One of my favorite holiday traditions is reading.  Unlike those who reread A Christmas Carol and other Christmas classics, I cherish time to read holiday themed books by some of my favorite modern authors.  Joanne Fluke has come out with a “Christmas mystery” for the last few years.  This year’s read is Plum Pudding Murder.  The main character, Hannah Swenson has her own cookie shop, The Cookie Jar, and when she isn’t baking or concocting ways to keep her cat, Moishe, from killing her Christmas tree, she is solving a murder.  The characters and Lake Eden, Minnesota setting will be a familiar comfort to Hannah fans, but a person new to the series could start with Plum Pudding Murder without being lost.  Besides the mystery, the novel is laden with delicious recipes including Hannah’s full Christmas Eve dinner menu, and a real plum pudding, made with real plums.

I started reading this Hannah mystery the Saturday before Thanksgiving and finished it in about three days.  Reading about all of the festive baking, decorating, and family-centered scenes in the book helped me relax and enjoy my time off, and it gt me excited about my own holiday celebrations.  It also made me realize that I may think my holidays are stressful at times, but unlike Hannah, no one expects me to track down any murderers.

Among the recipes from the book that I am most anxious to try are chocolate raspberry truffles, white chocolate pumpkin dreams, and cranberry scones.

Put some cookies in the oven to bake, grab this book, and go sit by a warm fire.  Perfect!

One of my favorite questions to ask my students before Thanksgiving break is, “What’s the one thing in the traditional Thanksgiving meal that you won’t touch?”  One of the more popular responses is the cranberries that come out of a can.  I wholeheartedly agree.  Years ago, when my husband, at that time my boyfriend, attended his first Thanksgiving with my family, he wanted to bring something.  He made a delicious cranberry salad that has changed the way we feel about cranberries forever.  While he is a good cook, my sweetie doesn’t always file the good recipes away fro safe keeping, so that one was lost.  Last year, I set out to find a similar tasty cranberry recipe, and found one to try out.  It went over so well at Thanksgiving, I made it again for Christmas.  My aunt takes the left-overs to use as a topping for ice cream. The recipe I use calls for fresh cranberries and apples as the primary ingredients, and I normally add in a cup or so of chopped walnuts.

So, if you haven’t already, I encourage you to say goodbye to the cranberries in a can, and make your own tasty cranberry treat this year.  I found the recipe I like, Cranberry-Apple Composte at www.recipezaar.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love to crochet, even though I have not become very accomplished at it.  I have made a lot of afghans and scarves, and I don’t usually do very well with patterns.  One problem I ran into consistently is that I could never find enough skeins of the yarn color I wanted in stock at the craft stores.  Then, a friend referred me to www.lionbrandyarn.com and I found a solution to my problem.  Now, I order my yarn directly from the company, and I get exactly what I need.  I also like this site because it has a pattern finder.  That means I can put in my specifications, for the fun fur purse you see pictured here, I specified what I wanted to make (a purse or tote), who it was for (an adult), whether I preferred to knit or crochet (crochet), and the skill level (beginner).  Then, I selected this purse pattern and ordered all of the supplies to make it.  The project went quickly, and when it was time to sew on a button for closure, I searched through a bag of buttons I’ve saved (extra buttons come with almost every item of clothing you purchase, and I have been saving them for a long time) and picked out a large red one for contrast.  I’d originally thought to use the purse as a Christmas present, but my husband told me that he can’t imagine any of the girls/women we are buying for using a fur purse.  I think he meant, “Honey, you are very unique, and you should keep your purse.”  The only modification I made to the pattern was making the shoulder strap a little wider than the directions suggest.  Check out the site I reference above for other fun projects.

The house/addition are progressing!  Praise God!  The week before opening weekend of deer season, my husband took off a couple of days to work on the house.  He rarely takes off any time from his job, so this was a very rare and special thing.  He had a friend coming into town with the intent of helping him work.  Since I still had work/school responsibilities and would have to get up at 5 a.m. and go to bed early, I spent a few days with my mom, so that the men could work freely, have some guy time, and get ready for deer season.

The only glitch in this great plan was that the corn wasn’t finished.  It still had to be harvested.  So, my sweetie ended up working on the corn harvest for a big chunk of his time off.  When I returned home, he seemed disappointed that he hadn’t made more progress on the house, even though he was happy to have the corn taken care of.  It really didn’t bother me much–the corn had to be done.

Then, today I laughed as I was looking through “building your house” scriptures, I found Proverbs 24:27

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

My sweetie blesses me so much because even though he hasn’t read a lot of the Bible, there are many occasions like this in which by virtue of his character, he just lives out the word.

So, on this Sunday before Thanksgiving, I just want thank God for my husband.  I am grateful for his work ethic, his character and his integrity (and so many more of his qualities, but I won’t ramble on).

Two short months ago!

We have had Scout the wonder puppy for about two and a half months now, and in that time, he has literally tripled in size!  It is a growth spurt that is hard to miss, and it makes me consider my own growth as a Christian.  There are times, when it’s been obvious, but a lot more times when it felt (and looked) like nothing was happening.  As we press on to know God and reveal his love to others, we are changed.  We mature.  Every time we wait patiently.  Every time we cling to faith and refuse to give way to fear, we grow.  Isn’t that good news?

In my time with the pup, I have read bits and pieces and chunks of many books on puppy training.  One in passage in particular stands out in my mind because it addresses the command, “come.”  I feel like if I have a little puppy treat in my hand and I am standing by the kitchen next to the fridge, and I holler, “Scout, come!” and he comes, I am doing great!  Well, yes, this is a good start for a puppy.  But, ultimately, I want Scout to be so obedient and so attuned to pleasing me that if he is in the middle of exploring a really exciting scent, eating some really good dog food, or wandering around the far reaches of the land that when he hears my voice say “Come,” he immediately drops the scent, leaves the food, turns for home and comes.  That kind of obedience…that level of training takes a lot of practice and repetition.  I have had Scout run to me over a pretty far distance, galloping along as fast as his little puppy legs would carry him, and that was exciting…

So, naturally, I have to make the spiritual connection.  I’m not there yet.  I want to be, but I’m not.  When I hear God calling my name, if I am sitting in church, well, that’s rather convenient.  What about when it’s 3:30 a.m. and sleep is very enticing–can I pull myself out of the warm bed and come?  Can I leave the riveting chapter in the novel unfinished, leave the chocolate cake half-eaten, cut-short the chatty phone call, and come?  I am working on it.  It motivates me a lot to imagine the joy our heavenly Father experiences when we obey him immediately in any and all circumstances.

This the adolescent Scout on his couch.

Who are the most important people in your life?

What can you  do today to bless those people?

What can you say to encourage them?

How can you show your affection?

How can you make their lives a little easier?

Here’s a challenge–

Write down ten little things that you wish someone would do for you…now, the hard part–try to do each thing on your list for someone else.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. 

It is impossible to be happy and selfish at the same time.

I want to thank my friend, Amy at My Sweet Life for giving me this award.  I have been so encouraged by Amy’s blog, so it is an honor to have her pass this award onto me.  Now, I get to pass it on!  What fun.

When I moved to the country (*the corner of No and Where*),  I was kind of lonely and missing my girlfriends.  Now, I am so blessed to have found some lovely, encouraging Christian women friends through blogging.

The “rule” is to pass this award on to 5 other lovely bloggers, but I can only think of one person that I really, really want to give this award to, and that is my friend, Laurel at From My Heart to Yours. Laurel and I first found each other when we were both going through The Love Dare.  Since then, she has posted several Bible studies and words of encouragement on a variety of subjects.  She prays cool prayers while doing things like mixing brownies, and she has encourages me to exercise and take other positive steps in my life.

(Laurel, all you have to do is post this award image on your blog and pass it on to other Lovely Lady bloggers that inspire you and share why you feel they deserve the award!)

Thank you, Amy! You made my day!

In addition to my regular notebook, I also keep a gratitude journal.  Sometimes, I buy the that Sarah Ban Breathnacht puts out as a companion to her book, Simple Abundance, and sometimes, I just buy a pretty blank book for the purpose of gratitude.  It’s a pretty simple concept–at the end of each day, you simply write down five things that you are grateful for.  Even on horrendously bad days when it feels like everything has gone wrong, there are good things–family, friends, health, a new day coming, sleep, etc.  I love the gratitude journal–I have been keeping them for about ten years and due to the nature of gratitude, they are always happy and uplifting to reread, and they also work as a calendar and a sort of written scrapbook.  Sometimes it’s just fun to look at last year’s journal and see what I was grateful for last year, or what I was doing.  Few things are more uplifting to me than counting my blessings!

With that said, here is today’s entry:

1. Waking up and laughing, smiling, and snuggling with my favorite person on the planet, my husband.

2. A beautiful fall day with lots of sunshine–took the puppy out for some frolicking in the field.

3. A clean house.

4. Time to be at home and rest.

5.  Watched P.S. I Love You

Recently, my friend Amy at My Sweet Life posted about bringing glory to God in everything and reminded us of the verse in Colassians 3, verse 23:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

     Well, I know a woman who lives out this verse in a way that blesses me!  I have such a long commute to work, and I drive through several tiny towns, so I have my choice of gas stations when I need to refill my car.  A couple of weeks ago, a new lady began working as the cashier at one of the gas stations. 

     What does she do?  She blesses everyone.  Last night, as I was leaving, she said “God bless you, tonight.”   I thought, Wow, I needed that.  When I am driving home through deer-infested woods in the dark, I am grateful for a blessing.  I have noticed this woman verbally blessing every patron that comes in the store.  It doesn’t matter what they are buying.  It doesn’t matter how they respond.  It doesn’t matter how they are dressed.  She simply punctuates every exchange with a genuine blessing.

     Maybe this woman stands out to me partly because she is such a breath of fresh air compared to many who are discouraged and disheartened by service industry jobs, and are less than cheery to people.  Well, if we’re Christians, we are all in the service industry! 

     I know it’s probably not my thing to verbally bless everyone I come into contact with during my day–but, I can smile at them or offer of a ten-second prayer for that person.  There are many ways to glorify God in every little thing we do.

Happy Monday!  Today, I wanted to participate in The Simple Woman’s Daybook, hosted by The Simple Woman.

FOR TODAY
November 2, 2009 (From My Journal)
Outside my window…I can hear my husband working on the addition to our house.  He is putting rafters up–I am amazed at all of the work he has poured into finishing our house by himself.
I am thinking…how much I love fall!  The leaves have fallen and our puppy, Scout, just loves diving into a big pile, or chasing a single fluttering leaf, or making them crunch.

I am thankful for…my husband, and our families.  Our moms each sent us soup this last weekend.  We have hamburger soup from my mom, and chicken noodle soup from his mom.  I am thankful that I don’t have to cook tonight, and that we can have the perfect early fall supper of nice, hot, homemade soup.  I am also thankful for my teaching job, and happy I can be around people and enjoy what I do.

From the kitchen…I can see big stacks!  There are three huge bags of candy that we got for Halloween just in case we had trick or treaters, but we didn’t have any.  So, now there’s a bunch of leftover chocolate, darnit!  There are also the Halloween cards my sweetie and I exchanged, and boxes of puppy treats piling up.
I am wearing…my after work clothes–jeans, a brown, long-sleeved tee shirt, a denim jacket and tennis shoes.

I am creating…a plan for a lovely evening.  After dinner, I am anticipating a bubble bath, painting my toenails, and watching the one show on television that I like, Castle.  It’s a good Monday night ritual.
I am going…to have to make a decision soon.  Do I commit to taking my puppy to training for the next six Saturdays, LONG drive and all, or do I just train him on my own as best I can?  I am also going to have to check out a new shop we have in town—a cupcake shop!  I love cupcakes, and sadly, we are in such a remote area that new businesses don’t typically last very long.  The Cupcake Shop is going to get my support!

I am reading…a new book called What We Believe.  It basically covers the Catholic catechism for adults.

I am hoping…for a smooth week.  There seems to be a lot of extra things going on–meetings at work/school and a “murder mystery” party at the library Friday night.  Almost everyone in my department (English) is participating, and has a role to play.
I am hearing…Simplify.  Don’t make things so hard.  Make things easy.
Around the house…I hate to be repetitive, but it’s the puppy again–there are puppy toys all over the house.  Soon, we will have an outdoor pen, and begin the transition from indoor dog to outdoor dog.  Mail, papers, and magazines are starting to pile up.  I have learned to clip things I want to save from magazines instead of keeping the whole thing.
One of my favorite things… is coffee!  And mornings!  And email!   I get a morning email from my mom almost every day, and I send her one back.  I love staying close to my family.
A few plans for the rest of the week: I hope to get a lot of grading and class planning accomplished, and ideally–clean the house and take care of the laundry in the evenings so that I can enjoy the weekend more without those responsibilities…I guess if I decide in favor of puppy training, that will take up a chunk of Saturday.
Here is picture for thought I am sharing…

The beauty of autumn!