Signs of Spring ... and New Life

Last friday night and we were on a drive, we saw in a pasture a brown cow that had just given birth to a black calf. We could see that she was still cleaning the calf.

New born calf

We sat off to the side of the road for a few minutes and watched. We were hoping to see the calfs first steps.  But even though it tried, it was not able to get up on his feet.

Needless to say the next day when we drove by we noticed the calf was up and romping around. It is a beautiful sign of spring the animals giving birth.

More creativity with my ketogenic diet

I am trying to de-program myself after years of brainwashing by our government, educational institutions and the media.  As I have said before, we have been lied to about what food is "good for us" for years.  The one thing that came up on my medical tests is that I need to decrease protein and increase fats without increasing carbohydrates.  So I have put on my creative hat and I've pulled together some recipes.

You will need:

2 TBSP Sour cream

1/4-1/3 Cup fresh or frozen fruit (not processed)

1 TBSP Coconut butter or 2 TBSP unsweetened flakes

2 TBSP Heavy whipping creams

1 TBSP Cacao powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

6 drops Liquid Stevia

Sour Cream (yeah, don't put it in first)

I used my bullet and the first one that I made I put the sour cream in the bottom.  Wrong choice.  Start with the fruit.  The weight of it will pull it down once you flip it.

Fresh or frozen fruit

You can use any fresh or frozen fruit.  For instance I froze some peaches in 1/3 cup servings, Rainer cherries, blackberries, and blueberries will be 1/4 cup. Keep the fruit to 12-25 calories and under 6 grams carbs.

Add coconut and other ingredients

It doesn't make a large quantity.  But with the large amount of calories from fat it is very filling. This one serving is (peach) is 256 calories 194 from fat which means it is 76% fat.  This one is a little high in carbs with the net carbs at 7.8 grams.

Blend together

After a filling afternoon snack, I made myself a light salad for supper.  I made myself a different flavored smoothie for a bed-time snack.  The cinnamon is a key ingredient, especially before bed to help stabilize blood sugars.

Salad with Tuna, Cheddar Cheese & Avocado /sour cream dressing

Don't look too closely at the green dressing.  It still freaks me out just a bit.

Time for grandma's treat

This evening Misty Blue and I were playing toss and catch with her toys. She decided it was time to change to shake and she held up her right paw and I shook her paw and said "shake". Then she held up her left paw and I said "shake" and held out my hand and we shook.

We repeated back and forth several times. Then suddenly misty walked away. She went to her milk-bone treat box and grabbed a milk-bone. She came back to me and dropped the milk-bone in my lap.

I wasn't sure why she gave me the milk- bone. But I picked it up and offered it back to her she didn't want that so I broken into pieces and put my hand out to shake.I gave her part of the bone then I held up my other hand out to shake and gave her another part of my phone until the bone was gone.

I will never know if she meant "here gramma have a treat" or "gramma we're playing shake; I need a treat."

Misty Blue and Duchess

Misty Blue is sitting up on the couch. And Duchess is laying down on the couch.

The Cheesecake Factory

Last week I was down in Houston, Texas. One evening we went shopping at the mall. Then we went out to supper next door at the Cheesecake Factory.

The Cheesecake Factory

Cheese cakes on display

I was a little concerned about finding something low carb to eat. But when I looked at the menu I realize they had a full low carb section. One of my coworkers ordered shrimp tacos but instead of serving it and a taco shell it was served in a lettuce shell.



Shrimp Tacos

I found a chicken and mushroom lettuce wrap and I ask them to add some avocado on the side. It was very delicious. They also had a low carb sugar-free version of cheesecake. I ordered it and had it for an evening snack before bed. It was very tasty.

Chicken and Mushroom Lettuce Wrap with Avocado

Wrap it up - baby!

The shell was a gram nut combination so I'm sure the graham cracker had more carbs than what I'm used to eating. I chose not to eat the crust but just to eat the cheesecake on top.

Low Carb Cheesecake

I've always been afraid to go to The Cheesecake Factory. But after having visited one time it is definitely on my "to visit again" list.

Looking forward to summer!

It was a cool day here in Minnesota today but dry enough to get out in the garden. It is supposed to rain for the next 3 to 5 days, so we decided to make sure the radishes lettuce and onions were planted. Dale planted the potatoes last week.

That wasn't how we started today though.   We started the day when we went down and bought a used pontoon trailer. Then we putzed in the garden. In the late afternoon we picked up the pontoon. It is by no means a new pontoon. But it has been very well kept.

I am looking forward to getting out on a lake this summer where I have room to let relax while the dogs can rest or play and Dale can fish.

Pontoon Time

Thanks for all you do!

I was told at work this morning that it was administrative assistant day. They brought in a couple of the flowers a full buffet meal and the cake in honor of the administrative assistant.

Thanks for all you do!

It is so nice when people stop and recognize their coworkers. So many times there are hard working people who never get as much of it as a thank you. If you haven't stopped and told a coworker thank you lately, take a minute and just say thanks!

The little things in life can mean so much. Have a beautiful day! And thank you for taking time you read my blog.

Warming weather: thawing lakes

Over the weekend we took the girls out to the park by the lake. We walked down the dock to see how the I was melting. I told Dale "look alien hand prints!" He told me that a deer had came and rubbed his rack on the ice. I like my explanation better.

The snow is melting and running water down a little creek to the lake. But even with the melting snow from the woods the lake is still down very low. It is getting too low this particular Lake could use some of really heavy rain falls.

I am working long days again this week. So my postings are going to be very late at night. I'll try to make sure I get one done everyday for the rest of the week. I hope you can get outside and find a beautiful scene in the coming spring. This is my favorite time of year. Some of my future posts  you will understand exactly why I think it is such a beautiful time of year.  Have a great day!

He is Risen! ...so what does it mean to you?

We are sinners.  It doesn't matter how hard we try; we still sin.  There is a cost to turn our sin to righteousness.  That cost was paid by Jesus death on the cross.  He paid the price.  But he didn't stay in the grave. He conquered death to provide for us eternal life.  Our bodies will still wear out and we will die to this world but we are given hope in Christ Jesus that we too will be resurrected and join him in Heaven.

1. All men are lost

Romans 3:23

New International Version (NIV)

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23

New International Version (NIV)

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.


2. Christ died for you

1 Peter 3:18

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Romans 5:8

New International Version (NIV)

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


3. You must repent

Luke 13:3

New International Version (NIV)

³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Acts 3:19

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,


4. You must believe

Romans 10:9-10

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

John 1:12

New International Version (NIV)

¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—




5. Verses of assurance

John 5:24

New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

1 John 5:11-13

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Concluding Affirmations

¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.


6. Take a moment and pray to God

Have you ever said a prayer before?  They can be formal or casual.  It is just talking to God like you would talk to any other friend in your life.  Here is an example of a prayer that you could say, "Hello God, It's me _______.  I admit that I am a sinner and that you sent your son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins.  I ask for forgiveness of my sins and help to overcome them so that I don't fall back into my sinful life. I believe that Jesus Christ is your son and I would like to accept him as Lord of my Life. Thank you! (Amen)"

If you choose to pray this prayer or a prayer similar to this one, then congratulations! God has forgiven you and you are now a child of God.  Pick up his word, the Bible.  I would recommend starting with the book of Luke.  God will talk to you and help you with your life choices through his Holy Scripture, the Bible.

All references from http://www.biblegateway.com/

Have you ever tried to reconcile the days between Jesus death and ressurection?

I have always wondered how it calculate out?  First you need to understand that a day actually began at sunset not at midnight the way we celebrate now.  The year that Jesus was crucified, Passover was on Wednesday (our Tuesday evening). In the 24 hour period he was "tried, convicted, crucified and buried."  It was the beginning of a Holy Day although not Sabbath.  Due to the Holy Days that fell that year, it was after Sabbath before the women could "legally" prepare Jesus body for burial.  So he was a full 72 hours in the grave before his resurrection. 


I have added a link to a visual created by Pastor Dowell that explains in more detail the differences between the current Christian celebration versus the historic holy days that affected the actual events.


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=The+Great+Easter+Fraud&id=1FC795640855FB7796630EAFA0CB04CD6889F1EE&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=1FC795640855FB7796630EAFA0CB04CD6889F1EE&selectedIndex=0


Traditions:  We live and die by our traditions.  But as time goes by traditions are affected by politics and what makes people more comfortable.  As a child, there were no stores open on Sundays.  Restaurants closed by 2PM.  Then more families became two income families.  The prosperous times left people buying more things, needing more money, and working more days in the week.  Through the pressures of society stores began staying open on Sundays to accommodate people that could only shop on the weekends.  The tradition of Sunday afternoon family time changed. 


Schools stayed away from scheduling any activities on Sundays because it was sacred to family and church.  With the disintegration of the family, the traditions of the family fell apart even more.  I am sure everyone can come up with traditions that have changed and/or disintegrated over time.  The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has changed over the years as well.  Despite the changes, let us remember the most important thing!


HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!  Jesus, the lamb of God, was crucified for our sins.  The blood shed through his death paid for our sins, yours and mine! But he did not remain in the grave.  He overcame death and ascended to heaven.  Jesus lives today and for those who have faith and belief in him, their sins are forgiven and they can live reconciled to God. 

Hurray for Sunshine!

After over a foot of snow yesterday, it was a fabulous blessing to see the sunshine today.  The temperature wasn't much above freezing but the high April sun angle allowed the snow to begin melting quickly.

The sun was warm enough that the girls wanted to play outside.  The problem was finding a place for them to run and play that I could get to with the car.

Misty Blue & Duchess in the Snow

Spring investigations

I am having an old soul day...

I have often said that I was born in the wrong generation.  I have teased that I'm a young woman with an old soul.  I found myself before work this morning craving some crafting time.  It was difficult to go to my desk and start a productive day at work.  It got worse when I saw the heavy snow falling late in the morning.

Craving Crafting Time

Misty Blue and Duchess are just as tired of winter as I am.  Once the snow started, they would only look out the door, turn around and run back inside.

Misty Blue at Noon 4/16/14

The flakes were big and fell quickly.  They were the dense and wet snowflakes.  Not the pretty fluffy ones that come in the cold winter.  (I don't plan on shoveling.)

April Snow :^(

This evening as Misty and I walked home we were able to walk most of the way on shoveled and plowed areas.  But when we hit my yard, we were forced to tackle the snow with the snow still falling.

Misty Blue at 8 PM 4/16/14

Those long puppy legs are about 12 inches long.  (I put a ruler up by her and she walked over it without it touching her belly.) Dale is complaining that he didn't have the potatoes planted before the snow hit. An old wives tale states two things about planting potatoes.  First, plant them before Good Friday (which is this Friday). Second, if it snows after planting potatoes that you will have a healthy, large potato crop.  (Something about natural nitrogen in the snow.)

A Red Moon 4/15/2014 lunar eclipse

I got up in the middle of the night to take pictures of the lunar eclipse. It was way too cold out there. I hauled the camera in and out twice, mostly so I could warm up.
 

One of the pictures I took I wiggled the camera tripod. But it turned out super cool in a freaky kinda way. So I'm showing you the messed up shot too. That leaves me to at a point where I want to say , "Here are five of my favorite shots."

4/15/2014 about 2:25 AM

4/15/2014 about 2:25 AM

4/15/2014 about 2:45 AM

4/15/2014 about 2:45 AM

4/15/2014 about 2:50 AM - oops! wiggled the tri-pod

The commercialism of Easter

Okay, yes I mean Easter candy, the Easter Bunny, and our favorite little Easter bonnet. Like every holiday it has been commercialized.

I have to admit Easter candy is some of my favorite candy. It has been very difficult this year to walk by all that candy. I finally caved. I bought my three favorite Easter candies.

They are all Cadbury products. The Cadbury eggs, the Cadbury caramel eggs, and the milk chocolate eggs covered in them hard candy cover.

So in doing my research each miniature egg is 40 calories and 6 grams of carbs. The milk chocolate eggs I can have two or three at a time just stay within the same calorie and carb range.

It reminded me of when I was younger and I heard an interview with Lady Diana. She stated that she had her candy treats she would have a snack size Twix bar and she would eat one part and give the rest to her sons. I remember thinking how could you eat such a small amount of candy? But here I am and it's really not that bad.

Passover Seder

Temple Teshuvah which meets Saturday at 11AM in the Jubilee worship center in St. Cloud hosted a Passover Seder.  They are a Messianic Temple. Which means that they recognize Jesus as Savior. Every time that I go to a Passover Seder, I learn something new.  So instead of telling you every detail of the Seder, I am going to share with you what I learned new. Seder means "order" so it is the Passover Order (of service).

Table Setting

The first thing that I noticed was that they used romaine lettuce. Which I thought was a bit strange until I saw how they used it (you will see that later).  I didn't take a photo but as a part of the Seder Psalms 24:3-4 instructs "Who may go up the mountain of Adonai? Who can stand in his holy place? Those with clean hands and pure hearts. . ." So there is a hand washing section of the Seder.  They used a water picture and basin similar to the old fashioned washing stations that would be in a bedroom (before the times of running water in the house.) One person walked around the table and ceremonially washed hands.  Then they switched places with someone else so their hands could be washed.

Unleavened Bread

Instead of using store purchased matzah, they had homemade unleavened bread.  It did not have the symbolic stripes and piercings but it was more like what would have been eaten in the dessert by the Jews that were freed from Egypt.

-

Eating Parsley dipped in water

I sat across from this very well mannered young Jewish boy.  The bitter herb (parsley) dipped in salt water is supposed to be something difficult to eat but he enjoyed it with all his heart.  It reminded me of my nephews drinking pickle juice.

Matzah with maror and kharoset

"We dip the bitter herbs into kharoset to remind ourselves that even the most bitter of circumstances can be sweetened by the hope we have in God."  Kharoset is made from chopped apples, honey, nuts and wine (or grape juice) and the bitter herb in this case is horseradish.  If you have ever eaten horseradish, you know that it can bring tears to your eyes.  But when eaten in a bite with kharoset and matzah, the bitterness changes into a flavor that dances on the pallet. It is the same when we add God into our difficult situations in life, he can make our hearts joyful.

"Jewish Taco"

Lettuce is also a bitter herb.  They had us put kharoset and horseradish inside the romaine lettuce leaf.  The Rabbi referred to it as a Jewish taco: bitter that is overcome by sweetness.

A child's search for the Afikomen

In the middle of the service, the Matzah is "broken" and half is hidden which is a symbolism of Jesus death and time in the tomb.  Towards the end of the service, the children look for the Afikomen which is then used as the Body of Christ for communion.  It struck me as amazing that with the excitement and love of a child the Body of Christ is removed from hiding and brought forth for communion. 

Matthew 18:3

New International Version (NIV)

³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A3&version=NIV

How is my dietary change affecting my life?

This week I had my quarterly blood work done.  I haven't received the official paperwork yet, I'm going by memory. The doctor was so thrilled with the results that she called me Friday morning. 

My blood sugar, A1C, was down from 9.6 to 6.4 also my cholesterol was done down from the low 200's to about 150. Although my bad cholesterol had not changed at all.

The one spot of worry was that the protein in my urine was slightly elevated.  Which means that I need to eat less meat and more fat. Difficult to do in a low fat society.

Oh look at these eyes!

This is one of those times that I will let the picture speak for itself.

A way to eliminate recycling plastic

I was in a meeting this evening and some friends cups caught my eye. I have seen a lot of people use canning jars to mix flavored drinks that are healthy. But as I looked at these jars I wondered "What do they have on the top?"

The canning company, Ball, has created a drinking top for the top of their canning jars. I was told that it comes with a straw. Looking at it, you can either drink from the top or use a straw with it and there's a little bitty air hole in the back so when you drink it flows nice and it doesn't spill.

I like this idea for many reasons. I like to make a flavored drink with ginger, cucumbers, mint, and lemon. But it's so difficult to wash the cups. This would solve my problem. I know; I'm trying not to buy more "things". But I might have to look for this because in the long run I think it would save money.

Ice fishing season is over ...

Sunday evening we went by the lake and it was barely starting to melt. But, Tuesday night after a couple of warm days we noticed around the dock there was about 4 inches of water on top of the ice.

I also noticed that there was a crack starting to form across the lake. I don't understand why they leave the dock out on the lake. But without it I would not be able to see how the crack is forming.

When Dale went to the lake today he said the ice was turning black. That means there's been too much  melting and it's not safe to walk across.  I'm sure there will be a few die hard daredevils that will walk across the ice just to go fishing.

April showers bring May flowers

And Winter snow thaws bring Snow Crocus.  I have seen these pop through the snow when the frost isn't too deep.  Every flower garden that I plant includes crocuses! After all who doesn't want the first flowers blooming on the block.

Living a block off from main street a lot of people walk by my place.  The new bulbs that I planted last fall are poking up through the dirt but no flowers yet. I can't wait to see how many come up.

Spring is pushing Winter out of the way!

Very literally winter is being pushed out of the way as the tulips and daffodils push out through the snow. Close to the house, the ground is warm enough to thaw the dirt so that the tulips can come up.

At my house I can see the crocuses are beginning to emerge along the edge of the garden. On the way home this afternoon I also saw a beautiful Robin perched on a stone pillar.

Then I met Dale out by the lake to walk the dogs. And to my surprise there were four wheelers and cars driving onto and off from the still frozen lake. Watching the guys drill holes in the ice, it looks like the ice was over 2 feet deep.

Fishing opener is one month away.   I need to wonder if the ice is going to be off the lake by then and if the water will be warm enough for the fish to bite.