Winter Wonderland....

Some blogs ago, I complained that every time a snow fall is predicted for my area, we never get it. Well last night, we did get it! It started snowing last night around 8pm. I knew it did because my security light on the back of the house kept flicking on and off as snowflakes triggered the sensor. It snowed through the night and this morning we have about 4-5 inches. Sleet is falling now, so the icy crust on to top of the snow is forming. The roads will be very dangerous over the next couple of days. Everything around is closed. I had 2 catering events this weekend that got cancelled. Church is cancelled and we will not be able to get out to see the Canes play tonight. So we are 'cabin-bound' for the rest of the weekend. I am ok with that.

....the moon last night...

...eating alone...

....puffing up....

pictures courtesy of my neighbors
who posted on wunderground.com

Framing George.....

Six months ago I started up my bakery here in NC. The re-building of my business after moving here from California has moved along pretty fast. The holidays worked in my favor, as lots of folks were going to parties and giving gifts, so lots of bread, cookie, dessert platter orders poured in in December. But from the get go, it's been all word-of-mouth and the words have been great! One of those dessert platters I hand delivered (I don't normally do delivery) to the owner of a local coffee shop. The platter was ordered by a customer who wanted to say thanks to their favorite coffee shop and its' baristas. I knew this was an introduction I couldn't pass up. I'm glad I didn't...that dessert platter ended up being a great investment into my future.

Last week I made my first delivery of scones and biscotti to this same coffee shop and they are now selling my baked goods! To eventually supply my baked goods to eateries or coffee shops nationwide is the eventual goal. This is the start. This is an independent coffee bar, not a chain, so the owner started cautiously--only 1 dozen to start with. After the first day of having my scones in the store, she ordered another dozen and said the clients went crazy for them. Yay! Today, one week later, she is now ordering 2 dozen scones and a dozen of my gourmet pretzels twice a week. We're getting there!

So last week I deposited my first check as a wholesale bakery.....for $31.00! It may not sound like a lot, but it represents a lot to me. I know that that day will come when I will reminisce about my baking empire and will say "Hey, it all started by supplying a couple dozen scones to that little coffee bar in NC....and I still deliver to them to this day." Yep, I see it!

Oh yeah....I only deposited $30 and got 1 dollar back in cash. Can't launch your business without that symbolic framed 1 dollar bill. George may not be smiling much, but I sure am!

Hope for Haiti...

The earthquake in Haiti happened this past Tuesday and since then I have just been mesmerized by the pictures and stories that are coming out of that wreckage. The pictures of a city flattened, thousands missing, bodies in the street. The first amazing story I read was of the lady found in what was left of a grocery store. She spent 50 hours in the dark buried up to her neck in rubble. I imagine if that were me and wonder what I would be thinking during those 50 hours. I know I would be having some seriously long conversations with God. What else are you gonna do? And what about those promises that I'm sure she made to God, while begging for her life. "God if you save me from this, I will......." We've all done that, right? No food, no water, no light, not knowing if you would ever see the sun again, or your family and if that was the way you were going to die. The things that must go through your mind in that type of extreme crisis situation. Then I wonder, how will her life will be different after her rescue? Will she ever be able to go inside another building or ever be able to go grocery shopping or buy that particular item she was reaching for when the shaking started? Will she even stay in Haiti? Does she even have the means to leave if she wanted......

My church does lots of mission work in Haiti and had purchased a few buildings there to turn one into a hospital and one into a school. The hospital was going to reside in an old abandoned Catholic Church that is now a pile of rubble and the school? Don't know....but as our pastor said Saturday Night, it doesn't matter. Buildings can be rebuilt and replaced, lives cannot. So the mission work through our church has just become ten times as important and basically starts over.

I know I spent a lot of time this week thanking God for my safety and the safety of my family. I wish and pray for lots more rescues and fewer recoveries and that we all remember just how blessed we truly are.

The Big Tease.....

If you are one of those sections of the country that has been buried under snow and ice the past 4-6 weeks, you are not going to like this entry today. I want some snow! Several times in the past few weeks, my TV meteorologist has teased me with the statement "snow is coming" and every time, it has passed us by. The system migrates to the west or skips over us and goes north. I want some snow! I will say I have been enjoying the pictures that my friends around the world have shared of their snow fall. Thanks for them.....I'm living through you!

snow in NY...

snow in Boise, Idaho....

snow at Martha Stewarts' place...
(check out her great pics on her blog!)

even Albequerque, New Mexico got covered....

Soft as the fall of a beautiful thought,
Or a leaf on the stream,
White as the robe by purity wrought,
Bright as the flow of a dream.
Calm as a sleeping infant's breath,
Cold as the brow just touched by death,
Falleth in many a graceful wreath
Gently, the beautiful snow....

~Mary T. Lathrap~

Stripping My Gears....

"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears." ~Barbara Johnson
This is a great quote that I stumbled upon while trolling the internet today. Patience is one of my worst, worst, worst (did I say worst?) qualities. I don't 'wait' well. And by not being patient and waiting for the right thing to happen, I mash the gas pedal and usually find myself in the weeds. I think I've made some improvements in the past year or two, but I still need A LOT of work in this area. I do believe God is working specifically on it with me right now.....and, once again, I'm failing. = (

The contract for my full-time job comes up in 2 1/2 months and I have no idea if I will be re-signed. Normally there would be no question and no worry. It's the perfect gig--with great co-workers, great bosses and a great company--and the love is mutual and has been the past 6 years. We are a great fit.

Then, the economy bottomed out. Layoffs in my industry have been rampant and brutal over the past year and in the past couple of months have hit my city hard. Yesterday, the first firing was done in my building. With budget cut firings they are random and sometimes in big chunks. No matter your expertise or qualifications or pay. They just happen.

Now, I KNOW...that what happens, happens. And I KNOW...that God will provide no matter what does happens. And I KNOW...that I can find a job somewhere else--maybe. And I KNOW....that my worrying about all this stuff is not going to change what does happen. But, if I KNOW all these things, why do I still have these moments when I feel like I'm going to completely blow up my transmission? I start in 1st gear "pft...they won't fire me" move into 2nd: "but what if they do?", then 3rd: "ok--if they do, I get to do something new!" and we rev up to 4th: "but you love this gig" and I'm truly flying by the time I get into 5th: "I don't wanna be fired!". Then calm settles in for a little bit and we can get the gear shift back in to 1st for a little while.

I've prayed, I've read, I've talked to friends, I've Facebooked in hopes of finding that little snippet, or quote, or passage that will calm my nerves. And they do! For about 5 minutes, then the mental car is flyin' down the racing strip again! This is where my faith is weakest and that frustrates me too 'cause I should be better at this. The first two 'knowing' statements I made above are all I need to keep repeating to myself-- I KNOW that what happens, happens and God will provide no matter what. This has to be my new mantra. It will have to be the sentence I repeat to myself over and over, otherwise I'm going to go crazy over these next couple of months. Here's to keepin' it between the lines.....and in a low gear.
(that gorgeous car up there is the Ford GT. Yum!)

Soups On!

Happy New Year, btw! We went to see the Carolina Hurricanes lose to the NY Rangers last night then scooted over to a friends house for the final hour of 2009. We got home around 12:30 this morning and everyone crashed--except me. I was wide awake, so I trolled the internet for a little while and then found the hour-long finale' of Sex and the City on TBS and watched it. Not getting to sleep til 2:30 could explain why I didn't wake til 11:30 this morning. But I have nothing going on today, so it felt good.

New Years Day for me always means soup. Maybe it's the cold, overcast day that January 1st usually is here. I think wanting to eat something light after a couple of weeks of eating really bad-for-me foods from Christmas through New Years has something to do with it too! It's my way of 'lightening' up before launching into my yearly New Years' resolution of eating clean. My holiday eating--ok, since Halloween if I am being honest--has packed on an extra 20 lbs that need to come off this time around too! After having lost 140 lbs a couple of years ago though, 20 will be a piece of cake....so to speak.

So on the stove right now are smoked ham hocks steeping in chicken broth awaiting the addition of a bucket load of veggies and some black beans that are soaking too. Black Bean Soup is what it will eventually be. I had hoped for Split Pea until I realized I had no Split Peas in my pantry. I'm borrowing some spice ideas from Emeril Lagasse from his recipe that adds an interesting tropical feel to it. This time around, I'll add a little cumin, jalapenos, cinnamon and ginger for a little different kick--Emeril style! I keep mine a little more brothy than creamy to keep it lighter and not as heavy feeling. After sitting on the stove all afternoon to meld, it's dig in time. Yummmmm.

"Leave It As It Is..."

That full quote reads: "Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only marr it." ~President Theodore Roosevelt~

During my time off, I have been catching up on some tv that has been burning a hole in my dvr. I finally hit 'play' on the 6 part PBS series by Ken Burns called, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. I have only one episode left to watch, but I must say now that it is an absolutely amazing series. I have always been impressed with Ken Burns documentaries mainly for his attention to detail. Burns does beautiful, beautiful work. The photography in National Parks, both still and moving, is stunning. I constantly hit the pause button just to take in the scenery for a few extra moments. The stories, writings and antidotes born out of the National Parks by those who visited them in the late 1800's and early 1900's are so engaging and re-told by voices you'd recognize: Tom Hanks, George Takai, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow, Eli Wallach and many others. They share these moments beautifully without upstaging the series. The spotlight is left right where it belongs--on the story and the scenery. The whole series is narrated by Peter Coyote, who is brilliant in the role as 'tour guide through history'. As someone who has done professional voice over work for many years, I bow to his seemingly effortless vocal mastery in this piece.

"God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild." ~John Muir (1869)~

I was lucky that both of my parents held a big love for our National Parks and took my brothers and I to many of them when we were kids. We would camp and hike and fish and sit around the campfire late at night. I have scattered memories of these trips as I was a pre-teen for most of the trips. The memories I do have though, are vivid. I remember Mesa Verde National Park like I visited there yesterday. That Park, those ruins, that mysterious band of Indians who just up and disappeared one day....intrigued me so. I remember Yellowstone and watching Old Faithful burst skyward. I also remember some of the stinkiest sulfur blurps of mud bubbling there too. I remember the Grand Tetons and standing at a split-rail fence that bordered the valley that ran up to the base of those peaks. Imagine how silent we were, staring in awe....


Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever.

~John Muir~

The National Parks: America's Best Idea is quite the history lesson, but unlike any history class I ever sat through. I've learned so much by watching this series. Not only the struggles our own nation went through to preserve these gorgeous areas, but those who helped spearhead the whole system. The one person who takes center stage for the first two episodes is John Muir. I have read more John Muir works and writings in the past week than I ever did in school. Pity, really, as Mr. Muir was a top-notch wordsmith. With a string of words, Muir could paint, not just a picture, but an entire panoramic landscape in high-def! Some of his writings, that I'm reading for the first time, have literally brought me to tears. Few contemporary writers do that for me.

If you haven't already, download, rent or buy The National Parks: America's Best Idea and watch it. And if you've already seen it--watch it again. And watch it with your kids. Maybe it'll inspire them to go see these wonders in person one day. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to take them!

"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail."
~from the book Our National Parks
by John Muir (1901)~

(thank-you Mr. Muir)