January Quote of the Month

"Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message."
~Malcolm Muggeridge

October Quote of the Month

"Start by doing what is necessary, then what it possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
~Francis of Assisi

August Quote of the Month

"Eat the frog." ~Mark Twain

July Quote of the Month

“ In the early days of a child’s life it makes little difference whether we educate with a notion of filling a receptacle, inscribing a tablet, moulding plastic matter, or nourishing a life, but as a child grows we shall perceive that only those ideas which have fed his life are taken into his being; all the rest is cast away or is, like sawdust in the system, an impediment and an injury.” - Charlotte Mason

June Quote of the Month

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. ~Mark Twain

May Quote of the Month

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.
~Victor Hugo

April Quote of the Month

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be
The candle or the mirror that reflects it."
~ Edith Wharton

March Quote of the Month

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right (or free will) to do what we ought."
~Pope John Paul II

February Quote of the Month

"The important thing is for people to be very conscious of their actions in the world, very conscious of what is being acted on them, and then devote time to separating from the harmful while still staying in touch enough to affect what's going on." ~ The Plain Reader, Scott Savage, editor

January Quote of the Month

Art's a staple. Like bread or wine or a warm coat in winter. Those who think it is a luxury have only a fragment of a mind. Man's spirit grows hungry for art in the same way his stomach growls for food...

~Irving Stone

Sometimes Things Just Don't Work Out Like They Should

Note to self: never google the word "chocolate" in the midst of a particularly serious craving. Oh, no. Not a good idea, because this is what pops up.

I'm getting hungry right now!

I needed to make this particular bit of dreaminess. I needed to eat beautiful chocolate peanut butter pudding before something dire happened. Except, this is real life and what you think will go wrong (chunky eggs in the pudding) usually doesn't. It's the unexpected things (exploding chocolate) that knock you flat on your bum.

Everything was tooling along quite nicely when I just had to go and make the chocolate cups, because everyone knows that chocolate peanut butter pudding should be served in real chocolate bowls with lots of real whipped cream on top. I even had sprinkles ready to add more flair. I was all set to impress the girls with yumminess.

See how nice and pretty?

I was busily dipping balloons in melted chocolate and placing them neatly on waxed-papered cookie sheets when the second one popped. Yep. Exploded and flew all over the kitchen, and up and onto my favorite Illini t-shirt. By the time I finally had enough cups to feed myself and the girls, about six of those buggers had managed to add themselves to the paint job on my dining room wall. Then, to add insult to injury, the balloons would not unstick themselves from the chocolate when I popped them. It was a mess and a half.

I have added chocolate to melted butter and powdered sugar on the list of items that are potentially dangerous to my health. Who knew they could explode like that? I mean, really. Those were the ugliest pudding cups I've ever seen.

Even though they turned out far from the ideal, I thoroughly enjoyed them. I figure all the energy expended to make them totally canceled out the calories I ingested. Although, next time I will wait until the chocolate cools a bit (should have followed that bit of advice), and I won't use cheap balloons from the dollar store!

December Quote of the Month

Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as often as ever you can, as long as you can.

-Charles H. Spurgeon

{this moment}

 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~ Amanda Soule

Word of the Day

 

pandelirium n. resulting from the majority of the cousins squirming around Grandma's house at the same time. -Syn. 1. chaos to the seventh power.

August Quote of the Month

"The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance."
~Oswald Chambers

July Quote of the Month

"May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to. ~C.S. Lewis

June Quote of the Month

Quote of the Month

 Thought and busy being seldom come together. ~A Requiem For Love, Calvin Miller

May Quote of the Month

The artist, if he is to not forget how to listen, must retain the vision which includes angels and dragons and unicorns, and all the lovely things which our world would keep in a box marked "Children Only." ~ Walking on Water, Madeleine L'Engle

April Quote of the Month

"The sooner we make a schedule, the faster we can get behind." ~ Garfield

March Quote of the Month

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet