Coffee Talk 4.8.11

Good Morning! Hope everyone is doing well. I have a couple of lovely treats to entice you with. Both are from this website which I have spent WAY too much time on this week. I cannot tell you how much money I could spend at the grocery store trying all these recipes! Anyway, I can offer you some date squares that are A. MAZ. ING. I could eat my weight in them! The others are strawberry oat squares. Admittedly, not quite as amazing. I did a little tweaking with the recipe...I probably should have left it alone! Not horrible, though. I was looking for a recipe to replace processed cereal bars...this isn't it, at least not in this form!

Anyhoo, today's post will be brought to you in list form. Because I can!

1. Also from the above website, I had VOO for breakfast one day this week. Not bad. I stayed full for HOURS! I look forward to trying other variations...after I go to the grocery store. Which I am in DESPERATE need of doing.

2. I confess, I HATE exercising. There, I said it. I really want to like it. I really want to look forward to it. Instead, I have to force myself. Every. single. time. Aren't you supposed to start feeling so good you get excited about it? Isn't it supposed to become fun? I just don't like it. I don't.

3. It is that time of year again. Turkey season. The time of year I become a hunting widow. I don't really mind. Here are the first fruits of the season. Tigerfan and his daddy went Tuesday night and brought home these little babies! Now they (along with the boys) are itching for Saturday morning.
May I be honest? Can ANYTHING, other than hitting the road to go see my family, really be worth getting up at the horrific hours they get up at and the sitting by a tree without moving or talking? I just wonder...I don't get it!

4. Saturday, Dancer is having a big day! One of our local anchor stores in the mall is having kidfest and it includes a fashion show. We happened to be in the mall at just the right time a few weeks ago and they offer! She has been practicing her walk all week. Here she is on her birthday doing her model pose:

I must admit, her enthusiasm is contagious because I can hardly wait to take her and see her in action...and that is even knowing I have to take "The Hurricane" AKA Tigercub!

5. Speaking of Tigercub, his allergies are KILLING him. We will be making a little trip into town this morning to see the Dr. His little eyes are almost swollen shut and he is just miserable...and that is with daily Zyrtec, poor little guy!

6. We are ADORING pretty weather this week (although we can't actually go OUT in it because it sends poor Tigercub into sneezing fits), especially after my momma sent pictures Sunday of their snow...inches and inches of snow. In April. Thank heavens for Tennessee!

7. I could keep writing snippets forever, but my kids (and dog) need to eat and we have lots to do this morning. I look forward to visiting you this weekend! Hope everyone has a great one!

8. Oh, yeah, last one. I am a complete and total Home Sanctuary failure. I really WANT to do good. I held strong for TWO whole days this month. Yes, TWO. I have failed ever since. Someone help me!

9. Which reminds me...I saw an episode of Dr. Phil this week. (Not sure how that happened because I never watch that show...but it is what it is). Anyway, this girl was on and she wanted help because she was always yelling and screaming at her children. People, Dr. Phil reemed that poor girl over the coals. He was awful. I felt so sorry for her! I am not advocating screaming, and especially not cussing, at your children...but as a home schooling mom of four, I admit...I have done it. I have done it more than I care to admit. Were the things this momma did wrong? Of Course...but we are all sinners saved by grace. She was there for help. She knew the things she was doing were wrong and wanted tools to change it. What she got was a public lashing. She was told she was an abuser, she was told she was obese, she was just pulverized. I have not stopped thinking about her since. I wonder, has Dr. Phil ever been a stay at home parent? Has he ever gotten up at dark and worked until almost dawn with no appreciation, no help and little support? Has he spent hours cleaning a room only to walk back into it in ten minutes and find it utterly destroyed? Has he ever worked tirelessly on a healthy meal to have everyone at the table turn their noses up and ask for something else? What that poor girl needed was encouragement and tools to help her change. What she got was a message of more judgement, more condemnation, another message to join in with the voices in her head that she just wasn't good enough. I have prayed for her ever since. I hope that somehow, the voice of a loving and compassionate God can make its way to that girl's heart. I hope that somehow she receives the message that she is a beautiful girl, created in the image of God and she is loved. Her actions are sinful...so are mine. I am nothing but filthy rags...but Christ died for me WHILE I WAS STILL A SINNER! It is by HIS grace that I am clean, Praise HIM! Anyway, that is my little soap box...now I know why I don't watch Dr. Phil...maybe I should start a program called Dr. Star. Although, I am not actually a Dr. I'm working on a tagline...a program for the redeemed by the redeemed? Needs a little work...but then, so do I! :)

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to check out more Coffee Talk at Home Sanctuary!