Love & Sacrifice
My husband loves coconut cake. We had an amazing taste of one recently, and were given the promise of the recipe. But, yesterday, I decided that he needed to have that cake sooner than later, so I started looking up recipes on my own. There was a veritable host that dressed up a box mix, and frankly, they would've likely been much easier. But I found one that had been discovered in a newspaper, years ago, and knew I'd landed on what I was looking for. From start to finish, that cake took me about 4 hours to make. It was very involved, requiring me to really pay attention and give it a lot of concentration and effort. While I was working away in the kitchen, I could see my man...
Planning is not Living
Yesterday, I had set aside some time to work on our trip to Europe. If you missed that big announcement, my man has blessed me with a trip to France and Italy for our 50-30-50 year (two 50th birthdays and a 30th anniversary!). Let's just say that Mama might be a little bit excited. All the big stuff is booked, but we were uncertain about some of the activity that the travel agent suggested, so I wanted to look into it myself. I am a big travel planner. I usually book all of our travel and make all the arrangements, finding cool stuff to do and getting the most 'bang for the buck.' I'm actually pretty good at it. But, as much as we travel, we've never gone to Europe and it's been on...
What Lies Beneath
Yesterday, my oldest daughter was using an old knife in the tack room to open a package of meds, slipped while applying pressure, and stabbed herself in the middle of her other palm. Delightful. After a consultation with me about the date of her last tetanus shot, she headed to urgent care, prepared for a long wait and hours taken from her day which she really didn't have to spare. Maddie has an amazingly high pain threshold. She doesn't fall apart over stuff like this; truly, I'd be afraid I was about to lose her if she did because I'd know it was BAD. So, when she got there, she was very calm and just a had a bandage around her hand, not seeming all that urgent. However, she'd...
Self-Help vs. Real Help
It's amazing to me, the number of self-help books on the shelf, or I guess I should say available for download, these days. They cover every topic under the sun, from dieting to finding your center to loving the child within. To look at them as a whole, you have no other option than to think that we, as humans, are a LOT of work. I've been known to purchase some of these that are more health-related. I actually was recently in a book store (yes, I do still go into book stores on occasion, because I love them and enjoy the combination scent of books and coffee), to look for a particular book of healthy-eating recipes. As I was trying to find the diet section, I passed the rest of the...
More Than a Band-Aid
It's interesting to me, the things you find yourself involved in. My husband works for a major life insurance company, and through their foundation, we became aware of our local Camp Fire chapter, and a grief camp for kids that they sponsor, called Camp El Tesoro de la Vida. We visited the camp last summer, and were blown away by what they were doing out there for kids who were walking the tough road of grieving the loss of a loved one. We wanted to become more involved, and one thing led to another, which brings me to tonight's benefit dinner for which we are the chairs. Yesterday, Kevin and I were talking about grieving. He lost his dad when he was a teenager, so he knows, first...