God's candy.

I took some fruity "art" to the Bon Voyage Luau. (Our church's youth pastor is leaving to shepherd another church as their senior pastor. ) I wanted to be creative with it, since there was really little effort in the preparation. God did the aesthetic creating, I basically just cleaned it, cut it and arranged it.

May Cake !

Hello again ! Made my first full sheet cake this past week... two half sheets actually. It was "commissioned" by the Respect and Recognition committee at work (Excela Health Westmoreland ~ Laboratory) to celebrate the May Birthdays. This is something new they are starting to recognize and show appreciation for employees.

Hello out there

With only five followers, I wonder if I should even bother with this Blog , if anyone out there is even reading this, please comment so I know whether to continue or not. Thanks.

home and harmony

Just a quickie blog to let you all in on this adorable Home decor blog

http://homeandharmony.blogspot.com/

She's giving away some darling bee glasses but the giveaway ends tonight so hurry !!
More from me in a few (hours, days) who knows !

Spring in full swing

Please forgive my prolonged absence from blogging. ( insert the usual excuses here ). I could tell you all about what I've been up to, but instead, I will tell what is up and coming. In two weeks, April 19th to 23rd, we celebrate "National Lab Week" at work. ( I am a laboratory technologist at a local hospital ) So, I have been asked to make a cake to commemorate the occasion. This will be my first official "commissioned" effort. I need to make something to feed approximately 50 to 60 people. This will actually be great practice for my next important cake, which is my niece's bridal shower cake, for June 19th. I will be posting those pictures as those projects are completed. For those of you who are not on facebook, here are my last efforts in the sugary confection called cake :







I also have something very exciting to blog about very soon. That was your teaser, so stay tuned. God has been doing some wonderful things in my life. Praise Him for his incredible faithfulness.

"Let them eat cake"

These are some pics of the last cake we made in class. I made it for my coworker who was transferring .

It is finally March, as if you hadn't noticed. I feel renewed by the promise of spring. God knew what he was doing when he scheduled Spring to follow Winter. I need to bake a cake today, so this will be a short entry. I got quite a bargain at the Thrift Store today.... fill a bag for $3.00 ! It was mostly Kitchen utensils and two of those shoe hanging things for the closet. I have tried not to just bring home "needless" stuff. Now that I have these two shoe hangers, I am challenging myself to sort thru my shoes and pick out the ones that I use/like the most, and when I have filled the slots available. I should get rid of the rest of my shoes. There are several that I hardly ever wear, and some that I literally NEVER wear. So by the end of March, all seldom used shoes will be taking a hike !!

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Snow

Been a while since I posted... "Snow" is pretty much what has been happening in my life! Although it's been trying at times... I haven't missed work or any other activity unless it was canceled. Work is never canceled! I have managed to use my days off to continue to organize and downsize. Cleaned out a kitchen cupboard and pitched a bunch of (old ?) tea bags. Does tea get old or expire? I just decided the I would ALWAYS likely choose a different type or flavor than the ones I discarded. I even convinced my son Adam to use some of his snow day downtime to clean his room. He rocked it out, presenting me with a HUGE box of stuff he said he didn't care if he ever saw again! Now I need to sort through that box and salvage his brothers' yearbooks and a few other items that may belong to them! My DH Bob brought up the two cabinets that I got at the Kraftmaid outlet for $ 5 each and put them in my computer room. Now I can fill them with some of the stuff that's been cluttering that room. That now consists mostly of cake decorating supplies! It is currently snowing giant cornflake size snowflakes AGAIN !! I had hoped to make a run to goodwill to drop off some of the stuff I have gathered. Well, I have lots to do, so farewell for now.

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Wow, I have been so busy lately... work, Church Sundays, small group Wednesdays, cake decorating class on Thursdays...still waiting to get my "new/used" car. Went to Ohio Saturday to the Kraft-Maid Kitchen cabinet outlet. Got up a 3:15 am for that. Then slept on Sunday from 2:30 pm to 10:30 pm then more from midnight to 5:00 am! Leaving Tues after work to go to Ohio again, this time for work. Will return Wednesday evening. THEN... I really need to get back on track with clearing out the clutter. Hope to post about some success in that area soon. I want to get the paper tiger tamed in time for taxes. Well, that's all for now...must go pack.
Thank God for a few nice clothes that fit. I have an enormous wardrobe awaiting my return to size 10. Yes, I kept most of the classic styles. I'm sure there are some things that have gone out of fashion, but the majority of it should be usable. Hope to be there by summer.
We'll see.

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Lost letter.

Not sure why I started cleaning out the junk drawer on a Sunday morning before Church... but I think it had something to do with the fact that I lost a letter/card from a friend. I saw it in the stack of mail, that blue card-sized envelope, with her address in the return space. My heart quickened a bit, as it always does when I get personal mail (yeah, sappy, I know). Anyway, I was too busy at the time to stop and open it. BUT NOW... it is GONE! My hubby says he saw it too when he carried in the mail, so I know I didn't just imagine it. But what happened to it ??? I later opened the other mail at the kitchen counter throwing away the envelopes/ junk mail as I go, following the O.H.I.O rule (Only. Handle. IT. Once) But then I got busy again, and later I remembered that I didn't remember opening that one blue one. So, of course, I emptied the entire trash bag into a new trash bag looking for it. It wasn't in there! I have looked all over the house... in cupboards, freezer, frig, laundry area, dresser drawers, under couch cushion... you know the drill. This just totally reinforces my urgency to get more organized !!! I also promised an old phone charger to a friend, but can I find that either ???? Don't bother to answer that. PLEASE don't misunderstand. My house, while oft disorderly, is not a dump. I have managed to restrict almost all paper to the one room, which I am currently in the process of processing. File cabinets, desk, baskets labeled NOW and LATER for organizing bills and other less pressing literature. But alas, no letter in sight. It is frustrating. I had a lot to deal with this past weekend, with a broken-down car. But to lose a cherished letter/card, from a friend I look forward to hearing from, is inexcusable. I shall henceforth proclaim my mission to recover the lost letter... and will lead a gallant effort to defeat the paper tiger that threatens my sanity. The letter will be the prize and reward for my dedication to the task. Wish me luck, I must go sort stuff.

A Heart for Haiti

My church (Armbrust Wesleyan), has a missionary presence in Haiti. * they are all ok* But my son's youth pastor Steven Sheets, who visited Haiti in 2007, has challenged the youth to participate in raising $1000 for World Hope International and their relief efforts. If you have seen the footage and felt the heartbreak,... and would like to help in some small way... I know this is a 100% ligitimate site -->

http://thisishaiti.com

I Made an extraordinary apple crisp today with a basic recipe and my own endowments, Apples of two varieties, whole cranberries, the freshly squeezed juice of one orange, and some chopped walnuts, crowned with the traditional oat, brown sugar, butter crumble. It was a deliriously delicious contradiction of sweet and tart. I also made an oven fried chicken which first went for a swim in a mustard horseradish mayo bath before en-robbing in Parmesan panko bread crumbs. Ironically, it had flavor notes reminiscent of a deviled egg at times. Anyway, I also found this today and was quite pleased with it:

Contentment is not satisfaction. It is the grateful, faithful, fruitful use of what we have, little or much. It is to take the cup of Providence, and call upon the name of the Lord. What the cup contains is its contents. To get all that is in the cup is the act and art of contentment. Not to drink because one has but half a cup, or because one does not like its flavor, or because somebody else has silver to one's own glass, is to lose the contents; and that is the penalty, if not the meaning, of discontent. No one is discontented who employs and enjoys to the utmost what he has. It is high philosophy to say, we can have just what we like if we like what we have; but this much at least can be done, and this is contentment: to have the most and best in life by making the most and best of what we have. ... Maltbie D. Babcock August 7, 2000

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So, it's Sunday again. The first third of the first month of the new year has already ticked on by. Time, like God, is complex and unfathomable. Mortal humans try to package the concept (of God and Time) into comfortable bite size bits, so as not to choke, overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude. I anxiously await the day when our puny minds are untethered, bursting with understanding. The sonic boom of our corporate "A-HAH" will deafen the ignorant. Theirs: a bottomless sorrowful sigh. Reality beckons. A furious frenzy of doing and doing and getting it done. For what, for who, and why. But alas, I must. So till then, adieu !
Time, like God, compels me.

Luke 19: 43-45
⁴³The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

White on White

It's been snowing most of the day, most of the week in fact! Makes one want to snuggle in. I haven't used my day off wisely from a productivity standpoint. But from a stress-reducing stance, I'm golden. My cats know how to get that done, too. Sadly my cake decorating class (first one) at JoAnn Fabrics for Thursday has been canceled due to an ill instructor. It is promised to resume the following Thursday as planned. I am surprised that JoAnn Fabrics, doesn't have a backup plan for such things. I did manage to go through some papers today. I need to revamp my filing system. I have made a decision to use some new criteria for what I keep and what I toss or shred. Basically, if the information can be resourced readily from the original source or from an alternate source, i.e. internet, library, etc. then I will get rid of it. If it is something of a unique nature, handwritten letter for example, then I will save/file it. I also need to sort through all my warranty and users manual files and eliminate any documents for items that I no longer possess! In a nutshell, I have to ask myself, if this piece of paper was lost or destroyed, would I need to replace it, or could I live without it. If I can live without it, I SHALL!

Matthew 6:19-21 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Back to Work

First Monday of the New Year = first workday of the New Year. I am secretly glad that the Holidays are over and it's back to business as usual, although my secret is out I suppose since I'm blogging it! Stopped at DeLallo's today after work. They have added on to the building and opened a new section with fruits and veggies artfully stacked in precocious pyramids of produce. The offerings are lovely and fresh but priced to compensate for the artist (probably not starving) who stacks and arranges and designs the displays. Not realizing that the $2.98 price on the embarrassingly large red globe grapes I purchased was "per pound" not "per package" I left with $6.38 worth of grapey golf balls! But I think I will take 2 grapes in my lunch each day this week and hopefully can finish them before they go bad !! To compensate I did manage to snag a whole pound of Oven-baked deli turkey for a mere $2.98 and American Cheese for $1.98 per pound! And the charade of pretending I was an affluent shopper who cared not about price, was entirely free !! Have a grapey day all!

P.S. Oh yes, today is also (set out the) Garbage Day. Perfect day to clean out the fridge and freezer(s).
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You are my "SonShine"

Thanking God this morning for my son, Adam. He keeps me sane. What a rational young man I have been blessed to be parenting. He is also quite the comic relief that I so often need. I am not bragging, nay, I am humbled to be a student of his uncanny wisdom.

Thanking God also this morning for HIS Son. He keeps me sane too and saved.

Now about the Simple Life. Today, I am dismantling (worldly evidence of) Christmas in the Marsh Household. Two boxes for stuff to go back to the attic, one box for stuff to be donated to Goodwill. I was about to say "or either of my grown sons that would like some Christmas stuff", but then I realized that unloading my unnecessary stuff on them isn't doing them any favors. Anything that doesn't fit in the three designated boxes, I guess I will have to just toss! Already tossed all the baked goods that were left from Christmas. I thought about freezing it, but why? The freezer is just purgatory for stuff I eventually toss anyway! Oh yeah, next up, Clean Sweep Freezerville!

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Twenty Ten

Hello from Norvelt, Jan 1, 2010. I am going to attempt to blog weekly. At first, I thought daily, but I know me. Currently, the snow is falling furiously, fabulously outside my window. (not inside thankfully) God is Good. I want to acknowledge THAT daily. Big plans for the day (and the year) are to live more simply. I have said this before, but you know, it's complicated. Therein lies the problem. You can't just start living simply, you must first undo a history of living with unnecessary encumberment. I think I just made that word up, because "encumber" spell checks OK but add the "ment" and it fails. On a side note, "ok" fails spellcheck but "OK" is OK. Oh, and a brand new discovery: "spellcheck" fails as well. I guess spell check is OK. Yes, there is no pesky little red underline in that last sentence. Or that last one either! Now I am cooking !!! Just in the literary sense, not actually making food. As you can see by my post thus far, I am a scatterbrain. I'm not using that as a derogatory term. I just mean that my thoughts "dance". Please comment if you read this. I would like to know what anyone thinks about how to simplify our lives. I will be blogging about my progress, so tune in if you care to.

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