Missing Muffin so Much

I will miss you so much Muffin. 

You brought us so much laughter and so many funny stories.
I miss your silly grin when I made a favorite treat for you.
I miss you biting my toes at the bottom of the bed.
I miss your perseverance and determination to really live life.
I miss your white blaze atop your head.
...I miss the way you stayed by my feet when I was sewing or grading papers late into the night.
I miss your waddle when you walk.
I miss you licking me to say your sorry after biting me for trying to take knots out of your hair or clean your eyes.
I miss your love of pizza, pasta, meatballs and anything that wasn't dog food.
I miss your beautiful coat...and when you used to have little ponytails with bows.
I miss how smart you were ~ you knew so many tricks and did them faithfully to win a "piece of cheesies."

 ~ I miss you so much Muffin ~ 

I know are free. 

Pictures from way, way back

We brought muffin home when Amanda was 11, Rachael was 9 and Jason was 7.

The last few days have been difficult to say the least.

Those of you with dogs in your lives will know.

My very old friend, Muffin, needed to be put to rest last night.

At age 16, she had so many problems.

Sunday night, she could no longer walk.

Herniated discs ~ meds not working.

The xrays also showed a tumor and other suspicious nodes.

She was suffering.

All her life she was a fighter, a strong "woman" that never gave up on life.

She enjoyed her food right up to the last day...
She had ground meat and brown rice Sunday night

and would've eaten two bowls... regardless of her pain.

I prayed so hard for God to take her before we had to decide.

I prayed for Him to show me what a good steward of His creatures meant.

My heart broke into a million tears when the answer came.

The highest heavens belong to the LORD,
but the earth he has given to man.

God created the earth and He has graciously given

this incredible gift to man as a dwelling place.

We are to be good stewards of the earth and it's resources;

not because it is ours, but because it is HIS.

...Muffin's last breath was a sigh of relief... 

I love you ♥ Muffin 
Thank you for all you gave to us... for we learned much. 
~

A sincere Thank You to the wonderful staff at Latham Animal Hospital.

Dr. Tim and the technician, Siobhain, were so gentle and gracious.
After we left, Siobhain emailed me this sweet poem.
Rainbows Bridge
~

{Thank you dear friends for listening}

Loving what you do

 

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.

-- John Ruskin

For years I avoided Pampered Chef parties.

Then I went to my cousin's party.

Wednesday, Amanda, Rachael and I attended her fifth annual party.

She goes all out cooking and baking several recipes from the P.Chef cookbooks.

Her friend, Susan, is the master chef that comes to teach.

Susan has been a chef for decades.

She L O V E S what she does.

and

I love watching her work.

Here are a few of the recipes that we watched her make and bake.

Cherry Cheesecake Coffeecake
This coffeecake was amazingly delicious.

Easy Big Batch Cookie Recipe
Eggplant Towers
Pot Cheese and Noodles

Cherry Cheesecake Coffeecake
1 pkg 8oz cream cheese softened
1 egg separated
1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract
2 pkgs crescent rolls
1 cup canned cherry pie filling
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 t. milk

Big Batch Cookie Recipe
ALL OCCASION COOKIES
1 pound butter {use butter / not margarine}
2 and 3/4 cups flour
1 pkg white cake mix
...
in small bowl micro 2 sticks butter
slice remaining butter into 1/2 inch pieces
add to melted butter toss to coat
allow butter to stand 3-5 mins

meanwhile
sift flour and cake mix together using a small mesh colander bowl into a regular mixing bowl
add butter all at once and blend until smooth
shape dough into cookies or use a cookie press

Eggplant Towers
Eggplant
Eggs
Mozarella
Artichoke hearts
onions and tomatoes

Pot Cheese and Noodles

Egg Noodles
Farmers Cheese
Onions and Salt

Susan not only taught us some amazing recipes...

She also taught us that loving what you do makes work sweet.

 ~  ~  ~

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Aristotle

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Confucius

 ~  ~  ~

I'll think about these as I get ready for work this week!

Wishing you a week doing the things you

L O V E

♥  

Your Service Means So Much

Our cherished gift that you protect with with your lives

F*R*E*E*D*O*M

  We thank you.*

 God Bless You.

As I say the pledge with my students every morning,

I pray for all our soldiers

...those of family and friends...

...of friends here in blogland too...

I pray for their safety

and in gratitude

for the sacrifices they make

to defend freedom.

Love, 

Maria

Visit Sky Watch Friday for amazing skies the world over!

 

Thank you Sky Watch Team!

A northeast reminder ...

the little dark-eyed juncos

and our snowfall today

are reminders that

...I live in the northeast...

*
*   *

My father wishes he could spend winter in Florida,

I say,

Keep warm my northern friends and family

Keep warm!

 *

I hope you all had a gentle start to the week.

May you always feel His comfort and warmth,

no matter the weather,

no matter the circumstances,

because you matter

to Him

and to all of us

♥

a penny for your thoughts

This little penny-size cutie, can hold 2 Gig of storage!

Recently,
one of my students produced a PowerPoint presentation for the class.
She had it saved to this little penguin flash-drive.

I just marveled at how much it could store in it's tiny little head,
so I quickly took a picture of it with my cellphone.
Then I looked it up on Amazon.com
Look what I found!
More cuties!

This was the computer room at the University at Albany back in the '70's.

My husband, Chris, used to go to computer lab in there.

I remember he used punch cards for his computer programs.

It could address a little more than 2 Gig of storage.

-the same storage as the penny-size flash drive-

~

This is my son, Jason's new cell phone.
His sunglasses are his background.
J's a funny guy.

It can store up to 32GB of optional memory!
Yesterday, when he chose his new phone, the salesperson at Verizon Wireless
was trying to talk him into the internet service.

She said, "Oh, it's so cheap, only $1 a day,

Everyone can afford an extra dollar a day."

To which Jason replied...
Well, since I must sign a two year contract,
at the end of the two years...that would be an extra.....

$730.

"Oh," she said.
{Sales pitch over.}
~

What times we are living in!

Technology is growing exponentially.

Have you seen the "Did You Know?" presentations?

{produced by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod}

They are amazing.

I saw the 2.0 version a few years ago, now there is a 4.0 version.

 

So much changes in just a couple of years!

So much talk everywhere, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs...

Do you Tweet yet?

I only tweet to my little birds in the backyard!

I do love blogging though :D

especially because of

Y O U !

 

 

I think I'll make myself a cup o' tea now

and remember

that God doesn't change!

His Love and Spirit are

Omnipresent

Omnipotent

Omniscient

"Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows."

James 1:17

~

Giving Thanks and Wishing You Joy,

A Blue-tiful Sunrise

A blue sunrise in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

(two weeks ago our children went to Punta Cana for a wedding)
They had an incredible time.

One morning, they all woke up early to see a sunrise.

It was

b l u e



Blue-tiful



So much fun



Anticipation



of a Beautiful Wedding



and much Joy


What a wonderful once in a life-time!

Visit Sky Watch Friday for amazing skies the world over!

 

Thank you Sky Watch Team!

A Baker's Confession

Okay,

Sometimes I cheat {when I'm baking}

Krusteaz makes some of the easiest, nicest, yummiest
mixes that you can buy.
This one can be altered to make three amazing cookies recipes!
{I use Krusteaz sugar cookie mix because it doesn't have hydrogenated oils in it.}

...and inspiration from these fine Betty Crocker recipes...



After the ooooo's and ahhhhh's
my daughter, Amanda and I decided it would be our goal to bake at least two

of the cookie recipes during her weekend visit.

Soooo easy.

Soooo delicious.

For the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies we needed
a bag of Andes creme de menthe pieces.
We found them at Walmart.

These taste amazing! 

I needed poppy seeds to make the Almond Poppy Tea Cookies.
McCormick packages a tiny container of poppy seeds {1.25oz} that costs over $5.
We did not buy them at the supermarket.
Instead, I went to this tiny store that specializes in herbs, dried beans, nuts, sprinkles...
...so much fun to be in this kind of a shop...
I picked up a third of a pound of poppy seeds for just over $2.  What a difference!

These cookies are delicious!

I'm making the red velvet cookies later this week;
I'll let you know how they turn out!

My stove and oven were on all day today!
We made lots of turkey meatballs, roasted garden fresh Brussels sprouts,
two butternut squash and those yummy cookies!
~  ~  ~

Dear family and friends,
I hope you have a sweet week,

finding each day a treasure

...to be opened with delight...

Click:  Sugar Cookie for the recipes.

Here's one of them:

1	pouch Krusteaz sugar cookie mix
1/3	cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1	tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2	cup butter or margarine, softened
1	package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
2	teaspoons almond extract
1	egg
1/4	cup sliced almonds, if desired
1	cup powdered sugar
3	to 4 teaspoons water

	Print these coupons...
	About Concordance™

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, flour, poppy seeds, butter, cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of the almond extract and egg until soft dough forms.
2. Roll dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press balls slightly to flatten. If desired, top each flatten ball with 5 sliced almonds arranged to form a star.
3. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
4. In small bowl, mix powdered sugar, remaining 1 teaspoon almond extract and enough water to give the glaze a nice spreading consistency. Spread glaze over warm cookies. Decorate with sliced almonds. Store tightly covered in a single layer at room temperature.