetoed by the family. So we ended up at a more reasonable 10:30 time. After church the day was spent with just my core family....no extendeds this year. It was a fun day! My 3 boys planned to camp out overnight in the back yard...so we set up the tent. I don't know how they did it, it was about 40 degrees overnight....brrrrr...way too COLD for me! We grilled out steaks watched King of Kings and later built a big bon fire and made smores. FUN times for sure. We have a huge wood pile to get through this year so there will be many more fires to come. Today is low key.....cleaning up from the fire and tent adventures...making quiche for lunch with some leftover ham, cheese and last nights asparagus....YUM...it is in baking right now as I speak. I snuck away for a quickie blog post!

He's ALIVE!!