The Clouds of Life

Did you ever notice how blue the sky looks after the rain clouds clear? Today was one of those days. Rain all night and most of the morning. But by the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly. The way the branches on the trees were glistening, and the reflection of the trees in the puddles…

I love to look at the clouds in the sky. It doesn’t matter if they are harmless, light fluffy clouds, or the angry storm clouds – I love to watch how they change constantly. And when the evening is graced with layered clouds, you get a breath-taking sunset.

Life is like the clouds. When everything is going great, it is a clear, cloudless sky. Nothing is going to bother you today!  When there are a few minor problems happening, life is akin to cirrus clouds – light and wispy. Nothing to fret about.

Some days are like Altostratus clouds – an endless gray sky often with a fine drizzle. Days like this are more of a nuisance than anything else, but depression is linked to this kind of day. It is during these kinds of days that we sit and mull over what is going wrong in our lives. We can’t see the sunshine.

As problems build, or as we let them get to us, we have reached the Stratus layer. Low gray, ragged clouds that are rapid movers and change shape constantly. These problems are troublesome because we can’t seem to get a handle on just what is happening. Life is changing so fast that we can’t keep up.

When we let these problems build up we enter the Cumulonimbus, or storm cloud stage. These are the problems where we can’t see any solution. It may be a sickness happening to us or to a loved one, it could be loss of employment, loss of a good friend, …something that could be devastating. We wake up the next morning and the fog is heavy around us. We can’t see the road ahead, anything around us, or anyone beside us.

This is when we cry out to God for help. We see no other way out of the problems we are encountering. He is there to help. It may be in the form of a friend that has a strong shoulder to cry on, or a Pastor who can give advice and encouragement. If we would only remember that God is beside us in all types of weather. He is there on the clear, sunny days. He is there on the dreary, gray days. He is there when we can’t seem to get a handle on things. And He is there during the great storms in our lives. He is waiting for us to ask for His advice, His help, His strength to endure. His is the perfect comfort and peace that is ours for the asking. When we trust Him and put Him in control of our lives, we can breathe a sigh of relief because NOTHING escapes His watchful eye. He is fully aware of everything – good and bad – that we are going through. When we give our life to Him, we will still have problems because we live in a fallen world. But, we must remember the words of Christ Jesus – “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart – I have overcome the world!” John 16:33

So turn to God in all types of weather, in thanksgiving and in supplication; in Praise and petition. He is waiting for you to call on Him. There is no better place to be than in His loving arms!

From Grandma, with love.     

Easy Chicken Cacciatore

I made this for supper tonight. It took only about 20 minutes to prepare and it was delicious!

5 boneless, skinless breasts cut into 7 pieces each breast, one large onion,                                1 package frozen green, red and yellow pepper strips, 1- 28oz can petite diced tomatoes,          1- 15oz  can tomato sauce, garlic powder, chili powder, italian seasoning, ground ginger,     basil, black pepper and salt.

Cut the onion into strips. Fry in olive oil until slightly browned. Add frozen peppers and fry        until the peppers are soft. Remove from pan and set aside. Brown chicken. Add diced   tomatoes and sauce. Add onion and peppers. Add a pinch+ of spices to taste. Bring to           boil. Cover and simmer for a half hour, stirring occasionally.

Pour over your favorite pasta, or rice. Or try whole wheat pasta for a healthier dish.

This dish is low in calories, but high in taste! 

From Grandma, with love.

The Best of Times

Every generation thinks that they are living in the best of times. I look at how people are living now and I long for the x-generation to get a glimpse of what life was like when I was growing up. I grew up in the 60s and 70s. Times seemed tough then, but when I look back, I realize how free and easy my life was.

I would get home from school and my Mom would be there. I’d change into play clothes, have a snack and go outside until sunset before heading home for dinner. My friends and I would find many ways to keep busy. There was always somewhere to go and something to do. We would walk or ride our bikes for miles without worrying about too much traffic – you were surprised if you saw more than 5 cars an hour! There were no worries about being abducted. We went up to the fields and chased the cows, scooped up tadpoles in the ponds, caught fireflies at night, and we were HAPPY!

We would go ‘pool hopping’ because just about every family in the neighborhood had a pool. Our parents didn’t worry about getting sued when someone got hurt – the Mom of whatever house we were at would wash our wounds and bandage us up. There were no arguments over what one friend had that you didn’t – everybody shared everything, we took turns. We made games and made up games. One of my favorites was when my Dad took an old cigar box, cut slots in the front, and we would shoot marbles at it to try and make more points than our sister or friends. If you didn’t have it, you made it. If you couldn’t make it, you used your imagination or played with something else. We were very HAPPY!

You didn’t care who had more money than you – there wasn’t much to buy anyway. If your family was in need, the neighbors and Churches would help in any way they could. Families would gather at night and socialize – face to face! If it was a weekend, all the kids would stay outside running around. We would get neighborhood baseball, football games going – and the parents played WITH their kids. When it got late, all the kids would go into the playroom and fall asleep on the floor while the adults talked, played cards, or watched a movie. Parents and kids were very, very HAPPY!

You didn’t have to fret that you might leave your mobile phone home – the only people who had wireless ‘phones’ were the crew of the USS Enterprise! You just made sure you had a nickel in your pocket in case you had to call home – from a phone booth. If you didn’t have a nickel, you could go up to almost any house and ask to use the phone. They might even give you a snack while you were there. We were extremely HAPPY!

Money went farther because you had a heat bill, an electric bill, a phone bill, a grocery bill and taxes. You didn’t have to pay to watch television – you had 13 channels and an antenna on your roof. You didn’t care what was on TV, except for the cartoons on Saturday morning because you were outside most of the time – summer AND winter. You didn’t have to have the best and newest “smart phone” with the most expensive data plan. Car insurance was cheaper because most families only had one car. A doctor might charge $5.00 a visit – he could do that because he didn’t have to pay for malpractice insurance, people didn’t sue for every little thing.

Schools were a safe place. If there was a bully, he was sent to the Principal’s office and had to face the real music when he went home. If you acted up in class, the teacher would put your desk in the front of the class for all the students to see. You were embarrassed, but you dealt with it, and you changed your behavior.

So, you may think you have it made with your cell phones, computers, rooms with TVs that get 400 channels, video games and every new toy that the market can create. Give me the good old days that were free and easy! We were truly HAPPY then.

From Grandma, with love.

The One Hour Bottle

Every infant has their idiosyncrasies! Even if you have had your 8th child, you have to find the niche within. It was no different with Gwendolyn today.

I had my first sitting ‘job’ with little Gwen. Amber had to go somewhere and this was the first official baby-sitting time with her. She is breast fed and did not want any part of the bottle – I thought. She was gagging like I was giving her lemons! After a half hour of trying on and off, I had to rewarm the milk. Well, I found her idiosyncrasy – she wants her milk very warm! Once I had satisfied her, she scarfed that milk down like a champ. Then she slept the rest of the time she was here. A cushy job!

We adults are no different. We all have our own little (sometimes big) idiosyncrasies. We do things in a certain order or else we don’t feel we did it right. Sometimes we will eat a certain food only on a certain day – like pizza is only for Friday nights. We go along with our lives and suddenly realize that we are creatures of habits. If you think you can change them, watch out! You can end up driving yourself crazy. It throws off your whole routine and you will not feel like you have accomplished anything.

But anyone who watches children knows, there is no such thing as routine. I guess that is why for the last few years watching the Grandkids, my mind is quite a bit slower and addled! I do realize that this is only temporary, they will grow up, they will go to school and I will miss these times more than I could ever imagine.

So, skip the routine when the kids are over – they are little and cuddly for such a short time; enjoy every minute with them. It is a worthwhile adventure.

From Grandma, with love.

Canon Photo Printer–GREAT!

I received a Canon Selphy CP800 Photo printer for a Christmas gift. I love it! It is a dye-sublimation thermal transfer printer, which makes photos the same way that stores and photo shops do, heat on color cartridge. I had a Kodak D-STT printer, but it became obsolete and expensive to get cartridges, and pictures were costing $1.00/print. The Canon only costs about .25 cents/print and the pictures come out great. It is fast, easy to install to be compatible with my computer, quiet and the cartridge lasts for more than the 35 prints it says it does.

There is one thing – the photos came out a little darker than they were in Photo gallery, so if it seemed like the picture was dark, I just lightened it before printing and reverted back to the original after.

Unlike my old printer, I could send the picture to the printer and almost immediately go back to looking for the next picture I wanted to make a copy of. With the old Kodak, I had to wait until the copier was almost done with the print.

I would definitely recommend the Canon Selphy CP800 if you know someone who likes to hand out pictures, or like me, show off your gorgeous Grandkids! Oh, this printer also makes Post Card copies – you need to buy the post card paper made for this printer though.

Pros: Easy set up, easy to use, economical, pictures are crisp and clear

Cons: The pictures come a little dark

I would definitely recommend this printer for anyone who enjoys printing photos to share.

This is a sample of how I spent my day today:

Happy and Blessed New Year!

From Grandma, with love!