And the winner is....

This announcement makes me giggle because of this person's username:
The crown goes to Miss Iowa! I'll get this package mailed out to you this week and will look to see if I have an extra pair of bamboo tongs! Congrats!

20th Anniversary & Blog Candy!

ETA: I will close the giveaway on 8/16.

20 years ago today Phillip Charles Garrison and Lori Anne Smith were wed in holy matrimony in San Antonio, Texas.

Wow, that sounds really formal! How about we got hitched 20 years ago & we're still hangin' in there! LOL! So much has happened in that time. We've had eleven places we called home, including 2 homes in Africa. We've brought two new lives into this world. We've lost all of our grandparents and one parent. We've seen many different jobs. We've learned how to live with autism, ADHD & celiac disease. We've lost faith at times, but have seen the Lord's faithfulness time and time again.

To celebrate our anniversary, I am putting BLOG CANDY on this blog and my Crafty Blog. Please be sure to visit that blog @ www.chefmamacrafts.blogspot.com and leave a note. If you'd like a chance to win blog candy, just leave a comment here and tell me your best marriage advice. I know this isn't an original request but I do want to hear what you have to say!

What kind of "candy" does one give to celebrate a 20th anniversary? In my case, it's Pampered Chef "Candy!" First there is a set of measuring cups. In marriage things are never equal, but you try to measure up to your spouse's expectations. Next, an avocado peeler. It peels, but also takes the pit out. Sometimes we have to peel off layers of life to get to the good stuff underneath. And sometimes, truth is, life is just the pits! LOL! A Quikut Paring knife: marriage can keep you on the edge, but if you are really sharp, you can cut through any problems. Finally, towels to help you clean up the messes you might make, dry some tears, and absorb spills. They also help make things look pretty in the end.

I'll pick a random name in the next day or 2!

38 Days???

As of yesterday we broke a record for the most number of days with 100 + temps in San Antonio in a year: 38. The previous record was the day before when we hit 37 days. August has just begun, which means that record will likely soar.

What that means to us:

• No watering the lawn except by hand on certain days. Okay, so we don't water our lawn anyway. Our water bill is high enough without that.
• It looks like fall: ALL the plant life has now turned color--various shades of brown!
  
• We stay inside. It's too hot to play outside. The few times the girls have gone out to play have been to use the hose and play with water balloons. OH, and that one day when we got 5 drops of rain.
  
• Our electric bill just hit a record high. Granted, our house size went from 1070 sq. ft. to 1700 sq. ft when we moved, so you'd expect a higher bill. Still seeing the actual bill was a bit startling. I'm wondering if they will take payments of Pampered Chef products or handcrafted items. At any rate, I am going to learn to sweat more inside the house & turn the air to a higher temp.
  
• We don't go many places. The car gets hot & takes awhile to cool down. This is not a bad thing, as it prevents us from spending money if we stay home. Though today's venture should be okay: returning some things to the store to GET money, picking up a library book and only getting a few essential groceries.
• We love Sonic from 2 to 4. They have 1/2 price drinks and if we are out during that time we can get a Cherry Limeade, or even a Grape Strawberry Vanilla rootbeer (not really, but Bethany does like to mix up her flavors). Who am I kidding? I like to go for the Rt. 44 Coke for 80 cents! Why does Coke taste better from Sonic?

If you've never heard me do my Wicked Witch of the West impression, just picture me saying these words, because they are true in this heat,"I'm MELLLLLLLTTTTIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGG!"

When I Grow Up

When I was a little girl, I don't remember wanting to be anything specific when I grew up other than a mommy. I did go through a phase of wanting to be a stewardess. Do you remember the old days when they were called stewards and stewardesses? That's airline attendants for you young folk! Many of my friends had the Barbie Dream House. I had the Barbie AIRPLANE! My "Quick Curl Kelly" with red hair was the flight attendant. She was a full size Barbie before Barbie had a little sister named Kelly (back in the OLD days she had a younger sister named Skipper). In college, I really knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I also wanted to do full-time Christian work.

I got out of college, began teaching, met a man who wanted to be a missionary (I'd say that's full-time Christian work) and wanted to do that as a PILOT! He even wanted to marry me! THEN, we had a red-headed child, just like my Kelly doll. Okay, so I never had dreams of having a red-headed child, but thought I'd toss it into the story for good measure. 2 years later we had a 2nd child. Sounds like it all worked out, huh?

Except that after one year as missionaries, we weren't able to go back full-time to Africa and my husband had to find work totally outside of the mission field, but didn't have enough flight time to become a commercial pilot. The red-headed little bundle turned out to have autism and the 2nd child is ADHD/OCD with energy enough for the 4 of us! This is NOT a complaint, just how life is. And I am a MOMMY and a WIFE!

While I love being a Mommy and a Wife AND a full-time teacher (homeschool teachers never get a summer break or inservice days), and I do believe you'd call parenting this way full-time Christian work, sometimes I think of what I'd like to do if there were no boundaries. I am in the process of selling some of my crafts and about to sew some items that I think will be adorable and hopefully help with our income, plus I have some Pampered Chef catalog shows going on. But that pipe dream I have has to do with food. I love food. I really miss the ease of cooking without reading labels. I've been watching Next Food Network Star (and cheering for Melissa, the stay at home mom). I have NO desire to have my own cooking show on TV. I've been doing cooking shows for 8 years and cannot imagine doing them with a camera and lights and this & that and the other thing to deal with. I like to cook for a group of people in someone's home where it's relaxed and fun. So, no, that isn't my dream. What I'd like to do really is a list of things I'd like to do. Here goes.

1. I'd love to write a cookbook with gluten free recipes. However, I'm still learning to make things gluten free. I ESPECIALLY want to create a really good cinnamon roll, crescent roll (that is TORTURE to be a Pampered Chef and not be able to eat those!), and chocolate chip recipe. The one Alton Brown has on his website is pretty good (thanks Kathy for that!), but not Toll house. CC cookies were my specialty. They weren't special. It was the recipe off the back of the Toll House chips bag. But they were what I did often and well. Shoot, I even did that for my "how to" speech in a college class!
   
2. I'd love to have a PART-TIME gluten free bakery. I would NOT want the hours of a typical bakery. I don't do mornings, at least not well. The goods would have to TASTE GOOD. It makes me ill thinking about someone serving gluten free food that really doesn't taste good. If I can't have a bakery item that tastes good, I can just eat ice cream.
   
3. I want to take cake decorating classes. I would love to create a gluten free wedding cake for someone! Wouldn't that be just the coolest?
4. Now this one is the silliest, but it came to mind AGAIN the other day. I would love to be a chocolatier. There are chocolate companies out there using BARLEY MALT SYRUP as a sweetener. Barley is a gluten grain. How sad to not be able to eat Lindt chocolates. Godiva chocolate will not guarantee they have "safe" foods for the celiac either.
   

Of course, these things probably won't ever happen. If they did, I'd love to have my kids help me with it. Natalie loves to work in the kitchen (on the preparing end, not the cleaning part), and Bethany could whip up some cute ads for us.

Oh, yes, I would also love to write books even if they aren't food related. Not sure what kind, but I think it would be fun!

Now with all this food on my mind, I think I need some, um, sugar free chocolate. Being a food lover on a diet really stinks! LOL!

Weight

My scale says I gained 5 lbs. I hate my scale. I think I should toss it out the window. Except my clothes tell me I've gained 5 lbs., too. How can you eat lower fat food, climb up & down stairs all day when you are used to a one story house, and GAIN weight? I haven't done a serious diet or exercise, BUT I should have at least stayed the same or even lost a tiny bit just with more physical activity & less fat intake. As Miss Clavell says in the Madeline books, "Something is not right!" I suppose I should eat celery & walk a mile in the 102 weather, but I don't have the will power or physical energy for that right now. Maybe next week!

Happy 4th of July!

Silly question: Do you remember this question from your elementary school days: A friend would ask another, "Do they have the 4th of July in England?" Mind you, this was following on the heels of an American History lesson about good ol' George Washington and company fending off the Brits. Doubtless some poor soul would answer, "No, of course not, that's an American Holiday." The asker would then laugh and say, "Of course they DO have 4th of July in England. It's a date! They don't celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July!"

So I shall rephrase my title and wish you a Happy Independence Day! If you are in England or anywhere else, I wish you a Happy 4th of July!

I could wax eloquent (and shouldn't that be wax eloquentLY?) about the virtues of the USA, but I'm tired & you've all heard it before. I shall just say how thankful I am to live here.

Hope you enjoy your day with family, friends, or perhaps just having time alone.

God Bless America!