Laughter ... good medicine

About 2 months ago or so I had gotten mad as a hatter because of a phone call. I ranted. Hubby told me to settle down. He suggested that it isn't good for me to get so upset. Ya think? 

So what about a phone call made me mad? It was "Rebecca, from card services."  Now, I have gotten these calls for years. About two years ago we got rid of all credit cards so I hoped the calls would stop. They are simply a solicitation to get their "new and improved" card. Press "1" to be taken off the list or "3" to talk to customer service. I have pushed "3" more times than I can count over the years.

I fully admit that it is my own temper and foretold chaotic life that pushed me to allow this little call (over and over) to get to me, but I am busy. I don't want to get these calls, they supposedly gave me a way to get off the list yet they keep calling. By the way, I have also talked to customer service and asked to speak to a supervisor, and was promptly hung up on.

Then one day the phone rang and it was "Rebecca" and it popped into my head. The picture of a little black plastic whistle we had running around the house. I pressed "3", ran to get the whistle and as soon as someone NOT named Rebecca answered the phone I blew the whistle as hard as I could.

Clatter clatter, "damn", clatter, clatter was what I heard on the other end of the line. I just cracked up.

Now, I realize it is not exactly the fault of that poor girl on the other end, on the other hand the opinion of this household is that credit cards are evil, and those who work for credit card companies are pretty much doomed if they continue suckering people in with half truths and 3/4 lies.

So, today I got the third chance to use my little plastic whistle, and along with the clatter at the other end, I scared the kids, EXCEPT for cheeks who was sleeping. LOL, you should have seen them jump.

I love my little black whistle...

Down days... how do you pick them up?

The last few days have not found me in my happy place much. I'm tired of fighting. Politics, faith, family, working... it seems to all be a fight lately. So when you have streaks of the "downs", what do you do to lift you up? Generally I bake, but since my pants are a bit too tight lately that has become kind of a bitter sweet place. LOL   Beading works, but I find that when everything else is in chaos the beadwork becomes a chore, not to mention with the rest of the chaos I really don't have time to bead... since nothing else is getting done as it should. How do you bring peace and harmony into the chaos? Let me know what works for you.


UPDATE:
Imagine my thoughts as this bible passage came my way just after I posted this the first time:

 Ephesians

Rules for the New Life. 25Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another.^t 26Be angry but do not sin;^u do not let the sun set on your anger,^* 27and do not leave room for the devil.^v 28The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work^* with his [own] hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need.^w 29No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear.^x 30And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.^* 31All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice.^y 32[And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.^z

Blueberry Coffee Cake

A friend gave me this wonderful recipe for blueberry coffee cake and - WOW! Thanks Cheryl.
Blueberry Coffee Cake

Grease and flour 9x9 pan (double the recipe 13x9)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
Cream sugar/butter
add:
1 egg

Set aside: 
1/2 c. milk


Sift together:
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

Add flour mixture alternating w/ milk to batter mixture.
Batter mixture will be very thick.

Add:
1c. blueberries

Sprinkle w/flour & fold into batter.

Topping:
Mix together and sprinkle on batter:
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
Melt 1/4 c.  butter and pour over everything else.

Bake 40- 50 min.   (double recipe may take longer)

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think every person has their own definition of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. And there are some recipes I still want to try BUT in the meantime I took my grandpa's recipe and tweaked it based on some internet "helpers". I found MY perfect chocolate chip cookie.

So the perfect recipe:

1 c. butter, melted (being careful not to burn)
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 eggs beaten
4 t. vanilla

2 c. flour (all purpose)
2 t. salt
3/4 t. baking soda

2 to 2 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Mix butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla with a cookie paddle on electric mixer on a med speed till mixed then high speed for 3 min.

Add dry ingredients a little at a time, till mixed.

Add chocolate chips and mix with a spoon (a mixer will break your chips)

Place on cookie sheet by spoonfuls.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 min.

These cookies are crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle. IF you don't want them crisp on the edges you can put the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then DO NOT place cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet between batches.

Never in my life have I found a cookie that is crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle AND still done. Yes, kiddies, it's supposed to be like this.

Now, how did I change this from grandpa's? Well, his had 1 c. white sugar and 1/2 c. brown. I saw another recipe that had them switched and thought I'd try it. Also, I doubled the 2 t. of vanilla. I expected that to taste "odd" but it was just good. And the last thing I changed... he used shortening. I love the added flavor of the butter, not to mention the better taste when you just eat cookie dough.

NOTE: Please don't eat raw cookie dough - there is raw egg in it and this can be a dangerous situation. Personally I've never had issue with it, I suspect about the first time it makes me sick will be the last time I EVER eat raw cookie dough... but some lessons just have to be learned the hard way.

Funny little something... Cheeks decided she wanted some cookie dough. She has decided she likes cookie dough better than cookies. She sounds like cookie monster when she says "cookies". When I made these cookies she went to take some dough and I told her "no there are raw eggs in that, you can't have it." She's not quite two and didn't quite understand that, so I showed her the egg shell with egg still dripping out of it. She made the most disgusted face I have ever seen, screamed "dat ukkky" (that yucky) and ran out of the room. I did not have to scold her about getting into the cookie dough again.

My Thesaurus is my friend...

My dictionary needs to be a close friend too.

This weekend I put a lot of new jewelry up on my Etsy site. Something I don't do real well is coming up with names and descriptions. As I go through I am finding spelling mistakes (firefox has spoiled me but the spell check does not work on all sections of Etsy). I got sick of using the same words for descriptions so I got out the thesaurus... much better. Practice will make that part of jewelry making much easier.

Here is the link: Beading Branches on Etsy

I don't make everything there, a friend and I do this together. We are both trying to earn extra money for separate causes. Take a look, enjoy!

The Family

Where better to introduce the family then in my happy place. We have been cleaning and arranging for two days. Finally done. Whew! In all that time however I have laughed a lot. Yes, definitely in my happy place, with the occasional breezes and storms spoken of earlier.

So ^^ there we have in the back (of course) L to R: Me, The Kidd and The King of the castle - the Hubs or the Husband depending on if he is in the dog house or not... usually not though.

In the Front L to R: GIJoe, Little Princess J, Maggie Pants, Shake and Bake, and the baby is Cheeks.

These really are my blessings. ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~


The Hubs, really was my HS sweetie. He is my best friend and no matter what I do know I can count on him.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~


The Kidd is away at school, West Point, he is a Yuk this year. Two more years to go, then he will be an officer and will have a five year obligation to fulfill. His heart has been with the military since about 4 years old. We could not be prouder.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~



GIJoe, is the second oldest and still at home for a few years. Getting ready to take his drivers test. He spends a lot of time on a rifle range as he shoots .22 and air rifle. He's doing pretty good with that. As I've stated he has also started Civil Air Patrol.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~


Little Princess J, is really that, she is soft spoken, and girly girl all the way through. Although this Christmas The Kidd gave her a nerf sword and told her when to use it well. Immediately one of the older boys decided to pick at her and she almost started to complain then looked at the sword in her hand and went to town. THAT was funny. Good thing it was a nerf sword.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~


Maggie Pants, shoots as well. Same as her brothers before her, and she is starting to come right along with that too. She is a little more of a tomboy, but with two older brothers I don't blame her. She loves riding the ripstick, blades, bikes etc. She can hold her own when GIJoe goes a little too far with the picking on her.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Shake and Bake is our little ball of energy. Stubborn, and ornery, but he's got a heart of gold and I thing some of his temper comes in when he gets his feelings hurt. He's beginning to shoot, and thus far really likes it. It looks like he will stick with the sport as well.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~


Cheeks, well she got her name because when she started to crawl I told one of the kids "look, it doesn't matter if she's coming or going, all you see is cheeks. She's our chubby little baby girl (well she's almost 2 now so I guess not so much a baby anymore). She is a spit fire and cute as a button, AND funny as heck. She loves to dance, smile, and she has just enough of a mean streak so as not to get run over by the bigger kids.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~


And last but not least is Natasha the husky that we acquired when The Kidd called up one day saying "mommy, I love you" to which I answered "what do you want..." Yup the pup.

Guns and Ammo...

After going out the other night on a date with the hubs and shooting the Kidd's Springfield XD 9mm, the Hubs decided I needed my own. Yea me. So Now I have my own. Can't wait to go do some more practicing with it. I am not ultra comfortable handling it just yet but that will come with practice.

So here's the deal. A couple of years ago I researched and studied and when I thought I was good and ready I went out and bought a gun. A Taurus .38 hammerless. I loved the way it felt in my hand. I thought I had the perfect gun... then we went to shoot it. I learned that my fingers are weak. I can't shoot the thing.

Important tip... even if you don't think it is important (like I did) GO SHOOT a few guns before buying. Fortunately the Hubs likes my .38 ok, and in our house there is no such thing as "shouldn't have" when it comes to guns. I am very glad to have learned my lesson, and to have gotten yet another handgun.