Author: Tammy

I Make the Best Lemon Meringue Pie!

Posted on by Tammy

No seriously, I do!  This is what I was told, no lying!  So, what does a girl do that is told, “Your Lemon Meringue Pie is the best I’ve ever had and looks the prettiest I have ever seen.  One with perfect peaks, browned just right”?  She never makes one ever again.

As all of you know, next Thursday is Thanksgiving.  Can you believe it?  That bad boy just came up on us really quick.

While doing all the planning for the day, as I always do the cooking for my family pretty much since 1986, hubster and I began talking dessert.  If it were up to me, it just wouldn’t happen, I could care less about dessert.  For hubby, there would be an issue with no dessert for Thanksgiving.  With our three parents in the nursing home, and all three deciding not to wear their false teeth, meal planning to take to the nursing home each holiday presents itself with problems.  The dessert is a big problem.  There are only six of us, so making a pie to suit everyone’s needs would mean making five different pies.  The daughter passes on any pie, so I wouldn’t need to make one for her.  My Mom and I like pumpkin and only my Father-in-Law might eat it.  Hubby will usually eat anything sweet – but draws the line at the pumpkin.  I even try to shame him into eating it saying “but it’s a vegetable, and it’s good for you”.  No such luck.  Then there’s my Mother-in-Law who reminds us all that she has to watch her “SHUga” (insert German accent here), because she’s diabetic.  While she’s watching her “SHUga”, she will eat any and all sweets that come into the room.  Though she will always make comments on how she doesn’t like that kind of pie, cake, etc.  Once everyone else is eating it, she’ll have her piece and often reach over and eat my Father-in-Law’s as well.  She’s such a sweet one (insert sarcasm here).

We have our menu down and we are back to the dessert issue.  We are discussing whether we should buy cheesecake slices (not Thanksgiving-y too me, but 6 choices of flavors per tray), or I should bake an apple crisp, or oh yum – a Pecan Pie.  We both say, “Yes.”  Then we realize – wait, they don’t wear their teeth, they can’t eat the nuts!  But—handy that I am—I decide that I could grind those suckers and it would make do!  Then the choco-holic hubby comes to my mind and I remember that I have somewhere in the archives a recipe for Chocolate Pecan Pie.  I say that out loud and a smile goes over his face.  Now we are talking!

Then it happens….he brings up the Best Lemon Meringue Pie.  “Why won’t you ever make me another Lemon Meringue Pie?”  I have to tell you, this had to have been some fantastic pie.  Can you guess when I made it?  Would it have been while I was going through cooking school as I got my diploma?  Nope.  Are you ready for this?  It was October 1982.  Yep, you read that right!  It was 1982 folks.  And the man still pines for that Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie!  Here’s a photo of this masterpiece.  (Yes, he was so excited about it he took a photo and we STILL have it after all these years!   And yes, I was that small.  Once.)

So folks, I’m asking you these questions today.  What is YOUR favorite Thanksgiving dessert?  What is your family’s traditional dessert?  These are not always the same!!  Please comment below, I’d really love to hear what your plans are for dessert!

And if you think I’m digging for ideas for dessert next Thursday and the recipes….you would be absolutely correct!

…and that’s all I have to say about that!

Tammy

She Put Them Where?

Posted on by Tammy
Happy Wednesday Everyone!

During my weekend at my Writer’s Conference back in July, I had the best time meeting fellow Writers and Speakers.  Many of them I continue to correspond with regularly.  The other wonderful thing that happened from the conference is that we set up a Facebook Page for Graduates of She Speaks.  Through that page, we are all getting to know each other better, even if we did not have the opportunity to meet one another amidst the 650 attenders as well as meeting new ladies!  We have been introduced to each other’s blogs as well as the blogs we are all following.  It is through this I have had the privilege of meeting Kimberly Rae.  She has lived all over the world and has some amazing stories that I’m betting you will enjoy reading.  You can read them here.  She also has a book out entitled, Stolen Woman.

Recently, Kimberly has been going through some health issues that I can relate to.  The idea of living with something that has no cure, or easy solution is at times overwhelming.  I’m drawn to Kimberly’s honesty as she embraces this new phase of her life.  I’m touched how she is sharing the ups and downs of living life differently now due to a change in health.

Kimberly has sent me a couple funny stories of her life around the world.  I laughed out loud!  You can read them below.  Then I hope you will head over to her blog www.stolenwoman.blogspot.com and read some more!  Enjoy…


At a hospital in third-world Bangladesh, the nurses have some interesting difficulties to face when trying to treat people who have little or no medical knowledge.
One day a woman came in with an ear infection.  They gave her some antibiotics and sent her on her way.  She returned, however, complaining that the medicine did not work.  She felt just as badly as before.
The nurse asked her some questions.  Finally, the nurse thought to ask, “Did you swallow the pills?”
The woman looked at the nurse in astonishment.  “Swallow them?” she said.  “No, I put them in my ear!”
This is a true story, told to Kimberly Rae during her years in Bangladesh.  Kimberly has since lived in Kosovo, Uganda and Indonesia, where she had an unpleasant encounter with a shrew . . .
We had not been in Indonesia long when one night we heard scurrying sounds and realized a shrew (like a rat with a really long nose) had come to visit.  My husband, Brian, got a broom and started hunting the creature down.  He chased him into a corner.  “I’m going to scare him out of the corner and then get him,” he told me.
I was standing several feet away, holding a mop, ready to shoo the thing back toward Brian if it tried to escape.
Brian used the broom to scare the shrew out of the corner, then he swung high and WHACK, slammed the broom down.
I shrieked and ran.  Brian couldn’t understand why.  He’d gotten the shrew, hadn’t he?
What he did not realize, however, was that he’d actually decapitated the thing, and its head had come flying through the air to bounce of MY BARE FOOT!
Let’s just say that, after that, I was much less inspired to help him out when it came to rats!
Kimberly is the author of Stolen Woman, a Christian suspense novel on international human trafficking.  Find out more at www.stolenwoman.org.

kimberly rae
I hope you enjoyed the above stories.  Take the time today and tell somebody near you a funny memory.  Everyone could use a laugh—anytime!
And don’t forget, that not all your antibiotics are applied directly to the affliction!  Jus’ sayin’!!
…and that’s all I have to say about that!
Tammy

Meet My Friend Who’s Grateful to Gain Weight Easily!

Posted on by Tammy

Greetings Bloggy Friends!
Did I get your attention with the title of today’s post?  Well, imagine what I thought when my friend sent this post to me to share with all of you and I first read this title,  too!  Trust me, you will definitely want to read more.  
First, let me introduce you to another one of my She Speaks friends,  Brittany Williamson.  I’m having a blast getting to know Brittany through our She Speaks Online Peer Critique Group that I current lead.  I also love reading her blog over here that she writes with two of her friends, Holly and Hannah. They call themselves “twenty-somethings”.  Now I’m sure you’re wondering why this old lady would read a blog written by girls half my age!  Easy.  These girls have a lot of great things to say as well as wisdom in their young age.  But don’t take my word for it, read Brittany’s post below – then pop on over to their website, www.faithinbetween.com and check out more of Brittany’s writing!  
Enjoy, my friends!

I am grateful that I gain weight easily.

Yes. You read that correctly. Not depressed, not jealous, not sad…grateful.

But before you think I need my temperature checked or my head examined or a doctor appointment scheduled, hear me out.

I have cried over, struggled with, complained about, and hated my body for as long as I can remember. Though I knew I was made by God in His image, I still declared myself fat, disgusting, gross, ugly, and unlovable for many years. Scriptures like Psalm 134:19 didn’t give me peace; they made me cringe. How could I possibly be “wonderfully made” and overweight at the same time?

It seemed to me those girls who could eat whatever they wanted and still fit into their size two jeans were perhaps a little more “wonderfully” made than I was. I gained weight just by looking at the hamburgers and fries they could scarf down without a budge in the scale. A  few words came to mind when I thought about my body, but “wonderful” was never one of them, I can assure you.
Until last December.
Absorbing the spiritual truths discussed in Lysa Terkeurst’s book Made to Crave radically changed my perspective on my weight and every other struggle in my life. For the very first time, I began to understand what it means to be perfectly created by God, and I know now it has absolutely nothing to do with what I see in the mirror but everything to do with what He sees in my heart.
Let’s be honest, God could’ve easily given me a different body type. He is the creator of the world, after all. But I would not be perfect if He had.  I am “wonderfully made” only because I am perfectly designed to need Him. We all are, in one way or another. And when we need Him, we depend on Him, and by depending on Him, we grow closer to Him.
God knew that food would be my drug of choice, my go-to when I was sad, and my method of celebration, and He on purpose designed my body to make me aware of my habits and decisions. He wanted me to recognize every time I turned to food instead of Him, and He provided an opportunity for me to get to know Him in a totally different way than I ever would have without this struggle. Through relying on Him for strength, discipline, and guidance while I work on getting healthy, I gain a better understanding of who He is while leaving behind bad habits and unhealthy pounds. It may be a difficult process full of temptation, disappointments, and setbacks, but I finally realized that this is a journey God always intended for me to take with Him.
It is the reason I gain weight so easily, and it is the reason I am now grateful that I do.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to “rejoice always, pray continually, [and] give thanks in all circumstances” because it is God’s will. By looking at every weakness or issue as an opportunity given to us by our Father to grow closer to Him, we have the ability to experience true freedom and continual happiness. We are not designed to be slaves to anything– money, greed, bad attitudes, our pasts, or any sin. We are only designed to need God, and once we recognize that need, we are more powerful than any emotion, event, or addiction in our lives. Maybe weight isn’t your issue, but what is? Do you have a short temper? Do you love to gossip? Are you in the habit of hiding truth or lying? Do you think that’s “just the way you are?” Whatever it is, be grateful for it. Look at your struggle as something you can work on with God, and then pray, pray, and pray some more for His strength and patience while you soak up His love and mercy in a more beautiful way than you ever imagined.
The opportunity for growth is endless once we stop excusing, ignoring, and dwelling on our faults and begin to embrace the strength offered to us through Christ. The fact that we all need to change doesn’t mean we aren’t perfectly made. It means we are.

Well, didn’t I tell you this young lady has great wisdom to share?  Looks like I’d better re-read this post myself and learn from it!
…and that’s all I have to say about that!
Tammy