What's Up!!!

Living God - stand by me. Hold me up. Be my strength when I am tired, my inspiration when I am bored, my life when I am listless.

Living God, I cannot always meet the standard expected of me, cannot always be the personality I am known for. Abba, when I fail, Abba when I stumble - stand by me.

I ran across this today and thought, how perfect! 

I have missed not posting... My job has made me sad and too tired to write. But there is light at the end of the tunnel and I can smell freedom, so I thought I would write a little.

Oh! Pickle season has started! These are some of my cuke plants. All those yellow flowers will hopefully be turned into cubes, which in turn will be turned into pickles! We have had so much rain that I'm worried about rot and disease getting a hold of everything. I'm thankful that we have sandy soil that drains well, but enough is enough with all this rain.

I have also been making pesto! Now that is some yummy stuff that you can spread on just about anything. It's so easy to make, here let me give you the recipe that was given to me!

In a food processor put the following:

2 cups loose basil leaves (clean)

1/3 cup pine nuts

2 medium cloves of garlic (more if you love it like me!)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Blend till rough paste

Add 1/2 cup virgin olive oil (extra virgin is best)

blend...with 1/4 tsp salt and a good grind of pepper

put into small container - freeze or eat. Good on chicken, pasta, cracker's with cheese, a spoon, your finger, you name it, it's good on it. It also freezes well and thaws fast an easy. 

We also got gravel, or as Preacher man calls it, rock. This was put down before we got this...

It looked like this....

Here's Preacher man! Oh, look behind him to the left, it's the garden! That wad of green, see it? Not the trees, look lower!

We also did this...

Yes, new driveway! All in all a busy day or 2.

So that's about it, your caught up on this side of the yard. I hope to have more time very soon to post and muse on what's what. Until then, thanks for stepping back into my life!

Peace! 

Random

So, did I tell you it's started?

Yes, we've been invaded by giant jars of pickles! Ok, not really, but the cuke's are starting to come on. Last week we had surprisingly cool weather for July. I think one morning it was 58 degrees, which, by the way, doesn't happen in July in Arkansas! Or at least it didn't use to happen. Just when the plants were kicking into high gear, it get's cold and slows everything down except the mosquitoes. I hope that everything recovers and we start kicking it again real soon.

I got a job,did I tell you? I'm a cashier at a convenient store. I have to admit this is the first job of it's kind for me and I'm excited to add it to the other 986 thousand things I've done to earn money in my life time. Yes, I'm over qualified for this but, what's a girl to do? I'd like to give a shout out to April and Anne..."You taught me everything I know about up selling!"

I ordered a new pair of running shoes on line yesterday. I know right! What am I thinking ordering running shoes on line? Well, it's like this, I can't find anyone to take my feet and go try some on! I was wondering why my feet were hurting me after I ran and then I looked at the bottom of the shoes... They are fixing to turn into work shoes.

Things have truly been calm around here lately! I think it's because my 20 hour a week job is working me close to 38 hours every week and all I can do is fall into bed at night and sleep. Through it all, this is still how I look at most things!

Dragonflies!

The Dragonflies are back! This probably doesn't mean much to you, but it does to me, even though I'm not sure why it means something, but I'm sure it does. Let me splain:

When we got here last year, it was hot and dry. There hadn't been any rain in a month of Sunday's and it was around 100 degrees everyday. Being a Master Gardener, I take care of the yard, so I was watering just trying to keep up with the heat. I noticed that the dragonflies would show up in the morning and hover over my yard. I watered the yard yesterday and they showed up this morning!

Now I don't know why they hover over my yard, however, I like to think of different reasons why they're there. They are passing along blessings, protecting my house, or maybe wanting to communicate. When in reality, I'm sure they are eating some bug that needs to be eaten. 

I've been busy in the garden and the kitchen with the making of pickles. It takes a lot of time out of my day to do all this. There's the prep, the set up, then the canning followed by the cool down and clean up. Next thing I know it's afternoon. 

July has been a hard month and it's only half way done. I wonder...

Lesson's from Ava!

I was watching my friend Ava the other day, and I asked myself the question; When did I stop believing in myself? What happened and when did it happen? All I know is I started believing what others thought was right and what I knew was wrong? Ava has a song going on in her head at all times. She talks to flowers, dogs, chickens and people in a way that makes them all feel special. Then, she turns and does a little leap with a few circles, and off she goes.

I can do that, but at times, it's hard, because I've believed the lie that I'm wrong and they are right. It's like my self worth is wrapped up in what people think. The killer is they are the unimportant people in my life! So why and when does this happen?

I guess I heard it somewhere, Oh what do you know your; too young, a girl, unset, immature, too old, uneducated, too educated, new, too emotional. The long and short of it is, yes, at one time or another, all of these things have been or are true. Then I remembered something, I am the beloved! The most precious child of the King! The only thing that matters is I listen to His voice and what he has to say about me.

It's hard at times, cuz everyone else's voice is louder and their remarks are not nice and it just hurts. So, I'm having a small pity party for myself, but it started last week. I'm thinking it's time to be done with it and get on with the real matters at hand. Picking cuke's making pickles, changing the sign, having a lunch meeting, and meeting a friend after work. I need to decompress and talk to my dog, my plants, feed my chicken friends, do a little leap and a few circles and off I go!  

Game Changer!

I've got a list as long as my arm of things that need to be done, and then I remember I have to change the church sign! Oh bother! I'll just run through the garden before I do that...

This is a game changer people! Let the craziness begin! I just bought all the dill that Wal-Mart had, must get to Kroger's.

On a side note folks, Posts may be few and far between for a while, or I might just have to share in this crazy pickle making time!  

Pickle Dance!

I have really good intentions, I promise I do! I try to get down here to post, but with the heat coming on, I get out in the yard or the church yard first thing in the morning and next thing I know, the day is gone, no post! 

Since I have been spending so much time out in the garden, let me share some pictures with you!

About 2 weeks ago!

I went out today and gathered the cuke vines to climb up the fence and saw a lot of yellow flowers! So upon closer inspection this is what I found!

Baby Cuke!

So that put's me in the kitchen in July boiling brine and filling jars! I am having issues with loading other pictures so you will have to come back later to see. I am off to do the pickle dance to celebrate the baby cuke!