One of those HUH? Moments...

I think I've seen it all.

A snow blower with headlights.

I think it was jimmy rigged.

Which sort of brings to mind the phrase...

"You might be a redneck if..."

Too bad I didn't get a picture of it.

WFMW: Stomach Bug Hydration

Thanks to Shannon from Rocks in My Dryer for hosting the Works for Me Wednesday Tip Carnival -- you'll want to go HERE to get hundreds (literally) more tips!

So ... I have another totally non-spiritual post -- Hey! I'm on a roll here!

This is a tip I found MOST helpful while I was sick for SEVEN DAYS with the stomach virus that came straight from down below the earth's core where it is really hot and fiery. And molten lava.

On the 5th day, I had HAD it. I went to my doctor, and he prescribed an anti-nausea medication which was like nectar from the heavens. But, that's not the tip.

He proceeded to tell me to go straight to the hospital for some IV Fluid and some Electrolyte action. I asked him if he had fallen out of the crazy tree, hit every crazy branch on the way down, and forgot I had a three year old, and going to the hospital was not happening... because, no matter HOW hard my husband works at caring for my three year old, I couldn't do it to him.

Then, he (the doctor) gave me the two most profound tips (at that moment in time) that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

He said that 1) no matter how sick to your stomach you are, once you get fluids in your system you will really feel better ... but more importantly, 2) he gave me this code to live by when attacked with the stomach bug: Semi-solids IN, Semi-solids OUT ... Liquids IN, Liquids out. If you've had the stomach bug, you know what I'm referring to... if you haven't, I'll explain it off line. And as an FYI -- anything in a semi-frozen or pureed state (like applesauce) is what he's referring to.

ANYHOW ... on my way home, I stopped at the local Smoothie joint (ok, it was out of my way) and got a super-duper large mango smoothie with three-times extra electrolytes.

Remember what the doc said... semi solids in ... you know where I'm going.

I proceeded to sip slowly on that thick smoothie and guzzled naked Gatorade the rest of the day, forcing fluids into my body, and sure enough, I felt so, SO much better. Especially after the anti-nausea meds kicked in and I could actually HOLD something in.

Moral of this tip: If you are sick to your stomach (in either direction), eating applesauce is better than drinking apple juice. Burnt toast helps absorb acid (the carbon on the burned part). Smoothies made with electrolytes are heaven's answer to being sick.

Homemade Remedy: If you have been sick for a while, and are in need of electrolytes, try making a smoothie at home... Mind you, these are rough calculations -- try it out and master your own recipe. In a blender, mix about 8-10 ounces of Gatorade or pedialyte, 1 cup of ice, 2 scoops of sorbet (trust me on this one - don't cut the sorbet out and DO NOT substitute it with ice cream or yogurt or ANYTHING dairy -- just DON'T) and some frozen fruit. Blend until smooth and sip slowly through a straw. If you're having a problem with the smoothie sticking to the blades and freezing up, it needs more liquid (use Gatorade or pedialyte again). I personally love the combination of Mango Sorbet, Frozen Mango pieces -- yum. And when I'm not sick, we make this with some simple syrup or juice instead of the Gatorade.

Semi-solids, and electrolytes.

Works for me!

Slow Cooker Recipe Contest

Last week, while I lay on my death bed (stomach virus), I was watching Good Morning America -- and I saw that they are "searching for the best slow-cooker recipe in the nation." Emeril Lagasse is testing all the recipes and hosting the contest along with Good Morning America.

Now, I know that you ALL use your crockpot like a third arm ... so ... go searching in your recipe collection for an original, slow-cooker recipe that can be called "the best in the nation!"

I'm thinking of entering my own beef stew recipe, which simply melts in your mouth with deliciousness and goodness.

So, this is your chance to share your meal idea with the country. Send in your entry to "GMA" and Emeril as part of their Slow Cooker Showdown. Go HERE for all the rules and stuff.

One entry per person. Send your original slow cooker recipe, along with an essay of no more than 100 words stating why it is the best slow cooker recipe. If possible, include a photograph of the finished slow cooker recipe. Please be sure to include your name, address, all phone numbers and an e-mail address (if available). Recipe and personal information will not count toward the 100 word essay limit.

Mail entries to:
Emeril's Slow Cooker Showdown
Ansonia Station
P. O. Box 234081
New York, NY 10023-9412

Or enter online at the Good Morning America contest page at abcnews.com.

Entries must be in by February 27.

Now... doesn't that sound like fun?

WFMW: "Kill The Mouse Dead" Mouse Trap Tip

Each week, Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer hosts the weekly "Works For Me" carnival, where hundreds of people can share their wonderful, tried and true tips and ideas. Shannon just had a mouse die in her walls. This happened too a while back, so in honor of Shannon, I bring you my "Kill The Mouse Dead" Mouse Trap Tip. I'm sure PETA will swarm all over me, but try living with mice in your house.

Back to the "Kill The Mouse Dead" Mouse Trap Tip. Here's my experience and qualifications in killing mice dead: We used to live in a house that was old and out in the country-ish -- originally built in the late 1890's, it burned down, and part of it was rebuilt in the 1920's. It was remodeled in the late 1990's after the owner passed quietly in her reclining chair (still makes me shiver -- they were cat-loving-pack-rats, too -- a bad combo for reasons you will never imagine) ... and did I mention that it was drafty, un-insulated, and had thousands of places for mice to squeeze in through (like in the kitchen around the piping for the faucet if it is on an exterior wall, powder rooms, laundry rooms, etc.)? It was a lovely little cottagie-style home in an historic area, surrounded by a white picket fence, and lots of land and trees -- I adored it.

I did not, however, adore the mice mommas and all their babies that liked to cohabitate (or whatever) with us in our cold and uninsulated, yet cozy little cottagie-like home.

Ewwwwww -- I still shudder. Especially when I think of the mouse-momma that squeezed her tiny babies under one of our bookshelves and went off to get some food for them, only NOT to come back at all because we SNAPPED her in our mouse trap. We found the dead babies when we moved, and it was so disgusting, and ... well ... never mind.

ANYHOW -- First, you need to go through the inside of your house and look at all your exterior walls (under cabinets, behind radiators, etc.) and SEAL any cracks (no matter how tiny they are) with expanding foam -- because believe me -- you would be SHOCKED at how tiny of an entry these little mice need to welcome themselves into your home.

THEN -- ah, yes... then you put out mouse traps. Not just any ol' mouse trap ... the only one that we found to work, and caught TONS of mice with is... the Snap-E Mouse Trap. Did you hear the heavenly beings sing a chorus of hallelujahs?

Ehem.

Seriously -- this mouse trap ROCKS over any other mouse trap because it has a special platform that holds a little cup of food. The only way the mouse can get the food is to step up on the platform that automatically releases the arm and ... well, it's curtains for the little mouse before it even figures out what hit it - heh heh. Plus, it flips up a bar that you release the mouse with, never coming in contact with dead mice, or contaminated mice-trap parts. I'm ordering them right now for the mice in my garage -- shudder again. (see testimonials and more pictures HERE)

In all the years we lived in this house, we NEVER had a mouse eat the food out of this trap and get away alive. Ever. We have, on the other hand, had a mouse die in our walls (so this is in honor of Shannon) and the coffee grounds did the trick in removing the odor -- after a few weeks. Oh, my -- we discovered this on the day I was having a girl's Christmas party. Nothing says "Merry Christmas y'all!" like the smell of dead mouse lingering in the air. And to put Shannon at ease, the stink does not come back in the hot months, Praise the Lord! One more thing... You do NOT want to burn candles -- especially the ones you really like, because the smell of Cinnamon-orange-fruited-dead-mouse will never leave your head, and the candle will never smell the same to you again. And it will turn your stomach each time someone lights it. I'm just lovingly speaking from experience.

Finally, to close out this whole WFMW segment graciously, I'll tell you what DOESN'T work AT ALL --

1) chasing after the mouse with a slipper in the middle of the night while your wife is screaming in the middle of your bed;

2) the old fashioned wooden mouse traps (Victor);

3) cats (we had several wild cats living in the barn and they were NO GOOD to us, I tell you -- and I'm deathly allergic, too);

4) the electronic rodent repellent/deterrents (for the love of Pete -- don't even waste your money to experiment -- they just do NOT work)

One of these days, I'll have to tell you about the dead cat the neighbors found while cleaning up the house after the previous pack-rat-owner died (way before the house was gutted out, remodeled, and cleaned up, and WAY BEFORE we owned it).

Nah. That'll gross you out too much.

Have a mouse-free day.

What is WRONG with the World today?

Well... if you're wondering, here's a great sermon jam to watch... It will clue you in on what's wrong with the world today. My IRL (in real life) friend "Wretched Sinner" created this, and I think he did a great, GREAT!!

What is a sermon jam??? Well, basically, someone takes parts of a sermon that spoke to them, and puts it to music with graphics. This particular sermon jam is a sermon by Voddie Baucham -- I think you'll enjoy it, and really, it needs no further comment from me.



"What is wrong with the world?" - Voddie Baucham Sermon Jam from Wretched Sinner on Vimeo.

Ch-ch-ch-CHANGES...

In diet and lifestyle ...

Yes, a "healthier us" is in progress. Please excuse me while I blab about it on my blog.

We've (and by "we" I mean "he") started Step 1 (lowering cholesterol and high blood pressure) towards a healthier husband. But there is so much more... so I present you with Step 2...

Step 2 towards a healthier us: Reducing on meal per week to a meat-less meal. Ugh. I can't tell you how hard this will be for me. I am totally all about beef. And now, I need to be totally about ... lentils, beans, legumes, tofu.... UGH. Fortunately, it is only for one or two meals a week.

Actually, in all fairness, I can mix pasta in with all that healthy meatless stuff... so I'm okay with that. Anything with Pasta is okay with me!!! And Parmesan cheese, of course, which is a hard cheese, therefore better for the diet!

Much to my husband's "joy," I'll be making a ratatouille over spaghetti this Sunday, and I'm hoping it will blow our socks off. Really, really hoping.

Next weekend, I'll be trying my hand at a really delectable vegetarian spaghetti sauce with lentils. No ground chicken. Just ... lentils. Joy. But, HEY! It's HEALTHY! And that's what my husband (and really, ALL of us) need.

In retrospect, we eat fairly healthy meals at home, but that's not always the case when we go out. It is hard to control the sodium levels in restaurants (hence the SuperShots), and all the delicious sauces are tempting at best. Another thing I'll really have to curb is baking. I love to bake, and while I do bake a lot with Splenda for baking, not all things turn out as tasty with applesauce or Splenda as they do with real sugar and real oil. And sadly, I have a sweet tooth... something I'll have to come to terms with on my own.

So ... Anyone out there have any healthy meat-less dishes they like (outside of chili, of course!)?

WFMW: Lower Cholesterol AND High Blood Pressure

Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer hosts the weekly "Works For Me Wednesday... go check her out and all the other awesome tips!

This is totally the easiest way to take a step toward healthier living in 2009! As many of you may have read in a previous post of mine, we had a heart scare with my husband. He is now under strict orders to change.his.life.asap.

So... change his life we shall! One step at a time. We eat fairly healthy anyway (well, at least in the home), but there are some extra changes we need to make, and one came in a fairly easy form.

Promise Healthy Heart (the Promise butter spread people) offers several heart-friendly products that actually help lower cholesterol and high blood pressure without major or drastic changes in your diet. Actually, ALL of their products are heart-friendly. One of the products is called "SuperShots" -- which is a "drink" that tastes like a weak yogurt, and while yogurt is a very BAD option for you if you have high cholesterol, this drink has NO cholesterol content.

Each Cholesterol reducing drink contains enough plant sterols to help remove cholesterol from your body (so do all their spreads!).

They also have a SuperShots for reducing high blood pressure, loaded with potassium which flushes sodium (causes high blood pressure) from the body (because "salt happens")!

So -- How easy is it? You drink one of each per day. ONE. That's it! They cost around $4.50 for a pack of 4 (WalMart carries them, as do most grocery stores). I'm willing to pay $30-40 a month for a healthy alternative to prescription drugs!!!

Why do I say this works? Because my brother-in-law started taking the Cholesterol reducing SuperShot, and his cholesterol went down 30-some points in one month. He continues to drink them and has maintained low cholesterol readings. I think he said something like... "it's the easiest way to change your lifestyle, reduce your cholesterol, without really doing a lot of "changing" and hard work" (of course there are other healthy changes you need to make, and he has too... but this is a great and easy start!).

As for the high-blood pressure SuperShot, my husband started taking them on Christmas Eve. On January 2, he had a 4 hour stress test, and at the beginning of the test (a resting state) his BP was 110 over 80. That's GREAT in comparison to what it had been!!!

Next step: Have one meat-free meal per week, working towards two.

This totally works for us!!!

Worship - Part 2

So -- picking up from yesterday's post... you might be thinking "worship just isn't my thing." Well – let me share with you it says in Revelations. Now, when most people hear Revelations, their eyes glaze over, and quite possibly, roll to the back of their heads. Yes, the book is hard and intimidating, but it is also very beautiful and prophetic, and Revelations 5 is all about Worship and what will be going on in heaven, and quite frankly, we can consider worship hear on earth mere practice for what we'll be doing in Heaven!

In John's vision of Heaven, he says: "Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" [Revelation 5:13] Every single creature that existed giving God the glory during worship - for ever... and ever!

It’s amazing that once we get to heaven, we will be worshipping, worshipping, worshipping – constantly! We will be lifting our "golden bowls full of incense" (v.8 -- prayers and praises of the saints) and at the mere sight of Christ we will fall down before him and praise him! And not just some people ... everyone! (v.13)! All creatures, angels, man – we will praise him together!

How awesome will THAT be?

Now, I will be honest. As I mentioned yesterday in my closing, I do have a personal preference for worship. I don't care if it is fast, slow, contemporary or traditional. However... I do prefer "personal worship songs" (my sister in law has a good name for it from her SIL, but I can’t remember it) over "testimony" songs ... many traditional hymns are testimonies of what God did in the author’s life, and while I love the rich heritage we have in hymns, I simply adore the songs (choruses, hymns, contemporary music, etc) that take me to the throne in an intimate and personal way, many times even reciting scripture verbatim.

I find that when I’m singing a song to Jesus as opposed to a song about Jesus, I slip into deep worship, and feel that I am truly blessing Jesus with my worship. As a result, I end up being blessed in return – sort of like a rubber ball bouncing off of a wall – I throw it out to God, and it comes right back to me. I don't start out worshipping God to get a blessing – it just happens!

Here's an example of what I’m trying to explain and am floundering at finding the right words ...

Look at the words of a simple chorus that we sing "I love you lord, and I lift my voice. To worship you, oh my God, rejoice. Take joy my king in what you see. Let it be a sweet, sweet song to your ears."

Now, look at the words of a favorite hymn of many of the saints in our church (which I love too): "I'm so glad, I'm a part, of the family of God. I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by his blood. Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod. For I'm part of the family, the family of God."

Yes. I have been washed in the fountain. I've been cleansed by his blood. I am a part of the family of God. But I can’t use those words in worship! Where as, I can say... I LOVE you Lord!! I lift my voice to YOU! I want to WORSHIP you! I ADORE you! Let what I'm saying (or singing) BLESS you!

Did that make sense?

So the questions I leave with you today are... Are you truly worshipping God with reckless abandon? Is your worship coming from your heart? Do you really feel it? How do you feel more comfortable worshipping?

One more Spurgeon quote:

"Depend upon it, my hearer, you never will go to heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God. They are all doing it there: you will have to come to it, and if you entertain the notion that he is a mere man, or that he is anything less than God, I am afraid you will have to begin at the beginning and learn what true religion means. You have a poor foundation to rest upon. I could not trust my soul with a mere man, or believe in an atonement made by a mere man: I must see God himself putting his hand to so gigantic a work." (Spurgeon)

There you have it. What are your thoughts?

Edited to add: I agree with what my friend Donnetta said -- "worship, in and of itself, is so much more than music. Music is just one way we worship God." Absolutely. I completely agree. I was just focusing on one part of worship with regards to Rev. 5 that I had studied the night before.

Worship - Part 1

Last night, I took Hunter to his Awana class, which by the way, is not at my own home church. While I was waiting on him, I sat in on the adult Bible class. They are studying Revelations, and the lesson of the evening (Revelations 5) really resonated with me, because it was about worship. I simply love to worship... I love to sing, raise my hands, clap, sway (oh, yeah!), and I love to make proclamations of God’s goodness, praising him with my heart.

But there are many people that simply struggle to get through an hour or an hour and a half of worship time each week, which to me is a sad (but true) statement. I have heard many different reasons why: "the worship leader doesn't speak to me." (Well, is that really their job?) How about "the music is too contemporary." (Compared to what? A traditional hymn like Crown Him with Many Crowns? Which, by the way, was considered “over the top contemporary” when they came out with it? Or maybe you’re referring to newer hymns than that, like the Gaither movement? Which again, were styled even more contemporary than the previously mentioned hymn, and received much negative feedback when first introduced in the ‘60s!) Or how about this one: "all I hear is loud instruments. Why can’t we just sing with our voices?" Well, you can. And it is beautiful! But you won’t be once you’re in heaven, so why not get used to it now?

So why do you worship? Is it out of tradition? Because you were taught to do it when you were younger? Really, what is the whole point of worship?

For me, the purpose of worship is to glorify, adore, honor, praise, exalt, extol, and please God. It is freely giving God love! He made us to worship him! This isn't a silent act, but rather a vocal act! You can even throw in a raised arm or clapped hand every now and then, and it will put a big ol' smile on God’s face! Trust me! It really will!

Charles H. Spurgeon said "God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation." Amazing! You may not like it, but ... first we need to praise God with our voices... out of obedience, whether we feel like it or not. Then, our hearts will follow because what begins out of holy obedience ends in holy blessing. You may not like the worship style at your church, or your worship leader (I love mine!), or the instruments they use ... but you aren't worshipping THEM, and if we worship out of obedience, if we really humble ourselves in worship, God comes and meets us. I can't imagine a greater reward for the simple act of obedience!

There have been a lot of times that I didn't "feel like worshipping." Either I felt sick, or I was going through a trial I didn't want to go through, or I might have felt "empty" or maybe I just felt rebellious. But I have learned that when I close my eyes, tune out all distractions, and make my worship a sacrifice ... in other words, surrender myself to the Lord, force myself to praise him and get in tune with Him, he comes and fills my heart with joy and meets me where I'm at.

Okay -- to make this a shorter post, and to maintain your attention... this will be continued tomorrow! Please leave your comments on why YOU worship. What does it mean to you? What style of worship do you prefer? Tomorrow, I’ll share what kind of worship I prefer and why!

This Year Was The Year Of My Undoing!

As I am writing this post, I am looking out the window and I see a snow flurry outside. Big fat, flaky, pure white, beautiful snowflakes floating all around that remind me of God’s cleansing love and grace. Praise God that He is faithful!

Any way… I know that many people use the phrase in my title lightly, with sarcasm and humor, but in my case, this year REALLY WAS the year of my undoing. And I brought it upon myself.

As usual, I committed myself to far more than anyone that has a full time job and a family can humanly handle. My intentions were wonderful – save money, make money (a craft fair), make memorable gifts, and warm people’s hearts while having fun in the process. Fun projects! Fun baking! Fun fabrics! Fun papers! Fun beads! Fun, fun, fun!

Instead, my heart ended up cold and frustrated. I spent close to seven weeks … LITERALLY … sick. I missed weekends where I was laid up in bed miserably sick. It put a real kink in my self-imposed schedule, and put myself behind enough that it affected my entire holiday spirit. There were even days in the months of November and December that I couldn't remember if I even put deodorant on, or if I was wearing the same thing to work twice in a row! I scrapped several projects I wanted to do, missed blogging (which I love dearly), sent my Christmas cards out AFTER Christmas, what a mess!

Then, to top everything off, I got a call at work on Christmas Eve morning (yep, I had to work until 2 pm) from my sweet, wonderful husband and to make a really long story short, we ended up at the emergency room for most of the day because his heart was racing, and he was short of breath. He was diagnosed with Arterial Fibrillation. Instead of a comfortable 70-110 heart beats per minute at a rest, his was fluctuating wildly between 110-160 beats per minute. They ran numerous tests, took a chest x-ray, did a cat scan, and were ultimately able to regulate his heart beat with medication, and we were on our way a mere 5 hours later. Quite a rude wake up call, if you ask me -- and furthermore, I'm pretty certain my husband won't forgive me easily now that I've "outed" him. I could have lost my husband (I know that’s quite a stretch), and what sweet Christmas memories would I have to look back on? Me -- sewing frantically in the middle of the night while my boys are tucked away in bed. For two solid months. I don’t think so.

So all-in-all, my Christmas was chaotic, hectic, un-enjoyed. Yes, I enjoyed the 30 minutes of opening presents and gift giving. I did not, however, enjoy being unprepared, behind schedule, and ultimately robbing time from my family in the months prior to Christmas. In fact, I’m pretty sure my husband didn't enjoy it either, but fortunately, Hunter is too young to notice that things weren't like normal. I missed all-important traditions for my family, like the Jesse Tree, tucking Hunter into bed at nights, reading stories to him, and even cooking a special breakfast with my traditional sticky buns on Christmas morning. That made me very sad. No, we don’t need sticky buns… but the point is – I was either too busy or sick in the weeks leading up to Christmas, or too tired on Christmas morning to do it.

I pretty much crashed and burned by New Year’s, and I clearly remember sitting on the floor with Hunter while looking wearily around my chaotic home wondering how I was going to pull it all together after the holidays.

This past Sunday, our Pastorman preached a great sermon, and shared two scriptures that screamed out to me in particular. One was about King Solomon. He chased everything “under the sun” – he enjoyed everything and denied himself nothing. And while he was enjoying life, he also did great things: he built houses, planted vineyards, designed gardens and parks and planted fruit trees in them, he bought slaves, acquired large herds and flocks, piled up silver and gold… anything he wanted, he did. And many of the things he did were good things… not just selfish things.

But when he looked at everything he’d done, he saw nothing. It was all meaningless. And when I look back at all I did – all the projects I sewed, all the items I beaded, all the crafts I made, all the gifts I created – yes, they brought joy to others, but for me? They were all meaningless in comparison to the time robbed from God and my family.

The Pastorman also shared another scripture that ties all this together… and truly, this one was like a dagger to my heart.

Revelation 2 talks about the church in Ephesus, and how they work hard, refuse to quite, hate evil and pretenders, and are courageous and persistent and do all kinds of Godly things. BUT – even though they do all those wonderful good things, they still managed to walk away from their first love – God!!

And then… our Pastorman went there… He said, it doesn't matter what practices, procedures, or traditions you do… if you do Godly stuff just to be doing it, and have lost the reason why you’re doing it… well, you've forsaken your first love and need to go back and iron it out. And in fact, I realized that I had been doing “practices, procedures and traditions” and being busy for the sake of just doing it… not to glorify God and the birth of his son, because honestly, what once started out as a labor of love had turned into an albatross around my neck with no joy at all!

So. I did what he suggested. I reviewed my last few months and really saw things from a different perspective. While there are many good things I have done, and while I have worked hard and refused to quit, and while there are many things I enjoy to do and achieve, I really allowed Christ to slip away from my focus, and allowed busyness to become the main focus.

I can see how I easily became overwhelmed, consumed, out of control, cluttered, disorganized, and exhausted. God had stopped being a part of my whole equation. My first love had slipped from my list of priorities. In fact, my first, second and third loves had slipped – the Lord, my husband, and my son.

In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells us that we should love God first and love others as ourselves. When we put God first, he ministers to us where and when we need it, and prepares our hearts to “bubble forth” his love to others. His wonderful grace in our lives compares to NOTHING around us, and when we are in tune with him, he prepares us and readies us to minister to others. It’s a beautiful think how that works!

Furthermore, I feel that when we focus on truly loving God first in our lives, and others second, then God comes and fills us with a peace and joy that we can only experience when we abide in him. Two things that totally escaped me this Christmas season as I hurried around trying to love others first.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

So... this year, I'm doing things differently.

I'm changing my life around, reprioritizing things, placing God first in everything, focusing on my family, and working towards bringing health back into my home by refocusing on good eating habits, and hey, by the way… if loosing weight is a benefit from that, then right on!

Christmas of 2009 WILL BE DIFFERENT. I'm NOT killing myself to make or find the "just right and perfect gift" for ANYONE unless I stumble on it (except for my husband and son, of course). I may even begin purchasing gift cards in the spring so that by the fall, I'll have either a nice stash of cards to give out, or a nice stash of cards to go shopping with. I will NOT stress out over MAKING a gazillion things this year. Instead, I will focus on the important things in my life – my relationship with Christ, my devotions, my family... my studies... a few [read: not every single gift I make – just a FEW] really special homemade gifts for my dear friends and family, etc.

I hope that you too will examine your life and reprioritize!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Friday Finds #12: Handbrake!

Today is my LAST Friday Finds! And it is only appropriate that I bring you a last minute freebie! This is a cool and FREE gadget that anyone giving an ipod as a Christmas gift will want to know about. It's called HandBrake. Actually, I'm pretty sure many already know about this, but for those that don't... HandBrake is an "open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows."

In my lingo: pop a DVD in, use HandBrake and transform it into an MP4 to upload onto the iPod.
In HandBrake lingo: It will turn any DVD-like source (VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD and some .VOB and .TS files) and most any multimedia file it can get libavformat to read and libavcodec to decode and convert it the following outputs:

1. File format: MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM
2. Video: MPEG-4, H.264, or Theora (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer/rate
encoding)
3. Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several
audio tracks)

My techie friend mentioned this to me -- and it is so cool I almost want to go out and get an iPod. Well, I do, and maybe I will after Christmas. Ya never know! (p.s.-check out my techie friend's post about Santa... pretty good stuff!)

Now -- can anyone explaine what a quantizer? It sorta looks like it is spelled wrong, but I cut and pasted it from their web site! Oh, well...


Oh, yeah -- I finally changed my blog from my FALL look to my WINTER look... 6 days before Christmas. I'm right on top of things!

Friday Finds #11: Zazzle Me!

Well, we're winding down our Friday Finds and we are in the homestretch for Christmas. After today, there is only ONE Friday Find left until Christmas... can you believe it? And it will be a freebie you're bound to love.

As luck would have it, my lap top was replaced with a newer model, YAY FOR ME! But and all my Favorites didn't transfer properly -- including the folder I had bookmarked all my Friday Finds in. Fun times, I tell you.

So, off the top of my head, I thought I'd share with you a website that is awesome, fun, and quite clever when it comes to homemade gifting... because in a sense, it is "homemade-gifting-not-quite-homemade-made-easy-for-the-non-crafty-sort". Tongue twister!

This site is perfect for the hard-to-buy person, the bah-humbug person, the terrible three year old that needs a personalized something-something of their own, the budding teenager that's ever so precious and just full of "personality," the friend that loves to ice fish and you can never find anything appropriate for him or his hobby, the sister-in-law that has a cute self-proclaimed slogan (like, "World peace? Who needs World Peace. Pass the chocolate." or "Holy Cows Don't Work -- Ask God!" or "Oh, my ACHING head" or "Love you to pieces, princess!") -- you know... "THAT" person... Wait. That person is me.

ANYHOW...

By now, you might be asking... "What's that perfect Christmas gift?" (Or, you might be thinking... "WILL SHE EVER GET TO IT ALREADY?!"

Well then... how about an absolutely unique gift you've created just for them? Zazzle is THE place for you. You can upload a graphic, picture, whatever ... add a clever saying that is "hallmark" to that person, and Boom. Ya got a gift.

Ok, so what kind of stuff can you personalize? Oh, joy -- allow me to share. Yes, there are the normal things you'd expect from a personalizing place... but there are also some FUN things(see caps)!

Shirts, hats, SHOES (keds), mugs, bags/totes, APRONS, TIES, greeting cards, business cards, post cards and note cards, POSTAGE STAMPS, POSTERS, CANVAS PRINTS, calenders, mouse pads, STEINS, bumper stickers, magnets, PHOTO SCULPTURES, keychains, BUTTONS, and are you ready for this??? SKATEBOARDS.

How fun is that? Can you imagine your child waking up Christmas morning to find a COOL SKATEBOARD designed just for him or her waiting under the tree?

I don't know how Zazzle does it... but they do.

Finally, the other really cool thing about this is... you can make money at it, too. Yep -- you can put your designs up for sale to the public. In fact, I did just that. I designed a shirt for my Pastorman's wife with a saying she loves (I was unable to actually find a real shirt with it already printed on it -- and -- if anyone from her family is reading this -- keep it to yourselves).

I haven't received it in the mail yet (this week or beginning of next), and I'm dying to see the end result. I'm hoping the quality is nice, because I went CHEAP, and bought the cheapest enlarged my clip art -- so I hope it isn't all pixely) -- I'll keep you posted.

You can go HERE to see the shirts I created (pictured below -- see what YOU can do???). They're cute, in my humble opinion. Oh, and... feel free to buy one or five hundred of them while you're there!

Friday Finds #10

I've got a cool gift idea for you today, and it will enable you to use your creativity with out really using your creativity... if that makes any sense. Basically -- ANYONE can do this -- all you need is a digital picture and a credit or check card.

Today's Idea: Canvas Press: I love this idea -- take an ordinary photo,and turn it into a work of art that is printed on canvas. For $45.99*, you can have an 8x10, "gallery wrap" (the photo gets wrapped around the sides of the canvas) work of art created... people will call you genius, grandparents will weep... and your walls will boast of a beautiful child, family photo, or your favorite flower. Whatever your mind can think of, Canvas Press can turn it into a work of art. Beautiful. Amazing. Why didn't I think of it?

The sample below shows a huge print on the wall of a hospital, but you can see how they wrapped the picture around the canvas. You'll just have to visit the site to see how beautiful their stuff is!

Have I mentioned how much
I love this idea? *You can create an account for free, upload a picture and play with it yourself to see what you can get. There are many different options you can choose from -- of course, everything costs something! So go play!

Hum-de-HO-HO-hummm

Where oh, where have I been???

Not that many people noticed... but I took a blogging break (with the exception of Friday Finds).

Why?

Well, let me share.

First, we put our dog to sleep on Wednesday, November 12. That was a tough thing. We knew she was old. We knew she was sick. We knew it was coming. What I didn't expect was to take her to the vet for a checkup and to see why her belly was swollen, and to be told she was in end-stage liver failure, and to prolong her life any longer than THAT DAY would be unwise and unkind. So I walked in at 11:45 WITH our dog, and left at 1:00 permanently WITHOUT our dog. And dropped $200 in the process. I cried my eyes out. And Hunter didn't miss a beat. "Mommy, good girl at the docors?" (he leaves out the t) or "Mommy, good girl dead."

Sigh. How do you reply to that? Yes, son, she is indeed dead.

Our poor dog. She was a part of our lives for 15 years and three months. She was the sweetest most adorable dog in all the earth. She patiently endured torment from children without a complaint, was faithful to the end, and returned our love each and every day. She knew she was loved. We knew she loved us.

Having said that -- I still won't be getting another dog anytime soon. If ever. Unless maybe my precious son begs me for one, in which case, I will probably slam my hand in the car door first to draw my attention away from the fact that we might be bringing another dog into my home. I'm sure my husband feels the same way.

Anyway -- the very next day, I was slammed with a miserable cold that robbed me completely of my voice for 5 days. I couldn't even whisper.

Then, upon having sufficiently recovered (it took 10 days!), I spent several days preparing items for a craft show. Which was followed by ANOTHER cold. I totally blame the flu shot for this one.

Somewhere in there we celebrated my 41st birthday. It's all a blur... quite possibly brought on by two cycles of antibiotics and enough cough syrup to drown a small animal -- like that blasted rabbit that ate all my veggies in the garden this summer. Thank goodness my doctor prescribed cough syrup with codeine last week. I'm loving that stuff. I mean -- it works really great. You should try it.

Oh, yeah ... I also sank into a 3-week bout of depression. Not sure where that came from, but it hit me pretty hard. I hate it when depression sneaks up on you and takes you for all your worth before you even have a chance to realize that it's taking you, if you know what I mean.

In the midst of all this funk, we attended a cooking class hosted in a woman's kitchen. We had fun. It was good. And I'm still in a depressed funk.

Then, we went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving, and I got sick. Again. This time, sinuses. And I'm firmly convinced that it had EVERYTHING to do with driving up and down in the mountains for 7 hours. Each way.

Now, I'm preparing for Christmas. I'm a wee bit overwhelmed by the quantity of things I've committed myself to MAKE (sew, bead, bake), and may, in fact, decide to purchase gifts and gift cards instead of MAKING gifts after all. It may be the one saving grace for keeping my sanity intact. We'll see after this weekend, as I'm planning on sewing all day Saturday.

And I know Etsy has homemade stuff. I love Etsy stuff -- really, I do -- but I look at it all and think, I can't possibly pay for that when I can MAKE IT and MAKE IT GOOD. Yeah, I'm prolific. Whatever.

As of this writing -- I'm still sick with the tail end of the cold that will be forever known as the Great Cold of 2008. Fortunately, Christmas preparations always make me happy and joyful, and I'm greatly anticipating the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Although somehow, I committed to singing 4 songs this season -- one is a quartet of Let There Be Light, one is a duet called Mirror Mirror (Barlow Girl), one is a solo of What Child Is This, and one that is six people singing Chrismastime -- I'm not sure about the last one, as I don't recall signing up for that one. I was handed a cd and music on the fly last Tuesday night at church, and at this point, I'm not sure what I did with either one.

And sadly, my voice has not been fully returned to me after this last month of colds (hence, the Great Cold of 2008), nor can I hold out a note for any length of time without running out of breath or cracking. And my lungs are still hurting. This should be interesting! Four songs will sap my voice for sure, as I lost my ability to sing strongly when I had my tonsils removed about 5 years ago. I was trained in a classical style, sang some light opera with my voice coach, sang in choral groups through my young adult life (that is the one good thing about public schools -- or rather, USED to be a good thing) and now? My voice pretty much sucks. Can you say that on a Christian-family-friendly blog? Because it does.

Has that happened to anyone else??? Any tips?

I still have to find that one elusive good picture for our Christmas cards. That always gets me each and every year, and I find my Christmas cards get mailed out later and later and later -- oh heck. I may just use a picture from the summer. Who cares that Hunter is in shorts, right?

Speaking of Hunter ... He JUST learned about Santa -- not sure who told him about this man dressed in red, but we have repeatedly said that mommy and daddy bring Christmas gifts for Christmas. Maybe this ho-ho man can fill his stocking. Still undecided about that, as I refuse to cloud the true meaning of Christmas with a fantasy-man that has at some point acquired vast sums of money and can make presents magically appear under our Christmas tree. If only it were true. That would have saved me a ton of money.

Now I'm depressed again. Just kidding!

Does anyone have any tips on teaching a child how to say S's?? For instance, Spank is Pank. And it isn't all the time, just most of the time. It's cute now, but I'm pretty sure Hunter will appreciate being able to say words with S when he's 18 and the captain of the high school football team. I mean... how motivating could it possibly be to hear the team captain say, "Let's give these pansies a good panking!"

So that's what's been going on here. It is 12:34 am, I'm battling insomnia, my brain is jammed with lists and tasks and projects, oh, yeah -- work is busy, and I'm fresh out of blogging ideas, although I'm sure I'll come up with something for the week!

Any thoughts?

Enjoy your week.

Friday Find #9: Cool Gifts for Teens and Tweens

I shutter. Gifts for teens and tweens is probably the hardest category... so to help you out, I've got three cool ideas...








1. Gift idea #1: 2009 Bubble Calendar -- Can you imagine how fun this will be to pop each day? I might need one for myself, because nothing says stress relief like bubble wrap and this might just be a stress preventer... one pop a day!!! Total cost... $30 + S/H

2. Gift idea #2: iPod to iPod Transfer -- Now, THIS is cool. (sorry -- no picture) Ever want to transfer songs from one ipod to another? Now all you need is this handy dandy ipod transfer gizmo. Cool, huh?

Not only can you easily transfer music, but videos and pictures from one iPod to another iPod without the use of a computer. It automatically recognizes when you plug in iPods (either Mac or PC formatting) on either end, and it can transfer a three-minute song in five seconds and a 30-minute video in three minutes. 3/4" H x 2 1/4" W x 3 1/2" D. (2 oz.) $99.95 + S/H

3. Cool shirts that ROCK C28 is the coolest store, HANDS DOWN, for Christian tees and other clothing for the young at heart. Seriously... my sister-in-law introduced me to this site last year, and i have since searched and searched, but haven't found another site nearly as cool. Why, it's practically a one stop shop for teens young adults. They have hoodies, t-shirts, button downs, thermals, pants, shoes, jewelry, music (oh, you know that ear-bleeding music young people listen to? Wish you could find a Christian alternative? They have it!) I'm telling you ... this store is a WINNER. Mark it in your favs.

Friday Finds #8: Cooking Delights

Good morning! Today I have a fun idea for Christmas gift giving ... affordable, practical, original---ish.

Giving cookbooks as Christmas gifts isn't necessarily an original thought. But... You know how you sometimes get a beautiful cookbook for a gift, open it up, and only find one or three recipes that you actually care for? What a waste of a gift... and how disappointing if you're the one that GAVE that gift to someone. Well. This year, try putting together your own cookbook for a Christmas gift!? A book with a collection of your own favorite recipes and tried-and-true recipes from other sources.

There are many sites that can make this dream ... the one of actually seeing your name in a book that you created ... next to a recipe you love ... a reality. They all offer pretty much the same thing, just different sizes and prices: you can use your own customizable recipes, or selected recipes from their site or others; standard, easy page layouts; standard covers to choose from; most places let you choose from hardback cover or softback cover (a more economical choice, which allows you to get duplicates, if you're planning on mass producing these as gifts).

Drawbacks: You will probably have to create an account or become a member (free) which means that unless you're already a member, you'll begin getting emails from them (which you can opt out of, too).

My favorite place is Tastebook. You can grab recipes from tons of different places with a click of your mouse... Cooking Light, Food and Wine, My Recipes, Food Network, Recipe Zaar, All Recipes, Better Homes and Gardens, Better Recipes, Southern Living, Simply Recipes, Epicurious, Bon Apetit Recipes, and more. Also, they print the books with a spine that allows you to add pages even after your book has been printed (very clever)! They print them beautifully and mail them to you and you just add it to your book.

Other places you can visit to decide which one will work out best for you are:

allrecipes
Kraft Foods (very, VERY easy to use)
Create My Cookbook

It's a good find for a Friday! You can spend the weekend playing, and create a Christmas gift all at the same time! Yay!

Have an awesome and warm weekend... and ... 4 more Fridays until Christmas Week!!!

Friday Finds #7: Practical Backup Solutions

Click HERE for my "Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style" recipes!

Good morning!

I have a practical Friday Find for you. This comes from first-hand experience of having my computer crash on me numerous times, as I'm sure has happened to you, as well.

So, in honor of crashing computers, today's Friday Find is practical, and has been around a while, it just deserves repeating and reminding everyone about it... The Portable Hard Drive. Perfect for the Christmas List, the stocking stuffer, or just for yourself.

Gadget: Portable Hard Drive -- The one I purchased was the Simpletech Signature Mini Portable 120GB Hard Drive - USB 2.0 in Espresso. I selected this one because it is only 3" x 5" x 0.625' -- small enough to fit in my purse and take back and forth to work every day. I can store 30 two-hour DVD-quality movies, OR 120 hours of VHS-quality video, OR 82 days of around-the-clock MP3 audio, OR 30,000 vivid digital photos, OR 170 action-packed games!

I'm trying to figure out when I'd ever have 30,000 photos... but right now, this little gadget fits my needs.

One last comment ... don't fully rely on an external hard drive as your one and only safety net to save your precious photos and documents. Please back things up on DVD also... one way you can do this is by uploading your photos for print at Costco (or your place of choice), and having them burn them on a CD/DVD -- it's a nominal cost (like under $3.00!) per CD.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style

Click HERE for Friday Finds!


It's the most wonderful time... of they year!!!

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas... hands down, my favorite holidays of the entire year! I love the happiness, the food, the reasons for the seasons... love it all. And I also love Overwhelmed with Joy's holiday tradition... Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style! So if you have a recipe to share, hop on over and link up, then read up on all the great recipes!

This year, I have two new recipes to share!

The first one is a Cooking Light recipe, a deep soul-warming soup called Golden Winter Soup. It has the delicious combination of leeks and potatoes, with the extra sweet surprise of butternut squash. A great soup for Thanksgiving! (picture taken from My Recipes)

Prep Notes: This recipe instructs that you use a blender to puree the soup. I do not have a blender, so I used my food processor in smaller batches, and it worked just fine. A potato masher, however, will NOT work, because the broth and starchy vegetables really need to be emulsified nicely in order to obtain its creamy texture.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
5 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled russet potato (about 12 ounces)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups sliced leek (about 2 medium)
4 chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add squash, potato, salt, and pepper to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add leek; sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender, stirring occasionally.

2. Place half of potato mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining potato mixture. Return mixture to Dutch oven, and stir in half-and-half. Cover and keep warm.

3. Ladle 1 cup soup into each of 8 bowls; top each serving with about 1 teaspoon chives. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper, if desired.

And now, one of my new favorites... Apple Pie Bars from Taste of Home -- ohmygoodness they are yummy! They have a rich apple taste, and they are the perfect dessert for pot-lucks, church dinners, and dinners to share with neighbors or for shut-ins. The recipe yields a lot, but none will be left!

Prep Notes: The dough is a bit tricky, as it is very crumbly, so if you are a novice baker, might I recommend the pre-made pie dough they sell in rolls? Otherwise, you will want to use the dough recipe provided as it has a nice texture-flavor thing going on! Also, I used a small pizza dough rolling pin to roll it into the pan because I found it to be so crumbly. You might want to try rolling the top crust out in several pieces to make it easier to handle. Finally: this is a forgiving recipe, so if you "forget" (ehem!) certain ingredients (like the crisp rice cereal) it will still work. The rice cereal is a thickening agent, and I don't recommend you skip it on purpose. Only if you're slightly distracted by a three year old that has been screaming in the background for over a half hour.

Ingredients:

Crust:
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shortening
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk

FILLING:
1 cup crisp rice cereal
8 cups sliced peeled tart apples (about 9 medium)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon apple pie (or pumpkin pie) spice or all spice
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 egg whites, lightly beaten

Topping:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in the shortening until crumbly. Combine egg yolks and milk; gradually add to crumb mixture, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Divide in half. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 15-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spritz some Pam in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in baking pan and place one rectangle in the pan; sprinkle with crisp rice cereal (see prep notes above).

Arrange apples over cereal. In a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and apple pie spice; sprinkle over apples. Top with remaining pastry; cut slits in top. Brush with egg whites.

Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. In a bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and enough milk to achieve a thick drizzling consistency. Drizzle over bars. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3-4 dozen.

I'm DONE with it!

Politics... Again. Sorry. Bear with me.

I am SICK TO DEATH of this entire election process. Here are some things that I'm particularly sick of...

I'm sick to death of the childish antics Obama supporters have regressed to when they came ONTO MY PROPERTY to steal my McCain / Palin sign... along with hundreds of other people's signs. My street alone has had a MINIMUM of 6 signs stolen alone.

1. We're not doing it to you...
- and I can say this simply because all the Obama signs in my neighborhood are
still standing.
2. It's called STEALING and TRESPASSING
3. It is rude
4. Offering FREE PIZZA for stolen signs is a cheap shot
- stand up and fight your battles the right way and VOTE.
5. Did I mention... we're not doing it to you???

I'm sick to death of stuff like THIS, where Obama flips McCain the bird in a speech. I know -- it isn't CLEAR that he did, but you decide.

I'm sick to death of Angry People.

I'm sick to death of marxist threats to shut down our power plants by bankrupting them ... why? So government can hold the "solution" and "come to every one's rescue"??

I'm sick to death of Fashion Critics. WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about the issues?!?!?

I'm sick to death of "Stage Men" -- Hispanic Democrats are NOT for Obama... even in his own home town. Actions speak louder than words, and Latinos who supported Hillary will be voting McCain / Palin. The Hispanics have sent a message ... Obama is not applying for American Idol!

And I'm outraged by certain... people in association with the Democratic Candidate ... that the media doesn't care to discuss. Appalled, in fact. It worries me, and in my mind, brings into question Obama's ability to formulate clear judgment calls if our country is ever attacked again... because I just don't understand how someone can sit for 20 years with a Pastor he calls friend, listen to his radical messages from the pulpit (including profanity, which just blows my mind), and NOT think something is wrong with that... or serve on a board with a man that was a part of a radical underground group that bombed federal buildings. A 50 million dollar grant to improve schools was brought to Chicago by Bill Ayers, and they worked together for 7 years on a board that gave funds to external small schools program like Anenberg Challenge and the Woods Fund?? How do you NOT know someone and what they believe after working with them for 7 years?

How many coincidences can this man have while people turn a blind eye and a deaf ear?

Friends.... obviously, I'm a McCain/Palin supporter -- and while I may not fully agree with his (or her) platform, it is by far, the least threatening, least liberal, least Marxist, and least frightening platform out there.

If you're still unsure on how to vote ... Vote the Word of God.

What is Change... REALLY?

Friends, before you go off to vote, please consider this letter I got from my mom.

My mother used to live in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area and worked for the Secretary General of the oldest Diplomatic International Organization. She sent me an email last week, and I wanted to share parts of it with you.

She is from Peru, and while she worked for the Diplomatic International Organization, she had the opportunity to work, meet, and see hundreds and hundreds of Cubans who fled their country when Castro turned their Island into a Communist regime. They lived for years and years -- to this day-- with the hope that they will return to their beloved land. They put their trust in John Kennedy and his famous invasion of the Bay of Pigs that never happened, and the rest is history. They are still waiting; in the meantime their country has been destroyed by the false promises of equality and the "redistribution of the wealth" (spreading the wealth around). [Sound familiar?] Their Justice system is a sham, thousands are languishing in jails because they dared to speak up against the government. Everybody is poor, except the ruling class. Havana, is a decrepit old city, people are still crying for freedom, the one we still have here. Cubans are so desperate that they still get into rickety boats in the hope of reaching our coasts. Many perish in their efforts. My mom was born in Peru but "made in the USA." This is her country now. She became a US citizen years ago, and proudly works in the judicial system as a translator. She said, "I don't want to see it [my country] destroyed. Let's continue to pray like never before that God will intervene and save our country by allowing the McCain-Palin ticket to win. What happened in Cuba, could happen here."

Are you ready to cast your vote? Do you know what each candidate stands for? Even if you don't agree with any of them, please ... vote for the lesser of two evils! And pray that God will prevail.

She ended the email with three profound words.

Let's be diligent.