Randomosity.. or some such

We got tagged on 7 Chicks, so I will attempt to post twenty five random things, which I guess is what the tag is about..... who knows?
1. I am tired.
2. I think the whole family, including the dog, is glad today is Friday.
3. This Wife Swap show is terrible, whatever happened to T.G.I.F.?
4. Supper was pretty good this evening, burger on the Foreman and pan-fried potatoes with salad.
5. Did I mention this Wife-Swap show is terrible.... the guy just taked about a swapped mom defecating on his children's dreams..terrible... where is the remote, there has to be something better on.
6. The baby is crying, because she is sooooooooo tired, I bet if she would just lay down she would fall asleep.
7. Sleep sounds good, it will be another early night tonight.
8. I am not sure if Wal-Mart could have been any more crowded this evening...we really should have gone yesterday evening.
9. I am sad that the government thinks it can solve the economy by spending money is doesn't have.
10. We got engaged at the fort in St. Augustine.
11. I hate cleaning the house, but I can't stand it, if it is a mess.
12. I really enjoy cooking and I wish I had taken it up a long, long time ago.
13. I wish the doctors would listen to me more instead of always looking at the numbers and test results.
14. I had a good Dr. visit and I couldn't be happier with my numbers.. doesn't make the pain or sick feeling go aways though.
15. Being a dad is tough sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it, far too late now anyway.
16. I really like to read, definitely a form of escape.
17. I wonder when the last time the groundhog didn't see his shadow....let it be this year!!
18. I hope this recipe for wheat bread turns out.. the first one.. not so much.
19. I really like living in a bigger city, though the small town isn't that bad, I just get really frustrated when I can't find ingredients for something I want to cook locally. That Really does frustrate me.
20. I am bit bummed that Flashpoint is a re-run tonight, I don't watch many regular tv shows, but that one is really good.
21. When I was in college at BCF I once rode my bicycle from Graceville to Panama City.
22. I like to see the mountains, but I love the beach.
23. I quite enjoy a good movie, comic book movies are the best.
24. I am all for taking care of the planet and being a good steward, but I am tired of the 'global warming' farce.
25. I sure am glad I am married to a wonderful lady who puts up with me.

What's Cookin' Wednesdays

    For a while now I have resolved to cook more and cook from scratch. I believe that most health conditions, including my own can be managed, well at least in part by what you eat. Also with the addition of Lil' M I am determined to help her eat better so maybe she will not develop my medical malady's. In my opinion cooking from scratch is healthier than buying pre-packaged meals, not to mention cheaper! So, in that vein I have decided to add a recipe day to the blog.  The post may or may not contain pictures, but they will be recipes that I have tried and use. You will have to excuse the poor quality of my food pictures because my kitchen is not conducive AT ALL to taking pictures. Come to think of it, the kitchen is not conducive to cooking, but I have had to make do with less in the past and beggars can't be choosers! The first recipe to share is one that I used last year when Tiff had a Jr. Women's Club party, I had meant to get the post up earlier, but as I have found there is a wide divide between meaning and doing.

Sausage and Cheese Wontons

• 1 Package Wonton Wrappers
• 1 LB Sausage 
• 1 Cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Cup Ranch (I use much less, but then I HATE Ranch)
• About a 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• Sour Cream for topping-Optional  

To start with I coat both sides of the wontons with olive oil and then place the coated wrappers in a muffin tin. 

 After the wontons are all coated I put the tin in the oven preheated to 350 Degrees. I let them bake for about 5 to 10 minutes, until they are just starting to get toasted and turn brown. You have to be careful or else they will bake too much, and you will have to throw them out, voice of experience here!

While I have the wontons in the oven I go ahead and brown the sausage and get my cheese portioned out. I find that it is always better to buy a block of cheese and then shred it myself, it always cooks better and once again..cheaper.

 

Here are the wontons fresh out of the oven and placed on my current cooking tool, the Pampered Chef Round Pizza Stone. They really do make great products.

At this point you are ready to start assembling your creations. 

Mix the browned sausage

  

with the cheeses

  

and don't forget the ranch, even though I forgot to get a picture of said ingredient.

Then fill up fill you slightly toasted wontons with the sausage mixture, just eyeball it and fill up each wonton. 

Then all that is left to do is place them them back into your already hot oven for just a minute or three, until the cheese melts and you done!

  

I had a little left over so I decided to make my own version and substituted  the disliked ranch, with the beloved Frank's Red Hot Sauce! They were great!

Good news..

I am most happy to report that I got back home yesterday. I finally convinced the doctor to let me out of the hospital! I am still a good ways away from what is considered 'normal' or regular for me, but at least I am no longer confined to the hospital. The trend usually is, I start recovering in the hospital and then I have to recover from being in the hospital once I get home. I have always laughed that they constantly tell you to rest, but then wake you up every four to six hours to check your blood pressure and temperature! Also, I think it upsets the apple cart when you doctor changes, because I think that every doctor has their own course of treatment and I suspect that that if they read your chart at all, they don't read it well or concern themselves with what other doctors and nurses have previously written, if nothing else, they ask you the same tired questions that you have been asked countless times before in your stay, ack! However, as much as I complain about it and assert it is not a perfect system, it sure beats no healthcare and definitely government controlled healthcare! I appreciate all your thought and prayers. Since the baby is laying down, I think I will as well.

Silent Sunday XXII-Look how big I have gotten!

Ahh Garbage,,

Well it all started two years ago, my gut just exploded, well not literally, but it sure felt like it at the time. Last January I had major surgery, to hopefully get everything back on track and to help keep me out of the hospital every couple of months.  I was having a good run, till lately I just hadn't been feeling so great. I had some tests ran and the numbers came out great, better than they have in a while. However, the ball dropped yesterday, I couldn't keep anything down, which is bad, bad, bad news for an insulin dependent diabetic! So, I ended up in the local emergency room yesterday evening to hopefully get my jut settled back down. We figured I would be in and out, like I have a couple times in the past.... not the case yesterday. After I spent a couple hours in the Chipley Er, I got transferred to the circle city, where I got to go through yet more tests..yeah!!!!
The good news the tests didn't show any inflammation and the doctor thinks it was just a mild flare up, which that all depends upon how you define 'mild'. Also, blood tests this morning showed that my numbers had come down on their own, they hadn't given me anything to help them come down, which is always the best course. So hopefully I will be back home tomorrow.  Just a bit frustrated with the whole situation, I don't like being in the hospital at all, but I am very thankful, because it could certainly be worse. Just trying to learn what the Lord is trying to teach me, obviously I am not a quick study.

Dear President Obama.....

Today I had planned on writing a government outrage post about a new law pertaining to children's products, but due to a post I read recently on Castles Made of Sand I decided to postpone said post and write a letter to the President. I have long though about writing letters to Service men to show my support, and I am always talking about writing letters to our officials. I plan to write at least one a week and alternate my recipients. 
Here is the letter I am sending to the President this week.

Dear Mr. President,

            Let me first congratulate you and your staff on the election.  It is truly an historic time in our country, as any election and change of power always is in our great country. I do have a positive outlook and I have no doubt that you are excited about your plans for our nation.

            I implore you to continually seek the Lord’s guidance in all your decisions. I have no idea what you relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ is, all I can tell you is the difference He has made in my life. He is Author of hope and change and the only One who can truly bring about change in our country. The Lord is my comfort in times trouble and help in times of need. He has given me purpose in life and blessed me beyond my need and far greater than what I deserve. 

Also, I ask that would strive to keep the market free and work to right some of the wrongs of the last administration, whose leader I greatly admire. While I was watching your Inaugural address there were many points that I whole-heartedly agree with you. You stated that that the economy is in need of bold and swift action, I agree that change does need to be made. You also alluded to past achievements of free men and women who in times of need stepped up with courage and used their imagination to change the world.  I ask that you would indeed help to keep the market free and open so that individuals with a dream, a hobby or a skill can work to develop and realize that dream. There is truly no other place in the world, with enough work, you can do and become anything. Your current position is case in point of that fact and I admire your determination and accomplishment.

            I pray that you would continue to support and encourage our brave men and women in the armed forces who give their all so that we can continue to enjoy freedom and even spread freedom to other parts of the world.

            I am proud to be a Christian and I blessed to be a citizen of the United States. I look forward to the future with great anticipation and much prayer. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

                                                                                                              Sincerely,

                                                                                                             Jeremy Clifton

The President, Barack Hussein Obama
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC  20500
Phone: 202-456-1414
or: 202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: The President, White House

 

    As a Christian I have a Biblical mandate to support our leaders, and as Molly stated our voice can never be heard unless we speak up and actually say something. 

Brrr its cold

    Just a quick update, yesterday was the day of doctors and we got pretty good reports. Little M is now 18lbs 14oz and does not have an ear infection. We are really thankful for that, but her nose is still running like a river, as is mine. The weather is supposed to turn warmer over the next couple of days and I am hoping our allergies will dry up, at least while the weather is warmer.
    I got some hopeful news yesterday from the Dr. as well, but I haven't seen this doctor in over a year and he was just looking at my most recent tests, which were pretty good. I will take it until the doctors tell me different, but I still remain a bit skeptical. I have been dealing with this for over two years now, and for some reason I have my doubts that it will just go away and I won't have to deal with it so much, we will see.  Well it is time to get some housework done, clothes nor dishes wash themselves, fancy that!

Rough Morning....

Whoooo wheeee we had a rough start this morning. It started somewhere around 5:30 or so, Tiff ran into the bedroom, turned on the light and was saying something about somebody being in our yard. I was still pretty much asleep, well no actually I was knocked out. At first I thought, well it must be the construction workers that have been working on the culverts lining the highway that runs in front of the house. I figured it was that, or someone just turning around in our driveway, which happens ALL the time, I guess people miss south blvd or they just turn off HWY 90 too soon, or who knows, people are crazy! Anyway, at first I didn't think anything of it, but Tiff was pretty insistent and then I heard a door close. Now I am moving from confusion to anger, who in the world is showing up at my house, when it is still dark!
    By this time the person has gotten out of his car and is knocking on our front door, which was thankfully locked. This of course get the dog all riled up and wakes up the baby... think I was mad earlier... So I am up now getting my contacts in so I can see clearly and I was to our door that leads onto the porch, also locked. I couldn't see anything but an outline of some guy who is continually knocking on the door, shouting for us to open the door. Mental note, if I am ever stuck and need some help, banging on someone's door and shouting for them to let me in is not the way to inspire anyone lend me a hand.
    I am not about to open the door, here I am thinking we have some crazy out in the yard, who wants who knows what. Tiff is running around with the baby calling her parents, all the while the dog is not happy at all and is barking away.  By this time we have called the law and have a patrolman in route, but here we are stuck with this crazy out in the yard.  At least the person has stopped banging on the door and shouting, obviously we aren't going to let him in, he gets back in his truck and tries to start it. Turns out his truck was pootin' out on him.
    Pretty soon the police do arrive, pretty quick by the way, definitely appreciate that and then Tiff's dad gets here. As stated the man did have some truck problems, he just picked the wrong house to terrorize at 5:30 in the morning. Fact is nobody has any business stopping at anyone's house that early in the morning, let alone banging on someone's door and hollering to have the door opened.. not like isn't a convenience store, what 500 yards from the house at the end of the road.  Some people......

Thank You President Bush, Hello President Obama

Today is a big day. Little M's nose is running like a spigot and she is not very happy at all in general. So today I am sitting in front of the tv, my computer by my side and my daughter in my lap. I was planning on watching at least some of the coverage today, but it looks like I will end up watching a good bit of it. Seems like M has a bit more than my looks, she seems to have problems with her allergies when the weather makes a big shift, like today. Anyway, today is big, it's the Presidential Inauguration, which it is a historic event any time we bring in a new president.  Whatever you think or feel about President Bush, at least he did keep us safe from international threats, which historically is one of the primary roles of the office, while local governments were set up to serve and govern their general vicinity.
    Today brings a lot of questions to mind. The first and foremost is what will the Obama Presidency be like? There has been tons of speculation and whatnot, but who knows till he actually fills the office. Will he govern from the center or from the left? Will he keep the country safe? Will he with the current congress help turn the country into a socialist state, complete with universal healthcare, or will Free Market Capitalism prevail? Will there be bans on guns, which many speculate, thus sending gun sales into stratospheric levels. There is only one thing we can count on and that is the Lord is in control and nothing, Nothing, will happen without His consent. What a comfort at any time, in any situation. Praise the Lord who reigns. Well maybe M will feel better later, I hope she will have a good rest this morning, that might help.

Silent Sunday XXI

Super Saturday- Cake Edition

Here are the two cakes that we completed this past week. We had fun doing them and we hope that both birthday folks had good days. We also want to wish Happy Birthday to Mary Beth, who also celebrated her 18th birthday this past week!
So, without further ado, here are the cakes:

Sneak Peek Week it is!

Peek Sneak

Here is a quick look at some of the fire fighter cake we did for Taylor. I had planned on getting all pictures up at once, but alas, plans tend to change in our house. I hope to get the rest of them up later this week, we shall see.

Right now I have to go chase down Little M. She has always liked our dog and well anything that belongs to the dog, most recently his food bowl. Slash! I guess she found his water bowl....make that I now have to go change her clothes. Sigh.....this is only the beginning.

Happy Birthday Taylor

Today is Taylor's Birthday, he turns 20 years old today.  Taylor is Tiffany's younger brother, so just a quick, short post to wish him happy birthday today. Hopefully we will have some pictures of his cake up later this week. We are so proud of Taylor and we love him very much.

Silent Sunday XX- Go Gators

Go Gators! and a Little M update.

    It's great to be a Florida Gator. That was a pretty tense game for us last night, albeit a good one. I love a good defensive game, just as long as my favorite team isn't playing in it! I think people forgot that our defense and special teams won the Gators those first couple games this year and while the special teams wasn't that big a factor as far as offense goes last night, our defense sure showed up.  That is not to say we didn't look good on the offensive side of the ball, we just didn't come out and punch them in the teeth like we had in several of the regular season games. Hats off the Oklahoma though, they kept up with us the whole game and ole Sam Bradford didn't seem to have the Heisman curse plaguing him either. Yet and still, Florida won by ten and that is what matters in the end! I hope Tebow stays in college for his last year, but I certainly understand if he makes the jump to the pros a year early. Go Gators.
    That said, Little M has become mobile. At first she started by rolling on her back and using her legs to move around. Combined with just rolling around she managed to get around pretty easy. Now, well over the past couple of weeks she has transitioned to more of an army crawl. Not yet crawling in the classic sense of the word but still getting around pretty good. This is the first time I have tried to upload a video to the blog so bear with me if it does not work properly, but hopefully you will be able to see clips of both the back scoot and more recently the army crawl.



Video uploading is not working so well right now, I will keep trying. maybe later I will have success.

Mrs. Stephanie's Cake

I don't typically post anything on Sunday besides pictures, but due to request I am posting some pictures of our most recent cake. We did this one for Mrs. Stephanie, our Preacher's wife and we are quite pleased with how it turned out. This was our first attempt at completely covering a cake with fondant and I think it turned out pretty well. The top layer is white cake, while the bottom is chocolate with chocolate chips added in, scrumptious. The accent pieces we chocolate fondant, which was a first for us and this was also the first time we have used our square pans, so this cake was a whole number of firsts. We hope she had a very happy birthday.

Silent Sunday XIV-HAPPY NEW YEAR

Great Scene from a new movie...

This past weekend we got to go see one of the new movies that came out this year around the holidays. This one was not a holiday movie, actually it was quite emotionally heavy, but I thought it was really good. Now it did have a couple themes that were not the greatest. What it did have was one of the best representations of salvation that I have ever seen in a secular movie from liberal hollywood. I will try to be as comprehensive without giving away which movie it was. The scene was about halfway or so through the movie and it starts out with the main character going to a social worker to find someone who needs some help. At first our character is asked why he is doing this, but then he does get a name. This lady in need of help is in an abusive relationship and has two small children. The main character seeks her out and finds here in a just the spot that was described to him. The house was dirty and was surrounded by never-do wells. The main character who is a gentlemen explains to the lady that he is there to help her and promises to get her out of her situation and to a beautiful place where she can start again. At first the lady is confused about why our character is trying to help her and then turns to denial and anger. The first part of the scene ends with the lady refusing any help and kicking the main character out of her house and seemingly her life. The gentleman did leave his card and instructed the lady to seek him out if she did decide that her situation was too much. The movie leaves the scene for a while, but then when I least expected it, the main character gets a call and it turns out to be the lady. Apparently she has hit rock bottom. She is calling him from a public phone outside of a laundry mat, in the middle of a rain storm at night. When the gentleman arrives we see that the lady has some fresh marks on her face, cuts and a couple bruises. The gentleman instructs her to drive north, gives her directions and tells her to take the gift and make a new start and hands her an envelope. When she reaches her destination she finds a beautiful house and we find out that the envelope contained a deed to said house. The scene ends with the lady enjoying a sunny day with her two children.
No, it is not a perfect symbol, but I think it is pretty good. Jesus seeks out while we are still mired in sin. Sometimes we fight that call, because we happen to like where we are, we think sin is fun. However, we find that fun to be very fleeting and then we hit rock bottom. There is no where left for us to go but to the one who sought us out. All we have to do is stop fighting and let Christ do all the work.
The idea hit me like a ton of bricks at the end of the scene and I have meant to post about it, but I have had a list of other things to do. It was a heavy movie, you won't be in a happy-go-lucky mood at the end, but I think it was one of the better movies I have seen in a while.