Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thumpin' Thursday on the job

Got the payoff finally for Wilburforce, Hurray! still is waiting on the subordination request, conditions are being looked at right now for Bloom, the termite inspection has been waived for Calvary, Franken-furter is looking for a home in the 100k range, Sadie is long done (thank you, Jesus!), Coal changed their mind and ended up putting 10% down after all so I must revise the 1003 both in our LOS and also in the bank's web, Right is on hold until the tax returns come in, Loess is still with the Pending Police to decide whether because of my mistake as a rookie processor this loan will be denied due to withholding information or not (whatever), LO (may he live forever) has been conspicuously quiet this morning.
Boss keeps offering to buy me lunch but i am holding fast to my bigass burger king breakfast story (it's actually true).
Trojan Man finally made it here and is debating with the boss about credit. This rep is a very good guy, very helpful and available. He liked my mints and left with a handful.
LO (may he live forever) requested follow up on OBAma appraisal and it is in review even as we type. We also locked Stanley's loan at three and three quarters on a 30 day fixed.


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

MSU - Wisconsin

Wasn't Wisconsin in the top 20 this season earlier??? Anyways tie game with 4 left in the first half... (yes they were, just checked)
We have a fire going and water running from every spicket so the pipes don't freeze any worst. Shepherds Pie and a bigass salad.for dinner with fresh-baked Grands smothered in butter, followed by Lemon-Nasty cheesecake for dessert. I am full. Otis is sitting on the arm of the futon grooming/swatting his tail, Sierra is outside in the 4 degree cold loving every minute of it, sweetie is cleaning up my humungous kitchen mess bless her heart.

Thank You, LORD, for this evening; for the rest from work and time with family. Thank you for our warm home and the food and drink You provide. 
Comfort those who are hurting tonight, be their strength and salvation.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen

Tuesday Morning

The pipes froze so we have no hot water at home, if the insurance payment check gets deposited it will overdraw our account, i have no more time left on my monthly pre-paid cel phone, and payday is eleven days away....

BUT THAT'S OK, BECAUSE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JxCgo6iPrg


Monday, January 21, 2013

Oh, don't deceive me, oh never leave me...

Sometimes it's hard to just sit down and write. My nephew told me that Steven Spielberg said if you want to write, you need to put together at least 2000 words a day.
Sometimes it's hard.

36 so far, huh? ...

)-8


Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday Morning

Piety, Study, Action

This morning we look at the 2nd Chapter of Acts.

At the time this narrative takes place, there were many Jews gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost - the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest, celebrated on the 50th day after Passover - the primary harvest celebration of the ancient Israelites.  On the day of the feast, there came the sound of a strong, driving wind that all could hear. There appeared tongues of fire which came to rest on every person there, and, in verse 4, 'All were filled with the Holy Spirit.' Folks began speaking in languages not their own about 'the marvels God has accomplished' (v. 11).
Many asked one another what this could possibly mean, wondering if these folks were drunk!

This was Saint Peter's cue. He stood up, along with the Eleven, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. He begins by quoting the prophet Joel's prediction of this time, when God will pour out His spirit on mankind, with wonders and marvelous signs. He said that Jesus the Nazorean was the Man God sent with miracles, signs, and wonders, working in the midst of the Jews. He continued that this Jesus was delivered 'by the set purpose and plan of God' (v. 23), using pagans to crucify Him. But God emancipated Him from death; death could not hold the Son of God. Next Peter quotes Psalm 16 where David, who knew one of his descendents would rule Israel, predicted His resurrection.
Next Peter describes this Jesus as 'Exalted at God's right hand' (v. 33), Who 'received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father, then poured this Spirit out on us.' (v. 33). Then Peter again quotes ancient Scripture, this time the Messianic Psalm 110:
The LORD said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
Saint Peter concluded his discourse in verse 36: 'Therefore let the whole house of Israel know beyond any doubt that God has made both Lord and Messiah this Jesus whom you crucified. (To which, to-day, in my kitchen, I add a hearty Amen!)

The people at this point were 'deeply shaken' (v.37). Many translations render this 'cut to the heart'. They wanted to know what to do! Peter instructed each one of them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, that your sins may be forgiven.

That your sins may be forgiven

[This is huge for us, sitting comfortably in our warm homes with ESPN mindlessly droning in the background. But for God's people 2000 years ago, who didn't have the Bible, who didn't have 35,000 denominations advertising and soliciting, and who did not have centuries of church history tainting the person and mission of Christ Jesus, this was revolutionary!]

The text says Peter kept urging the people to repent. At the end of the day, 3000 of the gathered were baptized. Now flash back to the beginnings of  Hebrew History. Recently led out of slavery in Egypt by God and His Main Man Moses, the people were camped at Mt. Sinai, which Moses had climbed to talk to God.God tells Moses that there's no-good going on in the camp; Moses descends to find the people making rather merry and worshiping a gold idol they just made (which is what all the cool nations were doing at the time). Moses cried out, 'Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!!'. Those who chose God's side, we're told in Exodus 32, were then instructed to cut down with the sword those who did not. And 3000 people fell that day.


So much of our Old Testament reveals a great deal about what is to come in the New; the Jewish Feast of Pentecost is indeed a foreshadow of the coming of the Spirit, and the resulting harvest.

Come, Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of the faithful
And kindle in us the fire of Your love
Send forth Your Spirit, and we shall be created,
And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Oh God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, instructs the hearts of the faithful,
Grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise
And ever rejoice in His consolations.
Through Christ our Lord,
Amen

 


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Recipe # 6

Super Wednesday on BTN...

Tonight's dinner was a blessing from the LORD! I just happened to stumble upon the recipe to-day; we had a quarter of a bone-in pork tenderloin sliced into four chops and i wanted to do something different.

The recipe calls for a casserole pan covered with foil as it cooks. My benevolent wife has given all of the former away to family, so I broke out the big black roasting pan.

4-5 med potatoes sliced
1 med onion sliced
2 chicken boulion cubes
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp all purpose flour
4 pork chops
seasoning of your choice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Begin by adding the bullion cubes and bay leaves to the 2 cups of water and just bring to boil, then remove from heat.
In your baking pan, layer potato slices (i seasoned with fresh ground rainbow peppercorns) then the sliced onions, then the pork chops. You can salt/pepper your meat but i would not recommend going too crazy. I did use some dried basil just for kicks.
Remove the bay leaves from the water/broth, then whisk the flour in until you have a smooth consistency. Then pour the gravy over all. My pan was big enough that the meat was sitting just above the liquid but the potatoes were all covered.
Cover with a lid or foil and bake for 90 minutes.

The meat just fell off the bone and the potatoes were some of the best we've done here in Whitmore Lake.
I warmed up some corn to mix in the with the potatoes - you could do some bread or rolls also if you wanted or even add some fresh green veggies.

No stirring, no checking, just throw it in, enjoy the smell, and watch basketball. Wunderbar!!


This is our grand-daughter Joslin Mia, who lives in Cheyenne, WY, and will be 2 next month!



Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sunday night goodness

One of the best weekends i can remember is slowly coming to an end here in beautiful Whitmore Lake, Michigan. 1/4 Friday I went to bible study in the early am with the brothers from Saint Patrick Church and then to work. It was payday so i did some lunchtime banking and paid a couple bills, then met my sweetie down the road cuz she wanted me to look at a tv stand for our living room. The price was right so we paid for it and were gonna bring my truck back the next day to pick it up. We went down the road a little farther to look for a futon mattress for our poor futon which hasn't had a mattress since ... well a few years back when the dog peed on it. 200 bucks for a real nice thick one that was pretty darn comfortable to sit on meaning it was probably pretty darn comfortable to sleep on. We didn't decide on that right away because she had seen a sofa/chaise lounge combo set at a consignment shop in town. We drove home pretty excited for the weekend to be upon us and stopped at Roadies in Whitmore Lake for a cold two and some unbelievable mozzarella sticks. Watched something or other until bed time and slept welll
Slept in a bit saturday but we told the guy with the tv stand we'd be there at noon so we got up and out and split a Firehouse Sub on the way there. BTW, this was pretty darn good - the company is run by real firemen; the soda dispenser has over 120 flavor combinations and we got a good deal on a huge sub, bag of chips, TWO pickle spears, and a 32 oz diet doctor pepper. Way good. So we loaded the tv stand ("entertainment center" better describes this piece) into the Ranger and drove slowly home. I backed up through about 6 inches of snow right up to the deck so we could shimmy the piece in but without the weight in the bed i couldn't get back through the snow. SO, i loaded patio blocks until i was able to get the truck out to our approved parking spot. We then wanted to look at the clearance center at Art Van in Howell, so we decided the turn it into an afternoon trip with a stop at Wal-mart for insulin, a produce gathering at Aldi's (don't you love Aldi's?!?), and then the Art Van expedition. Found a sofa that would fit our decor at a comparable price so now we had the dilemma of choosing to get a mattress for the futon which we already own, purchase a slightly used chaise lounge and matching sofa, or purchasing a brand new comfy sofa.
We didn't choose right then but took our produce home and watched something or other and fell asleep early.
8:00 mass this morning started our day then to Li'l Chef (the actual name) to split a western omlette with wheat toast. Then out towards Howell for some firewood (just enough to fill up the back of the grape), then back toward Brighton for Aco's on sale boxed logs, toilet tissue, and paper towell. THEN to Kroger for some charcoal because I was determined to barbecue these Omaha Steaks burgers that we got from the kids for CHRISTmas.
So, i'm watching some college basketball and my sweetie says 'hey why don't you make some soup?!?' and i'm like...k...., find me a recipe. And the search began: slow cook, fast cook, meat, no meat, tomatoes, potatos, ... She found a good crock pot vegetable soup recipe and i looked up how to do stock from veggies and veggie part.
The soup recipe called for 6 cups chicken broth so i used about half broth and half the stock i just created. It's been cooking on high for almost 4 hours so we'll see how it turned out...

Thank You, Father, for Your Love
Thank You for Your plan to sacrifice Your Son for our redemption.
Thank You for the daily blessings...
        and we love You, too. Amen


 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A Prayer ....

http://akensidepress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/trinity.jpg


 
Holy, Perfect, Loving, Eternal LORD and Saviour,
Please soften my heart toward the ignorant Protestors; that I might not immediately desire to show them where they're wrong and how wrong they really are...but that I would remember the words of Ernie Harwell: "If I have the choice of being right or being kind, I'd rather be kind."
Help me to remember this, LORD. Help me to always remember this - with all people, in all situations. Any by Your grace, it will be done.

Thank You and amen