Great is Thy faithfulness…

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3: 22-23

Obviously, he was a man ahead of his time…

When we get piled
upon one another in large cities, as in Europe,
we shall become as corrupt as Europe ..
Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist
when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every
generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save
one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the
pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me
that most bad government results from too much
government.
Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred
the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the
people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of
patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with
his taxes the propagation of ideas which he
disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that
banking institutions are more dangerous to
our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their
currency, first by inflation, then by
deflation, the banks and corporations that will
grow up around the banks will deprive the people
of all property - until their children
wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers
conquered.'

My “World Cup”

grandson, Josh, several years ago…precious!

Time out!

I need a “time out”.  I have several health issues going on with me and my mom.  Talk at you later…

Easy “do ahead” Summer Food……

Our family reunion is tomorrow and we are having company for the week-end!  My goal was to have most (or all) of the food prepared before they get here.  I will share recipes later in the week but for now, photos will have to do.

We have a picnic for the reunion so this is my menu:

Chicken Fingers (from Wal-mart).  We will pick those up tomorrow morning.  They are really good!

Broccoli Salad  I have everything chopped and ready to toss in the morning. 

I’ve already mixed dressing too.

I doubled this recipe so we will have this in the frig for later.  So good!

Deviled eggs  All made and ready to stuff.

Everyone looks forward to my brownies.  I use a mix(whatever is on sale) add pecans, bake, and then….oh my goodness….I mix up a batch of Coca Cola Cake icing and frost them.  To die for….I know, I will share recipe soon.

Well, now that takes care of the reunion. 

Two of our very favorite nieces are our houseguests.  They are so easy and fun. They are coming from Texas and Florida.

Chicken Salad is already made and in the frig.

See, this would be way to0 long if I had included recipes.

Well, we must have a dessert and this is wonderful!  A good friend shared the recipe.  Just called…

Lemon Dessert 

It is a layered dish that is similar to the one most of us have using chocolate.  Oh, but this is soooo much better!  I divided it and used two containers.  My thinking was…I might share one….hmm…maybe……maybe not.

Crust with pecans got a little brown but it is fine, trust me.

Layers:

1.  Crust (made with frozen pie crust and pecans.

2. Cream cheese, sugar, cool whip, mixed.

3. Lemon juice, condensed milk, eggs, beaten.

4. Cool whip

Can’t you just imagine how wonderful this is?  I hope so because I don’t have a picture.  Sorry.

I’m so grateful for all the help during these busy times.  Stan buys all the groceries, chops and chops, and basically just does what I tell him!  I know, I am blessed.

We both are doing more and more “sitting” while we work.  Isn’t this funny?  This is where he chose to work.  I couldn’t get around him if I tried but that’s ok.  I’m grateful!

We made a huge fresh fruit salad with watermelon, honey dew, cantelope,and grapes.  I will serve this with a poppy seed dressing.

Yep, he chopped and chopped!

Stan is usually in charge of breakfast but I did make a batch of carrot cake muffins.

We plan to pick up some ALABAMA BAR-B-QUE too.

All done, now we can play!

Does your back hurt?

Everyone has some sort of back pain.  If they haven’t, they will….right?

  Sometimes it is just a nuisance and sometimes it is unbearable.  As I have gotten older, arthritis is showing its’ ugly head more and more.  To  quote my Orthopedic Doctor, " your back looks like a hundred miles of bad road”.  Part of my diagnosis involves the common problem of the facet joints.

So yesterday, I had my first experience with facet joint injections.  Like this, and every other ailment I have,  I always learn much more than I care to know about my anatomy.  Everything went well and I am really hoping it will help.

I’ve told you all that to tell you the funny part:  my sweet nurse is a member of our church.  She was in charge of my sedation too.  She called today to see how things were:  “How are you feeling, Betty” she said.  “Oh Annette, the last thing I remember was me telling you something about my panties….and we also were talking about thongs”.  Dear God in heaven!  My mouth really gets loose with drugs! Annette reassured me that we were talking about my granddaughters’ laughing about my “granny panties”. (another story)  She said it made perfect sense and to be assured that she never repeated any of that stuff. Thank goodness Stan was with me after the procedure because for some reason, I decided it was time for me to leave and proceeded to unhook everything!  I have a huge purple thingy on my arm today.

Don’t know if this will be effective yet, maybe….another day in the life.

I was blind but now I see

Before I had cataract surgery, I could not see anything without my glasses.   I had  fears that a storm (tornado) would come during the night and I couldn’t find my glasses, so I slept with them on!  Just so you get the picture…
Any kind of eye makeup was very difficult.  It’s very hard to apply eye-liner with your glasses on.  But I tried. One morning I glanced in the mirror as I finished….hmmmm.  My eyebrows looked funny…strange…unusual.  I got very close  and discovered I had used a deep pink lip liner on my eyebrows!  Lord, have mercy!
(More of these little funny stories to come)

Do you take naps?

Until I retired I never took naps.  Never even thought about it.  Didn’t even know I could!  My solution to the “afternoon slump” was a cup of coffee.

All that has slowly changed…there is nothing better than an afternoon nap!  It took me several years to figure this out.  (I’m slow)  Now I’m not talking about a “power nap”.  I have a good friend who has always been able to lie down for 15 to 20 minutes and feel totally refreshed.  No siree, baby!  I’m talking at least an hour, maybe longer.  I started off nearly breaking my neck napping in my chair.  Then I got smart and actually turned back the covers.  A dark bedroom makes it easier to relax.

Ahh…..why have I not done this before?zzzzzzzzzzzzz

I needed one more…

I have enjoyed these trays on top of my kitchen cabinets for several years.  I’m standing on a step-stool (shhhh) and going from right to left.  I bought the wine decanter and glasses in Venice.  My name is monogrammed on the bottom.

 

I know these aren’t trays….just wanted you to get the full picture.  I had more space than trays!

Oops, that tray looks crooked!  Sorry!

Notice I have tucked in a few special bottles of the “fruit of the vine”.

 

Like I said, I needed one more tray…and this is what I found at the thrift store!  Woo hoo!

No telling what I have missed!

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