Who me

Hi friends. Was thinking last night that I must post in my much neglected blog. I have devoted most every minute of computer time to the drafting of my Jane Austen genre novels. I'm on the third one! Yeah, I still do not have an agent or publisher. Why do they have to make it so difficult? When I see the number of strange, boring, and downright dumb books that get published every year, it disheartens me that I cannot find a publisher for mine. Deep breath.

Ok, so I can't believe it's November!!! I am once again a single mom since hubby is away for 7 weeks of chaplain training in South Carolina. Oh, and I am finally a soccer mom. My two oldest are 12 and 10 and they are on their very first soccer team. The navy base here has a small league. They love it! My delicate girlie girls are learning what aggressive means. haha! One of our bunnies had babies a week ago. Yay! More fun to worry about.

Hubby and I at a wedding in southern California in October.

I gave up on sewing for profit. Not going to happen. I want to help out with our severely strapped finances. It seems, though, that every time I do, my efforts are doomed. Praying for a solution!

Well, back to November. I get a kick out of all the folks who get a hankering to become thankful for the month. I am convicted that I am not thankful enough all the other months. (see previous paragraph). Perhaps if I am grateful in June, I won't feel as though my life is in constant want in November. I was thinking over choices I made before I was married before I got out of bed this morning. What ifs are dangerous critters. It all boils down to the message of the Old Testament. God had a purpose and a plan from the very beginning. Every single crazy and even bizarre event that took place was part of a greater plan, like dominoes lined up in seemingly unrelated rows. In the end, the dominoes lead us to Christ and His sacrifice for us. It makes all of the weirdness in our own lives point to God's greater purpose for us.

ok, done preaching.

Well, I do hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving season!

New stuff

Hi friends. Wait, does anybody read this, or am I just doing this for myself. Oh well. Life has been so very busy this summer. My dear has been away a total of 8 weeks this summer in training and drills for the National Guard. I am so grateful that he is not deployed for months at a time, but still we have not been apart so much in the entire history of our marriage. My utmost respect and applause for all the women in the US who are alone today, worrying about the future of their loved ones.
I have used this time to work on house projects. Some painting, grouting, and deep cleaning have worked on my muscles. I have read way too many novels! Haha! I have watched Jane Austen movies even though I practically have them memorized. They drive my hubby crazy because of the highly predictable outcomes. So, in his absence I can watch them and smile my stupid smile as Darcy gives his amazing romantic stare. I am after all a writer, or wish to be one. Which brings me to my new project. I love stories from the mid to late 1800s England. Thus, I've decided to write stories from that epoch. I have my first book outlined already. Still hoping and praying for a publisher, but if not, my stories will be for me and my friends. I still haven't finished my third book in the Pseumish series. I hit a creative block. Perhaps it just won't be as long as the others. I don't know. I tend to jump from one project to another in every area of my life. However, I am not one of those people who start a hundred things and never complete any of them. I do finish things. I suppose the creative and the orderly side of me have a delicate balancing act.
Hope you have had a wonderful summer. I know some people have been through tough times. As our pastor said this morning, "Make your life about Jesus and you won't have to worry about your life."

tablets and frustration and recipes, oh my!

Hi friends! I know, it's been forever since I have posted here. The truth is......perhaps you should sit down.....1.I was given a tablet, and as much as I absolutely love it for checking on people all day and for use in homeschooling, I can't do blog posts on it....yet. (still figuring it out). 2. We purchased, in my dear hubby's words, a crappy house, and it has needed a LOT  of TLC. I painted the entire interior of the house by myself. I cleaned by myself. I worked on flower beds and yard by myself. In other words.... so exhaustingly busy. ( I actually just invented a word!) Add to that, said dear hubby changed jobs, became a first lieutenant chaplain in the Texas Army National guard, and came home one day with a completely new diet! May I just take a moment to breathe? I'm getting tired all over again just writing this stuff. Oh, and let's not forget that we went to Bolivia the last week in January! That was glorious, but sent my poor body for a loop afterward.

I am loving my new (crappy) house and my girls are happy, too. You see, we had been crammed into a 2 bedroom townhouse with no yard for 3 years. It was a good place and served its purpose in our lives, but it was time to stretch a bit. We now have 3 bedrooms and more space. My 2 youngest girls still share a room, but I have it divided with one of those magnificent Expedit shelves from Ikea. So, they think they have their own rooms, and we have peace among the Mohicans. I have torn apart the kitchen and put it back the way I like it. It's very French country......by necessity. The cabinet doors were all formica on particle board. They were all swollen with grease, and moisture, and I don't want to know what else, so I removed them and painted the cabinets. I hung curtains in front of the lower cabinets, so that I am at least allowed a little bit of disorganization! Those who have seen the pictures know that I picked a dark yellow for most of my house. It is a happy color, but also it reminds me of Bolivia. That makes me even happier to be reminded of our other home.

On to the diet. We've recently done a lot of study (mostly hubby) on the ketogenic diet. Basically it is high fat/no carb. Ah, although we already had a really healthy diet, we still ate a lot of carbs. I had no idea how many until we cut them out. I've planned so many meals saying, "Oh we could have some rice, no that's carbs. Or we could have some potatoes, no that's carbs...." And on and on I go until I find an acceptable substitute for carbs. Oh my goodness, this has been so tough! Can I say, though, for the first time since having 3 babies I am losing weight. Yay! (Of course it could be from working myself to the bone on this house..) heehee. So anyway, my creative juices have kicked in and I am working on recipes for our new diet that will agree with the taste buds and also be healthy. Can I tell you I am missing chocolate cake for some odd reason? Ok, enter my new Nutella cookie dough cheesecake! Cheesecake is an excellent recipe for no carb and no sugar eaters! With this recipe you also get my low carb sugar free cookie recipe, too. A twofer!

Cookies!
1 stick of butter softened (it really is good for you folks)
1-1 1/4 cups xylitol or stevia (they are even better with a drop of molasses or something dark and sticky)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix those together until nice and smooth
1 cup almond meal
1 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix again and add some chocolate chips that you like. If you are just making cookies, drop by teaspoon on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350*
If you are making the cheesecake, you need to add some Nutella (or a low sugar/no sugar kind) to the cookie dough batter and set some aside.
Cheesecake!
Crust
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/4 cup xylitol
1/2 stick of butter melted
Mix that together and press into your cheesecake pan
Filling
3 packages of cream cheese softened
3 eggs
1 cup stevia (I use the Stevia in the Raw kind that is cup for cup the same as sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
Mix together until smooth and pour over crust. Put little drops of cookie dough on top and smoosh them into the cheesecake batter. Bake at 325* for 50 minutes. Since it's a cheesecake, it has to jiggle on top when you check it. Bon Apetite!