Florida Nature Coast Bloggers

A few months ago I was invited by Connie Roberts to meet up with a few local women who also blog and all live in the area.  Connie is very knowledgeable and I jumped at her invite, and also because she is a very nice lady and I loved the idea of meeting face to face!  

The first meeting was in an Artsy Fartsy type restaurant run by a church and it was a really cool place.  I think there were 5 of us there and this lunch meeting turned into the Nature Coast Bloggers!  We laugh and have fun and share ideas and these women are becoming my teachers happily!  Even though we all blog, we all have different themes. Most of us have several blogs like myself, but none have giveaway blogs, although one of the gals just joined Dove Chocolatiers and she is having one on her site. 

Yesterday our group met at a local Dennys, actually 3 members missing as we are growing :)!  We discussed some of the blogging conferences coming up and which ones were thought of as good, etc.  We also talked about affiliates and making money with certain ones. I am really learning. I am so glad I was asked to join in the beginning by Connie and now we are good friends. 

If there are any of you in the Nature Coast Area, we have been meeting in New Port Richey area, let me know and I will get you information.  Warning, may be habit forming and cause rowdiness as an older man complained to our waitress in Dennys that we were too loud, and the waitress Brenda told him where the library is if he wanted quiet LOL! She fit in and we had so much fun with her we are going back there next month! So watch out Dennys, we shall return!

When I Die - Adult Joke

 

My wife and I were sitting around the breakfast table one morning.

I said to her, "If I were to die suddenly, I want you to immediately sell all my stuff."

"Now why would you want me to do something like that?" she asked.

"I figure that you would eventually remarry and I don't want some other asshole using my stuff." 

She looked at me and said: "What makes you think I'd marry another asshole?"

Wordless Wednesday!

My Ultra-Ego Wonder  Woman, Xenia Princess, Miss Piggy, "Hi-Yaaaaaa"

Photo by HC Noel

Cindy Ashton Fundraiser

Check out this concert. I wish I lived closer but am on the other side of the state! Sorry Cindy!

Mom's Blueberry Squares!

As I was growing up I used to love to help my mother and grandmother in the kitchen. They were awesome cooks! I would be sat on the kitchen counter with a mixing bowl and wooden spoon ready to help when summoned. Some times I would wait and wait and now thinking back my mom would give me a little flour and a bit of water to appease me, and I would sit and stir and stir. I always ended up with some sort of paste concoction that could probably be used to spackle a wall!

The older I got the more I was allowed to help and I graduated from paste to sitting and mixing all the dry ingredients needed for a recipe and then would hand it over for my mother to add her eggs, vanilla, and whatever else she had. This was a good lesson in team work! I remember it all so well.

My most favorite recipe I used to help her with was her now famous Blueberry Squares. She would always make this for me, well into my adulthood. I loved to come home and smell these baking in the oven just for me!

I would now love to share her recipe with you in her honor and memory!

Blueberry Squares

Ingredients:

4 cups Flour

1 cup Sugar

3 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 Cup Crisco

2 Beaten Eggs

½ Cup Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 Cans Comstock Blueberry pie filling (One can should be drained somewhat)

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, sugar, and the Baking Powder.
2. Cut Flour mixture with Crisco using 2 knives or a pastry blender until pea sized
3. Mix together eggs, milk, and vanilla and then add blend well into the flour mix. Now take this mix and separate it into two piles.
4. Roll each pile between wax paper and then put one layer on a cookie sheet. After this then you will fill with blueberry filing.
5. Cover now with second layer of the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the top with both sugar and cinnamon.
6. Bake this at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, until top is lightly browned. This should make about 20 – 24 servings!

Here are some serving suggestions:

Serve warm with Vanilla ice cream or blue berry ice cream. Refrigerate uneaten portions and eat as a morning danish! It is always a perfect time for Blueberry Squares.

I hope you enjoy this recipe of my mothers. You will be hooked after one bite.

I have also tried this with other pie fillings but non compare to the blueberry!  

Dreams of Glass at 2 Classy Chics

Wow I want to share a terrific Giveaway being offered now on the
Two Classy Chics giveaway site.  They are giving away a $60 credit
towards the purchase of a piece of jewelry on Dreams of Glass
web site.  I have to tell you it is all beautiful and it is really hard to
choose a favorite.
I am a total glass art freak and can look at their site for hours.  I have
collected several pieces of glass art and have also stained glass! I am
totally enamored with Chihuly glass and can only hope to get a piece
some day.
In the mean time, I will close my eyes and wish to win this giveaway,
ends 4/12 so I have a lot of prayers to get in!
Thanks Shelly and Chris for this giveaway!

Sacred Springtime Ritual

This is an awesome article written by Coach Joanna Lindenbaum, Check out her site with direct link and sign up for her inspirational and intuitive newsletters and check her programs that she offers as a coach! I just recently found this gem and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs! 

A Sacred Springtime Ritual to Help You Open Up to Your Potential

Each year, when the early Spring comes around, I get excited.

I get excited because this time of year symbolizes new beginnings, fresh energy, and the joy of birthing new things into the world.

You see it everywhere - the days are longer, the birds are chirping, there are even tiny little buds on the trees.

And I know it’s a powerful opportunity to bring new energy into my own projects, relationships, and life, as well as the perfect time to step more fully into bigger and better possibilities for myself and my future.

What I often find, though, is that it’s difficult to transition into Spring-time energy if you are still stuck in Winter-time mode, and feeling tired, unmotivated, and frustrated. This is especially common if you haven’t made the time to clear out the dust and stagnancy that can sometimes settle and take hold in the colder months.

That’s why it’s vital this time of year to intentionally cleanse out the emotional, mental and spiritual blocks that might have built up over the winter months, in order to then be fully prepared to open yourself up consciously to the curiosity, joy, and freshness that is so readily available to you this time of year.

Here is a ritual you can do to cleanse, renew, and then open up to your full potential to help prepare you for this magical season! In order to do this ritual, you will need paper and pen; a feather duster (optional); and a potted plant:

1) Take 10 minutes to journal on all of the things that have become stagnant and dusty for you during the Winter-time. Get clear for yourself where the cobwebs need to be swept away to make space for new energy. Consider all areas where you could bring new energy in, including emotional, mental, and spiritual areas: larger things such as particular relationships and work, and then details within those such as “making the same dinner night after night” or “haven’t created a new salespage in a long time.”

2) After you’ve gotten super clear on all the stagnant areas of your life, take some time to feel yourself under their weight. Really feel in your body what it’s like to be under the dust and cover of those stagnant things. You can close your eyes and visualize yourself covered with snow or dust.

3) Then, literally “dust” the stagnancy and old issues off your body. You can use an actual feather duster or simply use your hands. Start at the top of your head and dust off any old energy there, move to your face, and then your neck, removing and dusting off whatever got stuck during the winter season, then move down to your shoulders, and so on, all the way down to your toes. Really take the time to shake off, let go of, and release all that has become sluggish, inactive, and old, dusty weight.

(This can work really well with a partner too - you can have your partner clean the dust off of you, and then switch).

4) If you do the dusting and clearing to completion, you will feel an incredible sense of openness and freedom in your body. Now that you’ve cleaned out the old Winter energy, you can really align with and leverage the newness of Spring. Take some deep breathes in and deeply inhale the Spring air.

5) From this place, choose one thing that you would like to start right now. Perhaps it’s a certain project for your business, or perhaps you’d like to attract in a beloved, or perhaps it’s a certain lifestyle change, or perhaps it’s simply a new way of “being”, for example - abundant, or open, or healthy.

Whatever you choose, get very focused on it. Close your eyes and visualize this thing that you would like to plant in your life and in your mind’s eye, watch it grow and flourish. As you visualize this, hold the potted plant in your hands and let the plant come to symbolize this new thing that you would like to initiate in your life right now.

6) Water your plant, and as you do it, allow it to be a ritual of watering your new project, relationship, or way of being. Then place this plant somewhere prominent in your home so that you remember to literally and metaphorically water it and care for it consistently!

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Tags: business spirituality, joanna lindenbaum, new york women's coach, self renewal, self-help, soulful coaching, spring cleaning, spring ritual

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 27th, 2011 at 4:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I Wish You Enough

This was sent to me by my dear friend Ray!

Recently, I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure of her plane.  Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'   The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'  They kissed and the daughter left. The father walked over to the window where I was seated.  Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'  'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?  'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is...the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.  'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?' He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.'  He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.  I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how  gray the day may appear. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.   I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.  I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger. I wish you  enough  gain to satisfy your wanting.       I  wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.   I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.  He then began to cry and walked away.  They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; an entire life to forget them.  TAKE TIME TO LIVE....  To all my friends and loved ones,   I WISH YOU ENOUGH.

In Grandpa's Hands

Be sure and look at your hands after you have read this . . . .  

Grandpa's Hands

This is good. I'll never look at my hands the same!

Grandpa, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. He didn't move, just sat with his head down staring at his hands. When I sat down beside him he didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat, I wondered if he was OK. Finally, not really wanting to disturb him but wanting to check on him at the same time, I asked him if he was OK.

He raised his head and looked at me and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine.  Thank you for asking," he said in a clear strong voice.

"I didn't mean to disturb you, Grandpa, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK," I explained to him.

"Have you ever looked at your hands," he asked. "I mean really looked at your hands?"

I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point he was making. Grandpa smiled and related this story:

"Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled, shriveled, and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life.

• They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back.  

• As a child my mother taught me to fold them in prayer.

• They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots.

• They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent.

• They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son.

• Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special.

• They trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse and walked my daughter down the aisle.

• They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body.

• They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw.

• And to this day, when not much of anything else of me works real well, these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer.

• These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of my life.

• But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home.

• And with my hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ."

I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God reached out and took my grandpa's hands and led him home.

When my hands are hurt or sore I think of Grandpa. I know he has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God. I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face.

When you receive this, say a prayer for the person who sent it to you and watch God's answer to prayer work in your life. Let's continue praying for one another.

Passing this on to anyone you consider a friend will bless you both.

Passing this on to one not considered a friend is something Christ would have done.

Be sure and look at your hands after you have read this . . . .