Just Pure Lovely

I'm Happy She Hasn't Changed Too Much in a Year

~ Spring 2008 ~ 

~ Spring 2009 ~

That's right, Baby Girl. Grow slowly for Mama's sake. 

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Pnut's Story

Remember the stray dog who found his way to us sometime in February?

Sure, he looks good from the back, but he's a pretty ugly fella sometimes...

But when he looks at me just so...

...good gravy, when he looks at me like that he can come into the house in any ol' rainstorm. 

We adored the old fella for the four months he needed us.  We waited in the mornings while he worked out the kinks in his old legs, we looked the other way when he was unable to fight the urge to chase a cat harmlessly up a tree on occasion, we tolerated his ever-present, always-disgusting slobber, and..yes...I let him in the laundry room during thunderstorms because he's such a big baby about such things. I couldn't resist his whine and his sad eyes. 

In return, he never bothered to so much as sniff at the chicken pen, he 'marked' our yard against other dogs, and he hung out with the kids while they swam in the river. 

You probably caught that I said, "for the four months he needed us."  Pnut doesn't need us anymore.

One day, about a month ago, one of our neighbors came by and said, "Pnut's owner came calling for him." 

"Oh?" I said.  In my mind, I called the fella a dirty rotten scoundrel, since he never picked Pnut up after I'd phoned him in February. 

"Yeah.  He said he was working on an engine in February when it blew up in his face.  He's been in Thomas Hospital for the past three months, with 2nd and 3rd degree burns." 

Oh.  Poor guy.

I'm thankful Pnut turned to us when he needed care for those few months.  But I'm even more thankful he keeps coming around.

We see him a couple of times a week, when he runs at us with floppy ears, a floppier mouth and crooked gait, as excited to see us as we are to see him.  And then he's off again, across the river or down the road, on his persistent journey to experience all there is to sniff and see.

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Soup Fixins

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Happy Fourth of July

I love this flag. I love this day. I love this land.

God bless America!

And you.

(photo taken -by me- over Mobile Bay, 2008)

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A Recipe for Hot Fudge Cake: Dare you!

Okay, this is the most incredible cake I've ever made.  It's like a brownie with fudge sauce, but made in the simplest way so that it really isn't any trouble.  Oh, and it totally won't make you gain any weight! (disclaimer for that lie, below*) I double dog dare you to make it and not drool in the process:

 Hot Fudge Cake

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1-1/3 cups sugar
6 Tablespoons baking cocoa
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
3 cups boiling water

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and baking cocoa in large mixer bowl. In a separate bowl, combine milk, vanilla, and melted butter or margarine. Add to dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Add chopped walnuts. Spread in a greased 9 x 13-inch pan.

Mix brown sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Sprinkle over batter in pan. Pour boiling water over entire cake. [yes, that's weird.  the cake will now look like a soupy disaster.  trust me, it's not a disaster.]

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Do not turn cake out of pan; this cake makes its own fudge sauce in the bottom. Cut and serve while warm, scooping up the fudge sauce [it's absolutely worth putting those fine words in bold print!] as you serve. Wonderful with vanilla ice cream [total understatement].

I can't claim the recipe as my own.  I'm waaaay too much of a fraidy-cat of messing up in the kitchen, that there is no way I'd poor boiling water over perfectly good brownie-like batter.  This recipe was posted in a forum somewhere, where a friend of mine found it.  I don't know the original creator, but I'm pretty sure she's an amazing person.

*Oh, about that weight gain thing--- "You won't gain weight" ....if  you do 414 pushups, 222 situps,  and run 33 miles after you eat the whole cake, but I know you're exercising like that anyway, right?

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Be the First to Try out Kraft Foods!

I ran into another fun program to pass along. You can join Kraft's First Taste program and become one of the taste testers, giving you a chance to review their products and share the results with Kraft and your friends.

I was recently asked to be in a product-review program for Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets (they're super cool), and thought it was pretty neat knowing all about the Next Thing (or not) before it was even in stores. This Kraft program may be like that!

Need a Vacation?

I love vacations.  Last year, we had the Summer Vacation of all Vacations, driving from the Gulf Coast to St. Louis, the length of Indiana, the length of Illinois including Chicago, Wisconsin, and Michigan.  At the end of the time, sure, I needed a vacation after our vacation, but the memories captured by my camera and on our children's faces made any trouble worth it all.

Have you heard about the campaign going on right now, petitioning Congress to name Friday, August 7 as a National Vacation Day?  You can be part of this campaign, too! In addition to campaigning for a National Vacation Day, HomeAway is searching for the person who is most deserving of a week-long summer vacation.

HomeAway Vacation Rentals is offering a $10,000 getaway to the winning entry that best answers the question:  Why do you deserve to have HomeAway save your summer vacation?  Entries may be submitted as a text entry, a photo essay or a video. The contest runs until July 2, 2009.  Go to Save Our Summer Vacation for more about the contest.  (psst, here is an article on how to write a good entry...you're so welcome!).

I need to enter this contest, too...I could definitely use a $10,000 getaway, but I'd especially like to name August 7th National Vacation Day since that's the day our ballerina was born, and although she's totally worth it, that day in 1997 was not in any way a vacation for me!

If I had a choice of any spot to go for my $10,000 getaway, I think I'd choose to visit a castle in Scotland. 

Where would you go?

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I'm Not Complaining About the Weather, But...

I read a book several years ago that includes a line I've never forgotten:

Never complain about anything, not even the weather. 

I remember that line often, but that doesn't mean it has absorbed yet.  I do complain sometimes...  Especially when we're breaking heat records here and God hasn't taken a turn watering the garden in weeks (careful now, I might get a flood for that!).

I'm not complaining when I say this, but...it's blasted hot down here these days!

Okay, so maybe I am complaining a little bit.  Finding some forgotten photos of Spring today didn't help me feel any cooler. 

Canadians, enjoy our most pleasant weather.  We want it back very soon!

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How to Save Money, Even While in Debt

Thanks to the School of Hard Knocks, our family has had a lot of experience on the Road to Debt and on the (hard, gravely) Road to Getting Out of Debt.  We are now, thankfully, a cash-only family, but we know that at any time our one income could become no income.  (Why, that would be downright familiar -- we were just there in the fall!) Even though credit cards are not something any of us love, they are sometimes, in our society, a necessary evil.

If you are realizing how badly you need to get out of credit card debt, but are under the burden of a high interest rate, this is a frustrating time, isn't it?  Credit card companies are lowering available balances and making it harder for us to find a 0% credit card deal.  This tightening of their corporate belts is due to the current economic crisis, but also thanks to the new credit card reform bill, straight from the White House (the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009).

The reform bill was designed to help us as consumers, but it also added a financial burden to credit card companies.  As a result, they are becoming more strict with balance allowances and with lower interest rates.

Don't lose hope!  We just need to do a little more homework than we had to do in past years.  Here are a couple of ways to get out of debt faster:

1. Don't use a credit card anymore.  I know, I know, that's easier said than done, and it may not be possible right now. But I'm telling you from experience that when you wait and pray for something (and, sigh, wait and pray some more) , it will often fall right into your lap for free or for super duper cheap.  You will be amazed!  Sometimes - often - you find that you really didn't need that thing after all.
2. Find the best balance transfer credit cards.  A "balance transfer credit card" is, yes, simply another credit card, but one that offers a perk for transfering your existing credit card balance to their company.  Often, that perk is a 0% interest rate for several months or so.  When you transfer balances to a 0% interest rate, you'll be able to breathe a little easier as you save money on interest rates, and, happily, the time it takes to get out of debt is reduced.

(If you want to know more about balance transfers, go to Smart Balance Tranfers, and read the helpful articles - listed at the bottom of the home page - including  "Tranfer Balances ASAP," and "Balance Transfers 101.")

There is so much more to be said about saving money while in debt!  Lately, I've had a lot of ideas swooshing around in my head about finances, but I haven't wanted to blog about it because this isn't a finance blog or a saving money blog.  But the nagging thought is, how can I live a "just, pure, lovely" life if my mind is overwhelmed with the debt load I carry?    I'm not sure where it all will go, but I'm jotting down notes as quickly as I think of tips and tricks regarding finances.  Maybe it will be a future blog series or an ebook (ack!).  Meanwhile, I'd love to learn from you, too...

Do you have any tips on getting out of debt or making debt easier to bear?

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