Winter Boredom Busters

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pic needs a little explaining. During my periodontist visit yesterday morning, I was told I wasn't going to be dismissed for two more weeks. TWO MORE WEEKS before I can go to Stage Three. The little tool shown above looks very "dental" until you add the necessary element... a broken toothpick. That's right. A broken toothpick. And get this... They want you to put the broken toothpick in your mouth and move it back and forth around the crown and surgical area. And you hope your husband or your 16 year-old son do not decide to sneak up behind you and say, Boo!" because it would all be over then! It's very high-tech, isn't it? Two more weeks.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - PANIC ATTACKS - It's "doctor week" around here... for me. Today I go in for bi-yearly stress test because I have a tiny tear in one of my valves I've probably had since birth. You may think this would cause me great stress and worry, but to the contrary. When you suffer from panic attacks which copy heart attack symptoms, you actually look forward to stress tests. I know. It's nuts, but so are panic attacks.

Even though I've decided to write a little about these attacks today in my quest to de-mystify all things labeled "mental illness" or "mental disorder," panic attacks are different. The more you think, talk or write about these attacks, the worse they become. It opens a door most people would like to keep closed.

"Why open the door if it is going to make everything worse?" you ask. Good question. My particular door was open anyway because of the test, so it was a good time to talk about the attacks which have been very prevalent the last two or so weeks.

Again, I want to mention this particular illness in case someone else may be having these attacks, and may be embarrassed or ashamed. And I want people to know there isn't anything to be ashamed of because it isn't anything your body or mind can control. As I've said before about Josh's OCD, it's a chronic illness like any other (asthma, diabetes, etc.) which needs treatment and sometimes medication. I doubt people who have never experienced a panic attack (which can have many different symptoms) can truly understand, but they most certainly can be compassionate, listen if you need to talk, read information about the attacks, etc. Not talking about it and/or pretending it's not a big deal is not helpful AT ALL.

In my particular case, attending my kids' sporting events has an added bonus. There will always be a defibrillator, medical personnel and an ambulance located at the end of the football field. It's the next best thing to being in an Emergency Room.

Also, over a year ago when my grandmother had knee surgery, I was more than willing to take a night shift to sit with her. She had a rough night, and apologized the next morning. It was an unnecessary apology. Having nurses come in every half hour or so to check on her (us), doctors down the hall, monitors in the very room I was staying in... I was very content.

Unlike what many people may think, panic attacks do not always occur in high stress situations. In most cases, they begin during your most relaxed time of the day. It totally catches you off guard. They also occur in locations where you may be your most comfortable such as church, Wal-Mart, home, etc. There is not a lot of rhyme or reason when it comes to panic attacks.

I know I've mentioned it in an earlier post, but I think about it quite often. Several years ago, I overheard a woman who was experiencing extreme grief and depression ask another woman, "Is it okay for a Christian to be depressed?" I'll never forget the woman's answer.

"It's okay to be depressed. It is not okay to STAY depressed. You need to keep praying." Her answer was not unkind. It was just very uninformed.

This woman would not have answered the question in the same way if it had been about diabetes. "It's okay to have diabetes. It's just not okay to have diabetes over a long period of time. You need to keep praying."

I agree we need to pray for healing. I do. But if God decides to answer the request with a "no" or "not now," it is my responsibility to prayerfully seek good doctors, prayerfully consider medications and prayerfully take care of my illness and body.

I am much better than I was December 16, 2006 when I had my first attack. I am much better than I was the year 2007 when I had four tests, each one more extensive than the last, and four Emergency Room visits. But it isn't over yet.

My attacks are accompanied with chest pains, racing heart, sweat, nausea, numbness, extreme weakness and a higher blood pressure reading. If you have panic attacks, your symptoms may be totally different. It is a very personalized illness.

And my panic attacks were triggered by Josh's illness. I suffered my first attack almost a year to the day of his total breakdown with OCD. That also made no sense to me. We had learned so much. We were getting the help he needed. He was starting to show some small improvements. In other words, we were moving forward. According to my doctors, this is not uncommon. Moms do what they have to do when they have a sick child as long as they have to do it. When things started settling into a routine, my panic attacks began.

The ONLY reason I share this with anyone reading today is to try to diminish the stigma. Believe it or not, I used to be a pretty private person. But it's time to talk. It's time to admit we do not have perfect lives, perfect families or perfect bodies.

But we are supposed to encourage each other, pray for each other, lift each other up, and NOT avoid the ugly or uncomfortable or sad situations other people face every day. Because believe it or not, if you live long enough, you will find yourself in an ugly or uncomfortable or sad situation... and you will want someone to reach out to you.

"You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry." Psalm 10:17. On the sidebar of my Bible next to this verse, it says the following:

"Jesus paints a vivid portrait of how much the poor, needy, afflicted and oppressed are valued by a compassionate God... and how his children are to represent Him on earth in the way they support and defend victimized and lonely people. Unfortunately, we do not always come through for those in need. Our Father has a very tender heart toward those who suffer and cry out to Him." In striving to be more Christ-like, shouldn't we do the same?

Be the person who reaches out to someone in need today. Yes, it takes time. Yes, there is a good chance it will be unpleasant. Yes, it may make you sad for a time. Sorry. We were never promised a perfect, painless life.

Let's make that call or visit TODAY!

Wednesday Wisdom - I have two today. Both of them refer to winter, but one is serious and sweet and the other a little humorous.

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." Edith Sitwell.

"Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat." Author Unknown.

Winter Boredom Busters

I looked around for some new winter ideas for moms with small kids, and I found a couple of good websites from moms in the know. These ideas are from a website called www.bostonmamas.com.

Play Flour. Sprinkle flour onto a cookie sheet (or use a rimmed baking sheet or large plastic tray to cut down on mess) and let your kids draw or race match box cars in it. When the kids are done, sweep up the flour and put it in a sealable container labeled “Play Flour.” Reuse as necessary. The possibilities are endless and different textured materials (such as cornmeal, oats, etc.) will offer fun fodder for sensory exploration. (I love the term "fun fodder," don't you?)

Wash the Dishes. If you don’t own a dishwasher, your kids may not find this as exciting as mine do. Fill the sink with water and bubbles, give them a washcloth and some plastic stuff to wash, and let them go to town. Give your kids straws to make bubbles with water and dish soap. Remind them not to drink from the sink! (Austin used to wash Josh's bottles for me huge amounts of time. He loved it. When he tired of dishes, we would let the soapy water out, refill the sinks with clean, warm water and a little blue food coloring to make lakes and oceans. He would play with his animals and dinosaurs until his hands were pruny!)

Simulate Summer. Have your kids hop in the bath and break out the summer pool toys. Let them wear a bathing suit to simulate summer (or you could multi-task and give them a bath while they play with beach toys).

Make Indoor Snow People. Buy marshmallows, cake decorating gel tubes, and other little candies. Have your kids use toothpicks to assemble snow people, then decorate using the gel. You can also use the gel to stick on sprinkles or other nonpareils. Toothpicks make good arms and rope licorice makes a great scarf. Display for the day, and eat for dessert later. Or, don’t tell your kids they’re for eating at all, and display until stale.

Make Pomanders. Take Mandarin or Clementine oranges that are getting slightly hard, and stud with whole cloves. Use a toothpick or fork to make starter holes, otherwise the cloves will be hard for little fingers to push. Make patterns, or just randomly insert cloves all over the orange. Display a whole bowl as a centerpiece or place a few here and there to fill your house with a lovely scent.

Of course, I had to go to a Disney website for just one idea.

Make It a Family Night. Turn family night into a movie-themed event night! Depending on the theme you pick (Animal Night, Diva Night, Magic Night, Pirate Night, Princess Night, Super-Hero Night), choose a movie and dinner and/or snacks which go with the theme.

Animal Night - Planet Earth OR Fox and the Hound. Add animal crackers to munch on with popcorn.

Pirate Night - Pirates of the Caribbean OR VeggieTales - Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. For dinner, add jerky to the menu.

The ideas are limitless... and fun!

I'll have another blog listed tomorrow under Blog Linkage with even more Boredom Busters, so check back for easy, fun ideas.

Have a fun Wednesday. I'm pretty sure my Wednesday will improve as the day progresses. (How's that for a "glass half-full" attitude?) Tomorrow I will have two or three things for you to read under Blog Linkage, and I'll tell you about a fun date Mikie and I had Sunday afternoon (in GREAT length and detail). I bet you can't wait, can you?

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

Deviled Eggs and Buttermilk Pie

Good Tuesday morning!

Today's Gallery Pic is just a little Buttermilk Pie. Growing up I had never heard of Buttermilk Pie. When we started attending First Baptist Gardendale, our pastor at the time, Brother Steve, mentioned the pie... fairly often. I must admit it didn't sound very good to me. Then the ladies of our church made a little cookbook, and there in all it's EASY glory was the recipe for a Buttermilk Pie (shared by Brother Steve's wife, Donna). I tried it because it looked so easy. I am still making them today because they are SO GOOD! Brother Steve was right about many, many things during his time as pastor of our wonderful church, but he was dead on when it came to this pie.

So in honor of Brother Steve and Donna, I've included Donna's Buttermilk Pie recipe in today's section.

NOTE: Brother Steve is also the reason I went to Nikki's for the first time and Pastor Kevin is the reason Mike and I go to Dave's in Vestavia. And just so you know... I DO take sermon notes. I definitely have learned about more than just restaurants and recipes in the many years we've attended the church. I want to make myself clear on that point. (I'm going to have to use a verse somewhere in the post today to prove it to you, I think.)

My mind is still a little here and there this week, so do not be surprised by a little randomness sneaking into the posts the next few days. Oh, here's one now.

RANDOMNESS #1 - Today I will be attending my last visit to the periodontist who performed my "bone scraping of the jaw" surgery SIX weeks ago. If he dismisses me, I will then move on to the next Stage... having the temporary crown removed, having "things" done where the surgery took place (that I don't even want to think about) before finally acquiring a permanent crown. I am not happy about Stage Three. This could quite possibly be due to the fact Stage One and Stage Two were so utterly unpleasant. And both dentist and periodontist say I have more of these type happenings to look forward to as I get older.

I'm thinking Tom Hanks had the right idea in Castaway when he used an ice skating blade and a rock and just knocked the sucker right out of his head. Don't hold me to it, but it is something I'm prayerfully considering.

Personally, as people age (and remember, I'm only 48 which means I have a lot more aging left to do), I think the "gravity" factor, the "growing new things you don't need" factor, the "bone density and other new and exciting tests" factor and the "fact your teeth can just fall out of your head while eating a soft Arby's roast beef sandwich" factor are very ANNOYING!

And the only compensation I see in the future is $.10 coffee at McDonald's when I turn 55 in seven years. Excuse me... I don't drink coffee!! How about a $.10 Big Mac? Or a $.10 Yogurt Mountain. Or what about $.10 shoes at the Shoe Department with a $.05 matching purse. Some time in the next seven years, I'm going to get a petition going to work on some of these small injustices.

Okay. I said I had a Thought for the Day, and I do. Obviously, I have a lot of thoughts today... or rantings.

Thought for the Day - Focus

Our extended family goes to the mountains each year. We usually go the long weekend in January or the long weekend in February. If we go in January, it always falls on my niece's birthday, and we have her celebration in the mountains. If we go in February, my nephew, Zac, celebrates his birthday in the big cabin in the woods.

One year when we were there in February, my sister had planned a G.I. Joe party for Zac. We had the G.I. Joe plates, napkins and other paraphernalia. I was in charge of games.

There is a large age differences in our kids. At this particular time, we had two teenagers, two almost-teenagers and Roxie and Zac. It's hard to come up with games which everyone will play with zest and zeal, but I knew I had a winner.

I bought over a hundred of the tiny soldiers from The Dollar Tree, and the night before the party, I went through the entire cabin hiding them anywhere and everywhere. The majority of the army men were dark green, but there were a handful which were tan.

The game was simple. For every army man found, the child had to run to Grandmother. She had a huge bag of quarters and ten crisp $1 bills. A green army man was worth $.25 and a tan army man was worth $1. You had to run to her when you found ONE army man. You couldn't find 20 and then cash them in all at one time. Mike and Tommy (the Dads) even got in on the action hoping to recoup gas money!

It was a fun game.

However, as Zac was opening his gifts before the game began, Josh (who was sitting beside me) mumbled, "There's an army man sticking out behind that picture over the television."

"Hush. Watch Zac open his gifts."

"There's another one in the flower arrangement on the table beside Grandmother," he whispered.

"Look straight ahead," I hissed.

"It's a game, isn't it? What do we win?" he whispered, while his eyes darted over the room.

"Close your eyes right now, or you're not going to get to play... and believe me, you're going to want to play."

"We get money for the most soldiers, don't we? How many have you hidden? I've already spotted six." I was furious. He was going to ruin my game!

"If you don't close your eyes right this minute, you're going to be disqualified... and I mean it." I must have sounded pretty convincing because he closed his eyes with a big grin on his face.

Thank goodness there were over 94 soldiers left to find. When the rules were explained and we yelled, "GO," Josh quickly made $1.50 within the first 30 seconds of the game (and more money as he went to the other rooms), but the big winner of the day was Zac with over $8. However, you had to give Josh credit. He had his eye on the prize.

On to Example #2. When the cousins were little, my Mom would hide a little green pickle ornament in her Christmas tree. There is a story to the pickle ornament which I'll probably share with you next December, but all six of the grandchildren would surround her tree at the appointed time, and when she told them to begin they were to search for the tiny, dark green pickle.

I am not kidding when I say Austin found the pickle within SECONDS every year. He was so good at finding the pickle it made me sad to think it wasn't an Olympic event... because he would have won GOLD every time!

He had his eyes on the prize.

What prize are my eyes searching for today? Am I looking for earthly rewards? Am I looking for recognition, compliments, possessions, really good painkillers... (the dentist, remember)? When I ask myself that question, most of the time I would have to honestly answer I'm not focused on the real prize. The prize that matters most.

"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14.

That's it. That's the "one" thing I'm supposed to be focused on every single day. Not riches or glory here on earth... but "straining toward" the prize God has for me.

And that, my friends, reminds me of a song I've mentioned before on A Simple Life. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

I need that focus desperately every single day. And when my family is going through the house like a tornado getting ready for school, and I'm attending school and church functions, and making to-do lists, and going to Wal-Mart, and doing laundry and taking the kids to doctor's appointments, and anything and everything else that falls into the "Every Single Day Category," I need to STOP! I need to FOCUS! I need to KEEP MY EYES ON THE PRIZE! Because at the end of every single day we've been given on this earth... that is the only thing that truly matters.

Just a thought!

And since we've been talking about Heaven, let's make some "Deviled" Eggs, shall we?

Deviled Eggs

Everyone has a Deviled Egg recipe, and while this one is based on tasting as you go along, you can experiment and make it your own.

You will need:

1 dozen eggs
Mayo
Dill pickles
Salt
Pepper
Paprika (optional)

1. Boil the eggs the night before. (I like to boil them for ten minutes after the water starts bubbling.)

2. Drain the water, and let them cool for 30 or 45 minutes before putting them in the refrigerator overnight.

3. The next morning, put the eggs on the counter for 15 to 30 minutes before peeling them. Peel the eggs. Half the eggs with a sharp knife and pop the yolk into a medium bowl.

4. When you have all the yolks in a bowl, add a large tablespoon of mayo, a splash of dill pickle juice and start chopping dill pickle chips into small pieces. Add seven or eight chopped pickles.

5. Using a fork, start mashing and mixing the egg mixture. If the mixture doesn't look smooth, add more mayo (one teaspoon at a time) and a little more dill pickle juice). Mix until smooth (adding mayo and pickle juice in small increments until you get the desired consistency).

6. Take a small taste of the egg mixture. Salt and pepper until you have the right "flavor." Fill your egg yolks.

7. Sprinkle lightly with paprika before serving. (This is more for looks, than taste.)

Everyone's Deviled Eggs are different. I'm a dill pickle person, thus the dill. I know people who use a little mustard in their recipes. I know people who use sweet pickles and pimentos in their recipes. This is just something you need to play with until you find YOUR Deviled Egg recipe.

Buttermilk Pie

You will need:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter (melted)
1 unbaked 10-inch pie crust

1. Mix all the ingredients together.

2. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

3. After 15 minutes, cover the rim of the pie with foil to keep from burning.

NOTE: I always fill the pie shell 3/4 full, so my pie is never finished in 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, I cover the entire pie with a piece of foil and let it continue to bake for 15 to 25 more minutes. I check every 10 minutes using a knife in the center of the pie. When it comes out clean, the pie is ready.

4. Let the pie cool. It will be slightly runny (even when the knife comes out clean), but when you refrigerate the pie overnight, it will set.

This is a delicious pie. Very, very sweet and very, very pretty!

Have a lovely Tuesday. Tomorrow I have Wednesday Wisdom, another Winter Seasonal Tradition and maybe more Randomness and another Thought for the Day. I'll have to wait and see.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda