Blog Fodder Discoveries

from Sister on FaceBook

Do any of my blogging friends refer to their writing ideas as "blog fodder"?  I've been using that phrase for years, as those closest to me are well aware. (and sometimes they have been labeled as such!) Herewith are my most recent inspirations. I'll start with books.

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My mother passed away this past October at the age of 99 years. Sister has been finishing up with the disposal of those things left behind. We both have been purging from Mama's house for years as she moved from her house to assisted living and finally to the nursing home, so the vast majority of everything has long since been gone. This book pictured above is one of the things still on hand. 

Our dad had some very old copies of Dale Carnegie books. If you knew my dad, you knew he successfully applied Mr. Carnegie's lessons on how to relate well to people and business problems. I now have those books, and this one by Don Gabor. His writing is like an updated version of the concepts by Mr. Carnegie. The first chapters talk about first impressions, how to make good ones and why bad ones fail. It seems to make common sense, but when relationships go sour, that "common sense" proves to have been in short supply.

purchase information

Recently we were in another city where my husband needed to occupy himself while I met with some people. He found lunch at Chik-fil-a and then poked around Barnes and Noble. 

Finding this book written by "The Fonz" of the 1970s-era "Happy Days" sit com, he made the purchase, read it, and now I have completed reading it, too. To make a quick summary of the book, Henry Winkler was type cast after his 6 years with Happy Days ended. Thereafter he battled with his insecurities and rejections as an actor. It was interesting; you can see more about this book if you scroll to the top of my blog and click on "Book Reports."

purchase information

I know I am not alone in saying I tend to read more than one book at a time. My current read tends to be whatever book is beside whatever chair I have landed upon. This one, Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer, is a favorite with me, and I'm not done with it yet. Of all the many books she has written, this one has been the most popular. I would enjoy taking an entire day to do nothing but read its pages from cover to cover, but the information is so applicable that I dare not go through it quickly. For those of us who have a bent in the direction of melancholy, this book explains how to do battle with that tendency and be successful.

link to the movie trailer

Gary records a lot of what we watch on TV. One afternoon when he was viewing the options, this movie popped up. He had not seen it, but I had and recommended it, so we watched it that very day. Based on truth (with some things changed), it's an endearing story for family viewing. (You may want to have the tissue box close at hand....)

We're retired, so it's really nice that we can sometimes ignore our To Do List to watch an unplanned movie.

Mari's WonTon Taco Cups

Those of you who read Mari's My Little Corner of the World blog may have seen her recipe in late March for WonTon Taco Cups. I made my adapted version of her recipe (due to what was on hand and the dietary preferences of my roomie 🙄🤭). This is one of those recipes you can prepare with a myriad of things, as long as you have the basic WonTon wrappers in your 'fridge. (find them at your grocery store somewhere in fresh produce, refrigerated) You can also make as many or as few as you want -- it's a delightfully flexible concept. 

Case in point: before sliding these cups into the oven to bake, the last instruction was to sprinkle shredded cheese on top. I wanted to save some of my cheese for other uses, but I had pre-cut Cheddar cheese squares on hand, so I put one square atop each filled wonton cup. These squares are sliced a little thick, but if you love cheese, this is the product to use.

By the way, Mari posts the most wonderful recipes every week, as well as cute cartoons, pensive photography, and really clever crafts to do with visiting grandchildren. Go see it all by clicking on this link: My Little Corner of the World.

While I'm on the subject of food (and this will not appeal to everyone), one evening this week I had a sardine sandwich. My mother used to encourage me to eat canned sardines for their health benefits. 

Once you get the square can open (no easy feat for my arthritic hands), they look kinda icky (as a lot of fish does), but I bought the boneless and skinless variety. They are salty and do not need to be heated up or cooked. 

I laid the 4 fishies on a slice of bread that had a thin layer of Dijon mustard. That was topped with a large leaf of Romaine lettuce and another slice of bread and thoroughly enjoyed. I offered to share with Gary, but it did not appeal to him, so I got to eat all of it myself. Find sardines on the grocery shelves near the tuna.

Morphing from food to shopping and gifts .... I baked my tried and true recipe for chocolate chip cookies, taking the advice of my good friend, Betty Crocker, to add an extra half cup of flour to the dough. That makes the end product a little taller and softer. 

As for shopping, first a little history: in 2018 when my first husband and I were building a house in this town, Ona came across my blog. Not a blog author herself, but one who enjoys reading blogs, she followed my adventures from Jacksonville to our current location, realizing that I was moving to an area she and her husband were considering for themselves some day in the future. 

Of course, not only did she watch our house under construction and the moving in (via my blog), but also the arrival of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the most unexpected passing of my husband. Then a year or so later came the Hallmark movie-type of romance when I met Gary, our commitments to each other and the blending of our lives -- all in that same community that had originally interested Ona in the first place!

End of the history lesson and moving to present-day: just this week Ona and hubby moved into our community, so we are neighbors! Well, it's a huge community, so they're a mile or two from us. 

We have stayed in touch all this time and today Gary and I got to see their new house. In my shopping this week I searched for something "Florida" to give to them as a house-warming gift: the star-shaped picture frame was perfect and she loved it. We also included some of those chocolate chip cookies since they are still in the unpacking process of their move. (by the way, I found the frame at Home Goods.)

Shopping... I'm sure many of you are unhappy with the closure of JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. I gave up sewing, quilting, cross stitch and crafts when my life got turned upside down 4+ years ago. I'm a different person now in so many ways, but I do pull out one of my sewing machines when mending is required. 

me in 2014 surrounded by my quilts 
and making more in my
unfinished basement sewing room

Now my hobbies are bike riding, reading, a little cooking (since Gary is King of the Kitchen), and Sudoku.

my local Jo Ann's emptying shelves

I have probably been inside a Jo Ann's store barely a handful of times in recent years, but as a tribute and a way to put closure on that part of my own personal history, I walked through the store this past week. Some aisles were absolutely empty of everything while others still had merchandise for sale, greatly reduced. I did buy one thing, a white crochet doily for our coffee table. 

I walked nearly every aisle but then realized I was wandering close to grief over things best left alone, so I paid for my purchase and left. 

BRIGHT yellow jacket

I made an on-line purchase of late: a very bright yellow hoodie to wear on the cooler mornings on our bicycles. I've been wearing an orangey hoodie for well over a year, but I've read research that says yellow-green chartreuse is more easily seen. I've not been able to find that exact color at a reasonable price, so I opted for this one and I just love it. 

Our recent after-breakfast outdoor temps have been in the mid-50s, so this jacket has felt very good. My color scheme for bicycle wear has evolved into black pants/capris/shorts and yellow tops (T-shirts, tank tops, and hoodie) with black athletic shoes or Keens sandals if the weather is hot. It's very important to dress so others can see us easily on our bikes.  My helmet (a gift from Gary) is purple, to compliment my purple bike.

my lawn boy

While I'm on the subject of outdoorsy things, Gary cut our grass this past week for the first time in over a year. Not a lazy bone in his body, it's taken this long to thoroughly heal from health matters this past year. He really enjoys outdoor work and it's good to see him out there once again.

me and grandchild number 10;
granddaughter number 5

This has been a long post of "blog fodder discoveries." With Easter just a week away, I'll move toward conclusion with this snapshot taken in 2019 when granddaughter was a lot shorter and wearing her bunny ears and I had a little less gray hair. Of course Easter, the real significance of the day, has absolutely nothing to do with rabbits and chocolate eggs but we do include the fun with the serious. 

In recent years as I've had a lot of time and reasons to ponder some weighty topics, I have found very good examples in a personal study of how Jesus handled that last week before His crucifixion. People lauded Him with great enthusiasm one day but very shortly after that, He experienced scorn, cruelty, injustice, rejection, and profound loneliness, all combined with tremendous physical pain.

While we are spared all of that, we do experience some of it in various forms at different times in our lives. We do well to study the responses of Jesus. One thing He said that continually shows up in the forefront of my mind is this:

Father, 

forgive them

for they know not what they do.

Luke 23:34

Until next time, grace and peace.

The eternal God is your refuge, 

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:27

P.S. I have promoted books and other products in this post but have not been paid for any of that. I just share things that have benefitted me that could be useful to my readers.