Preva's Buffalo Chicken Ranch Dip

By Far my most read post, 578 views and shares in 2013 alone.
I know its not about me but the dip...I cant blame you its uber yummy!

So here it is...the link to Peva's Dip that changed the way I viewed parties...mainly because I have to make this dip for every party...TWO batches mind you.  One for home and the other for the party :)

http://giftfarms.blogspot.com/2012/12/prevas-buffalo-chicken-ranch-dip.html

Resolutions 2013 Style

I have made resolutions and not made resolutions and neither of these have worked. So its time for a change, I think if I set one goal per month it might be easier to obtain then just a big list of things at one time. I know your thinking well if you keep up with it like you do your blog its never going to work. Your possibly right!!  So lets see how it goes.

January
Lose 5lbs ( I have lost 31 so far!)
Finish Unglued
Start 40 Day study

February
Finish 40 Day Study
Loose an additional 5lbs (that would be 41 if I did)
Start looking at how to break into publishing

March
Join a Gym
Loose an additional 5lbs and tone up what's sagging!

April
Turn 31 with grace and style (no drama and tears this year)
Loose an additional 5lbs


May
Figure out May - Aug


2013 Has been kind and harsh to me, but I hope that 2014 is kinder to me and my family. I hope 2014 holds a closer relationship with God and that I can calm this restlessness in me.

Happy New Year

Carolyn

The cost of Hashimotos

I had to hit the pharmacy today...again. I swear I live there! I know I could get 3 month refills on all my meds but who can afford that since I am one of the million uninsured American's (ps. Obama care cost me more per year than I spend being a cash patient) so I get 30 refills.  I will tell you through for 35 a year I can join walgreens prescription plan and save big bucks, why Walgreen's well my local Wal-Mart does not want to stock my thyroid medication because of the short shelf life and they have no other demand for it...that's ok Walgreen's is way better in customer service and timely filling.

I know you look at my picture and think well if she lost the weight she could get off some of her medication.....wrong. Thyroid disease is for life, I will always be on some of the meds if not all. It isn't as simple as taking a pill and magically fixing the problem. Hasimotos has caused several issue

High Blood Pressue - This is not a every day kind of thing, when my levels are good I no longer require HBP medication.  I go off and on this...sometimes with in the same month.

Low Potassium - HBP medication reduces the absorption of Potassium in my body, so does my nose spray.

PCOS- So I have to take birth control pills just to be normal

Constant infections and colds- Mainly sinus and chest colds, so I take a RX nose spray daily and inhaler to cut down these flare ups...only 2 so far in the last 11 months (yay!)

Over all I take 8 pills a day

Thyroid medication, HBP, Potassium, Birth Control, Inhaler, Nose Spray, Multivitamin (extremely important!!), biotin (because Hashi makes you hair fall out)

That cost me appox 150.00 at month with the walgreens plan...with out appox 278.00

I don't know the purpose of this post...just blogging because I have cabin fever and cant wait for the ice to melt! LOL

House I grew up in

We all have wonderful sweet memories of Christmastime at our mothers house, or grandmothers and traditions that follow us into adult hood. My Gege does stockings in addtion to gifts, ever year she swears its the last...but us adult grown grandchildren always want it to continue. 

I dont decorate for Christmas, I know it sounds awful but you got to know about the house i grew up in. I have a phobia of anything resembling a Christmas decoration! The day after thanksgiving my mother would make us clean the house top to bottom and when we got older she sat while we cleaned, then she would make my father drag out box after box of decorations. We would spend our entire thanksgiving break decorating for Christmas.; as children this was fun but when we got older we grew to resent it. Why? I honestly don't know, but my mothers house would resemble a hallmark store on crack...NO LIE! Its every ware!! 

To each their own but for me and my brother instead of grow up and having a ton of Christmas decor in our own homes, we almost have none. We will even ignore our mothers call to help her decorate, I know we will miss it some day and shame on us but its the honest truth and she knows it. 

I guess maybe we need some counseling to unlock this mystery of why we have phobias about Christmas but we do our own decorating and have our own traditions with our family's and we don't get stressed out about having a clean house before putting up decorations and then the dreaded task of taking them down. My husband isn't one for clutter so us not having a ton of nick nacks around in December makes him happy, we still hit all the Christmas parades, plays and parks. Drink hot coco, read the Christmas story and we have the Elf on the Shelf too. We still believe in the spirit and meaning behind Christmas...we just don't have the clutter. 

We also don't put a lot of emphasis on Santa either, sure he comes and occasionally we visit him at the mall (not ever year), same with writing to Santa.  We personally just don't believe in anything that takes away from the reason for the season. Only reason we do Santa and Elf is because we were pressured by my mother too...when i say pressured she threw a fit and wouldn't stop until we gave in. I know I know stand your ground! I also have to pick my battles too, we choose to do Santa but do him in our way. 

This year we visited Santa, wrote him a letter but I don't think the word Santa has been spoken in my house for over two weeks. We do a birthday cake for Jesus and give to Kids in need, I want my child to know the reason for the season not what was created to take the spot light off Jesus birth.

Ok off my soap box and back to getting ready for the day. 

I don't mean to offend anyone, if your house looks like the hallmark store no judgement! To each his own and we are all different with different traditions..I still love you! If Santa is a huge thing for you, no judgement I still love you!

I HATE you Thyroid! You Suck!

I hate you thryoid, you suck...you suck the life right out of me.
 I have Hashimotos caused by Hypothroidism; laymans terms...my thyroid is lazy and dont work. You never realize how important the thyroid is until it dont want to work anymore, it literaly controls every function of your body by producing a hormone that fuction needs to work.

For the lucky ones they simply take a pill every month with one yearly blood test, others (non lucky ones) we have monthly blood test along with monthly doctors vists and a laundry list of symptoms. Our hair falls out, eye lashes and eye brows disappear, we can never get enough sleep, either hot or cold ALL THE TIME, we cannot remember crap that we need , joints ache, constant under eye bags, puffy skin...not to mention weight gain. If that wasnt enough we have low sex drives, boughts of depression and Hashi patients have brittle nails, dry skin, and constantly being sick.

I slept 8hrs and woke up to feeling more tired than i did before I laid down, the hubs said I slept like a log. My joints acked and to top it all off I am loosing more eye lashes by the minute!! AUGH!!!

I have read everything out there too read, started a thyroid diet, order the test the doctor wants and some he thinks I dont need but I insisted on..and my conclusion? I am just going to have to live with it! I want to cry!!

So if you see me some day bald, bent over like an old person and cant remember who you are..dont forget this post. Laugh now but I can happen!!

Battles we face & Bridges we Cross

We are given the option of free will, we often make mistakes the good Lord don't want us to, but we are able to.  That's when we look up to God and find our way home...we are also give certain battles to face and bridges to cross in God's plan for our life...and I wonder why? Is this a punishment for a past wrong...or am I reaping what I sewed? Will this make me strong and turn to you more or will this benefit someone else and not me? Did this happen because of my choices or a plan you have for me?  They are all different variations of....... WHY?!?!

Why do I have a step daughter who hates me and wishes I wasn't around? Why don't my kids see all that I do for them? Why do I have a 50 shades of cray-cray baby momma who thinks if I wasn't around she and my husband could be married and happy (though she seems to forget he didn't date her seriously the first 3 times before I came into the picture)?

I will never know the answers to these questions...but I do know that I am not alone. I have God who stands behind, besides and in front of me, I only need to lay down my armor and let Him fight my battles.

Leading the way by Rodlyn Danos

Lead the Way

 

How shall I lead my child?

In the way that he should go, Said Soloman

Do I know the way?

What Shall I teach my child?

Oh the True God, said Moses.

Do I know the truth?

I want my child to have life

He who has the Son has life, said John

Do I have life?

I cannot lead my child

Unless I know the way...

I cannot speak of Truth

Unless I know it....

I cannot tell my child of life

Unless I have it....

Jesus is the way

The Truth

The Life

It is in knowing Him.... that I find the way to lead my child.

 

 

S.O.A.P. James 5

Rereading my SOAP on James 4 ...I realized my SOAP sounds rushed...I didn't mean for it to be and honestly I think I did rush it...why I cant say except I think I was more preoccupied with getting it done and on to something else. I know...its awful and I hope you can forgive me.

I don't know who reads my blog...I see I get about 8 reads a day...who that is I don't know. But thank you...its just my humble blog where I talk about day to day, recipes and my bible study.

If you want...comment!

S.O.A.P.

Scripture

¹² Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

Observation

LOL Ok I am not laughing at God or the Bible but at swearing part. I just said I need to work on this. I have a potty mouth....it runs away from me and I tell innappoarte jokes to people. I am an outcast at church. I try hard I do and I hate to say that swearing has become second nature to me. But I don't think the above verse just applies to curse words but to "Swearing on my mom" kind of stuff. Yes should be Yes's and no's should be no's...we should be a person of character so our word should be taken as is...with out having to swear upon anything for us to be believed.



Application

They say it takes 2 weeks to break a habit...well...here goes my two weeks...of not swearing (curse words) & swear (on people like verse says). I need to stop...I know it because I can see it in peoples faces and I know how taken back I am when I hear people use it in day to day conversation. So no more curse words or swearing on people. We need to stop it anyway...how can we show God in us...when we drop the F or S bomb in general conversation.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Here I sit the night before the first day of school and I have so many hopes for this year with a new school and beginning. So on this night of new beginnings ....help me work on my mouth. Not by any tragic accident or happening...but by will and your grace and help. I don't like my self using them, and I try to not but I hate to say they became second nature. Help me not be so second nature and let the words come out of my mouth on a daily basis be those I wont be afraid to speak in church.

Amen,

S.O.A.P. James 4

I know even longer absence between the last post, had some internet issues but basically I didn't do it...or I forgot.

S.O.A.P.

Scripture

James 4:1-3
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4:11-12
¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor

Observation

1) How many of us do this? Are angry and yelling at someone because something didn't go our way...and it wasn't the other persons fault? How many of us get upset when plans get changed or you don't get what you want? We all do

2) Slander...in other words....Gossip. Women are quick to do this...while I personally know some men are just as bad...this seems to be a women's sport. I often wonder if it because at one time it was all we had to cut down things because we didn't have the physical strength or our voice didn't matter.

Application

1) Ask and you shall receive...your heart needs to be in the right place when you ask. Also because you don't get something or plans don't go your way...know that there is a plan for it and turn to God to ask Him his plan for your life.

2) Such a small muscle, not even a bone but the tongue is the most deadly weapon we can use. We must hold our tongue and only speak the good of others.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

I struggle with all of the above...I ask for help in all areas.

Amen

S.O.A.P James 3

I know I took at hiatus from blogging and ironically from reading the bible.  I know no excuses but I did have my wisdom teeth out and I think I might have been wanting to escape this chapter because its about the tongue.  My worst enemy.

I should be slow to anger and speak softly but carry a big stick, I instead have a hair trigger temper and use my mouth as my weapon. I hope writing this one here will not come back to bite me one day. I am working on my mouth, I do have a conscious, every time is say something hurtful I do feel instantly bad...so there is hope for me.

I want to be better in this area and am starting today. :)

S.O.A.P.

Scripture
(btw I hadn't planned on doing 3 verses each week...just cant help it...so many good scriptures)

1)

James 3:5-6

New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.


2)

James 3:9

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness

 

 

3)

James 3:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

Observation

1) This is something we have all personally seen, done or been affected by...the tongue so small but mighty enough to destroy relationship's, friendships, jobs, businesses and government.

2) two forked tongue... hypocrite..even the bible talks about it.

3) Praising God and doing his work but slamming others cannot exist in the same mouth or heart. We cannot serve two horses with one butt,

Application

1) We must hold our tongues and only use it to do good not evil, to lift someone up not tear them down.
2) We acknowledge thee with our lips but turn and slander someone else...its what an unbelieving world...simply finds unbelievable. We have acknowledge thee with our lips but in this day and age we must show more with our actions and treatment of others.
3) This not only includes words but IM's, PM's, text, emails and looks

Prayer

Dear Lord,

I come to you tonight with a heavy heart for I am guilty of all of the above. I need help being the sweet person I want to be, kind and loving and always willing to lead a kind word. I need to keep my mouth shut more often in case where it can hurt not help. I thank you for all you have done. I pray for help in a phone call I have to make an eat crow...ironically this study came on this day...planned that didn't ya? I pray for the readers who read this, I know you are few but I pray for you and Chai on her mission. Be with Ann, and Kim, Lisa, Robin as they start to head back to school and teach young minds and shape them to be better persons. They are all God fearing and God Loving women Lord...while some of them cannot teach about You at school I pray that you will continue to show your self via there works...as I know you always do. Be with the kids who are going back to school, let bulling be at an all time low and drugs be harder to find, self harm not be an option and to let the kids know you love them...be with the parents who in trust  You to keep there babies safe in a building that has proven to be unsafe for many. Be with those parents who no longer have children returning to school this fall because someone hurt them at school. Be with the fresh graduates of HS and College who are starting there lives help them be all that you meant for them to be...help them see the potential inside them self's, I love you Lord...Forgive me for all my sins.  ALMLTSTLOAD.

Amen