A Great Way to Save Money on Good Food

Today I picked up my first order from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op.

Bountiful Baskets is not a business, but rather a group of people who work together for mutual benefit. Two moms started the co-op, and not as an entrepreneurial venture, but as a way to purchase quality, fresh food for their families. They are a grass roots, all volunteer, no contracts, no "catch" co-operative. They depend on volunteers to make it happen.

I got a variety of fresh fruit and produce, plus five loaves of multi-grain bread - all for the cost of $29.50, which included a handling fee of $1.50, and a $3 "first-timer" charge. This is a great deal, and you are helping others get a great deal, too. With the conventional produce offering, you get approximately $50 worth of grocery store-quality produce.

Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op has many different pickup sites throughout the Phoenix metro area, and will soon serve the Yuma area. Mine was at a local park, just a couple miles from my house. I am very pleased that they actually have not one, but TWO sites in my little community. (I initially thought I would have to drive over 30 miles into Phoenix for something like this.) They operate every two weeks at each site.

As a group, they purchase items at deep discounts. Items are then distributed evenly among participants. They use their website to make monetary contributions toward the pools of money used to purchase products. Contributions for participation are collected for the amount required in each pool by the deadline listed on their website. For produce baskets, they purchase from a warehouse that supplies produce to many local restaurants and grocery stores. In my opinion, this is better than the produce you would get from a grocery store.

You'll get a variety of high-quality seasonal produce. They balance variety with seasonality in order to get the most appealing and cost-effective basket possible. There are even organic baskets available at some pick up locations. In any event, the co-op encourages a healthier lifestyle.

Here's what I got today:

Make sure that you bring some kind of a container to take your produce home in! Laundry baskets, coolers, grocery bags, and boxes work great. Each site has a 20 minute pickup window. Please show up on time (see the "Pickup Times" table on their homepage for site pickup times). Perishable items that are not picked up within 30 minutes are donated to the local firehouse.

Find them on FaceBook.

The Morning After Airing of the Debate

Did anyone get the opportunity to watch the ABC Nightline Face-Off last night?

The debate was "Does Satan Exist?" between Pastor Mark Driscoll and Annie Lobert vs. Carlton Pearson and Deepak Chopra.

I wish I could have stayed up late enough to see the debate. With my weekday routine being what it is, I normally can't last past 8:30pm (I am up before the crack of dawn). I plan to watch it online later, when I get some time to myself.

I did peruse a few other blogs today, pertaining to the show. Very intriguing.

Here's what some other bloggers are saying about the debate:

Zach Probst

Allison Huynh

Terri Mackmer

Amy Letinsky

Dr. Derek Vreeland

Russell McKinney

From what I read, Pastor Mark Driscoll rather enjoyed the debate. In closing he said, "My hope would be just that people would reexamine their beliefs. Particularly if they are not Christian. To go back to considering some of the issues of Christianity and Jesus. You are not going to change someone's mind with one debate or one television show. But you can set them on a course of action whereby they study and maybe come to some new conclusions."

That is a great idea! Don't just take someone's word for it - study Scripture for yourself. Take the time to delve into the Bible with a fine-tooth comb.

Read the blogs of Pastor Mark Driscoll and Annie Lobert.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This is what I found this morning in my little girl's backpack:

"My favorite day of the week is Friday because I get to see my Dad and play with Ema."

(Emma is the little girl who lives next door to my daughter's dad.)

Conjures up so many emotions.

Does Satan Exist? (You might not like my answer.)

Do I believe that satan exists? Most definitely. I believe that he is alive and well, and continually wreaking havoc amongst all people. I don't believe that satan is merely a synonym for our own sinful nature. No.

I also believe in Angels. In fact, Lucifer (satan) took one-third of all the angels in heaven when he was cast out by the Archangel, Michael (Revelation 12:7-9). Right this very moment, there are many of his fallen angels doing his dirty work, right here with us on Earth.

Do I believe that there is a hell? Yes I do, unfortunately. Do I believe that many people will inevitably end up there? Yes, I do. And I don't wish that fate for anyone. The enemy would have us all believe that there is no such place. (Of course, why else would we repent if there was no hell?) But unfortunately that doesn't jibe with what the Bible says (Revelation 20:10, Matthew 25:41). And I believe that hell is far worse than we are capable of imagining. FAR worse. I truly wish things could be different.

What about those people who never hear the Gospel? What about those who are never taught about the Messiah, or taught about repentance? I do not consider myself a teacher. In fact, I have asked this very same question myself, and have been given various answers. I am not sure that any one person has the definitive answer.

Let's take those isolated people in remote parts of the Amazon, who have never had contact with other cultures, outside of their own. How are they going to be saved? I am not sure of how - whether it's given to each of them in some sort of personal revelation (dreams, visions, some subtle sign) - or if the Holy Spirit lays some kind of conviction on their heart (Romans 2:14,15). I believe that somehow, they are shown the way. God has promised us that He will reveal Himself to us, and has done so in a number of ways, before the Bible (as we know it today) even existed (Romans 1:20). I don't believe that God would deliberately play "hide the ball" so to speak, with these people. How would that serve His purpose to create them, and yet deny them any opportunities for entry into heaven (Genesis 18:25)?

I understand that they will be judged differently than those who have heard the Gospel, and yet still chose to reject it (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9). And people who lived and died before the Pentecost will be judged in accordance to the Law (Romans 2:12). Infants, unborn babies, and small children - anyone under the age of accountability - will go to heaven (2 Samuel 12:23).

A little about me. I consider myself a non-denominational Christian. However, my family is predominately multi-generational Methodist. I grew up going to church and Sunday school weekly. I attended the United Methodist Youth Fellowship functions. I was "christened" as a baby. I went to Vacation Bible School every summer. I went to church camp. My parents raised me with Methodist values. However, I was not truly saved until I made the personal decision to ask for salvation. In spite of having a religious upbringing and training, I needed to take the initiative with my own salvation. Or risk damnation.

It was not my parents that told me this. In fact, my parents had been somewhat cavalier about my salvation. I'm not sure why. My grandmother was the one who planted the seed, sharing Bible stories with me at her kitchen table over homemade chicken and dumplings and fresh rhubarb pie. And I recall my brother warning me about the tribulation and the rapture. When I was a teenager, my best friend's mother was constantly inviting us to Christian rock concerts, and sharing her testimony with us kids. And when I was 19, a very near and dear friend of mine (thank you Robbie!) finally broke through to me. That was the pivotal moment when I made the decision to accept Jesus as my personal savior. And boy, did I need Him!

I hope this doesn't come off sounding sanctimonious. I am a total sinner! I am FAR from perfect or righteous. I have made some bad choices in the 20 years since, and life has gotten pretty rough at times. Like a child, I get off track and need some redirecting now and then. My Heavenly Father will not cast me aside just because I occasionally disobey, like a "bad child". He loves me unconditionally, and no matter how badly I botch things up, He always has my back, and nothing can snatch me from His hand. Certainly NOT satan.

A man came to Charles Finney, the well-known evangelist, and said, "I don't believe in the existence of a devil." "Don't you?" asked Finney. "Well, you resist him for a while, and you will believe in it."

Watch the "Nightline Face-Off: Does Satan Exist?" Thursday, March 26, 2009, on ABCNews.com & 11:35 p.m. on "Nightline"

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day

A little sampling of St. Patrick's Day and Irish-themed snippets for you:

The story of St. Patrick:

So, who do you suppose Saint Patrick was? What have you heard about him?

Some of you may have heard that he was an Irish lad named Patrick, that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland, that he was the first missionary to introduce Christianity to Ireland, or that he favored using the shamrock to teach people about the Holy Trinity. Well, these are all myths. We do not know for certain the date he was born, or the date he died, or even if he was ordained as Catholic or Protestant (although some would argue that they know either to be true.)

In the late fourth century, Maewyn Succat (later known as St. Patrick, from the Latin name Patercius) was born in what is now Great Britain to a wealthy, high-ranking family - Roman subjects. When Maewyn was 16, Irish raiders invaded his family's estate, murdered his family, kidnapped and sold Maewyn into slavery. He was taken to Ireland, and remained there for the next six years, working as a shepherd.

Although his family raised him Roman Catholic (it is said that his grandfather was a priest, and his father was a deacon), he had been (like many youth) spiritually rebellious. Now orphaned and completely broken, tragedy, isolation and fear finally brought him to Christ. His faith and love for God were ignited, and he spent much time praying and fasting. He later wrote that one night he had heard a voice in a dream, which he believed was a revelation from God, which said, "You fast well; soon you will go to your fatherland."

He wrote, "And again, after a very short time, I heard the heavenly voice saying to me, ‘Lo, your ship is ready.’ And it was not near at hand, but was distant, perhaps two hundred miles. And I had never been there, nor did I know any person living there. And there upon I shortly took flight and left the man with whom I had been for six years. And I came in the strength of God, who prospered my way for good; and I met with nothing to alarm me until I reached that ship" (Confession of St. Patrick 17 [A.D. 452]). This prompted his escape from Ireland. His escape was nothing short of miraculous.

After escaping and having a second revelation, 15 years later he was ordained as a priest, and began his missionary journey back to Ireland. He not only wanted to minister to Christians already living in Ireland, but to also convert the Irish non-believers to Christianity. He chose to incorporate native Irish beliefs and ritual into his lessons, which proved effective. For the rest of his life, he ordained priests, founded churches and monasteries, taught, preached, baptized, praised God, and when he was finished, nearly all of Ireland was Christian.



St. Patrick, the holy and tutular man
His beard down his bosom like Aaron's ran:
Some from Scotland, some from Wales, will declare that he came,
But I care not from whence now he's risen to fame;
The pride of the world and his enemies scorning
I will drink to St. Patrick, today in the Morning!
He's a desperate big, little Erin go brah;
He will pardon our follies and promise us joy,
By the mass, by the Pope, by St. Patrick so long
As I live, I will give him a beautiful song!
No saint is so good, Ireland's country adorning:
Then hail to St. Patrick, today, in the morning!
-Traditional Irish song

Quotes of the Irish:

Winston Churchill
"We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English."

Barry McCaffrey
"When I get a very generous introduction like that I explain that I'm emotionally moved, but on the other hand I'm Irish and the Irish are very emotionally moved. My mother is Irish and she cries during beer commercials."

Oliver Herford
"The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scotts as a joke, but the Scotts haven't seen the joke yet."

Brendan Behan
"If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks."

James Boswell
"The Irish are a very fair people, they never speak well of one another."

Colin Farrell
"Being Irish is very much a part of who I am. I take it everywhere with me."

Oscar Wilde
"I can resist everything except temptation."


Irish Proverbs:

• A friend's eye is a good mirror.
• A hair on the head is worth two on the brush.
• A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life.
• A trade not properly learned is an enemy.
• A turkey never voted for an early Christmas.
• As the big hound is, so will the pup be.
• Better be quarrelling than lonesome.
• Don't talk about a rope in the house of someone whose father was hung.
• Even a small thorn causes festering.
• Everyone is wise until he speaks.
• Good as drink is, it ends in thirst.
• If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn.
• It is a long road that has no turning.
• It is not a secret if it is known by three people.
• It takes time to build castles. Rome was not built in a day.
• Nodding the head does not row the boat.
• Praise the ripe field not the green corn.
• Put silk on a goat, and it's still a goat.
• The man with the boots does not mind where he places his foot.
• There is no fireside like your own fireside.
• Time is a great story teller.
• When a twig grows hard it is difficult to twist it. Every beginning is weak.
• You never miss the water till the well has run dry.

Irish Blessing:

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Enjoy these delicious recipes:

Crock Pot Corned Beef with Cabbage

Ingredients:

3-4 lb. corned beef brisket
Water
1/2 c. chopped onions
3 carrots, cut in 3 inch pieces (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1 head cabbage, cut into wedges

Directions:

Place corned beef in large crock pot. Barely cover with water. Add onion, carrots, garlic and bay leaves. Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 hours. Serves 6 to 8.

For Cabbage: Place cabbage wedges around beef for last 30 minutes or cooking time or until done.

No Peek Irish Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2 pounds cubed stew meat
6 carrots, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cups cubed potatoes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 cup tomato-vegetable juice cocktail

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
In a roasting pan, combine the meat, carrots, onions and potatoes. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, tapioca flour and juice cocktail and mix well. Pour this mixture over the meat and vegetables and cover tightly with foil.
Bake in the preheated oven for 5 hours.

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Toss the raisins with the flour mixture until coated. Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

Have a wonderful and safe St. Patrick's Day!

I got tagged for a fun meme from Under The BIG blue Sky . Since I don't get tagged very often, I thought I should give it a try!

The rules:

1. Respond and re-work: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.

2. Tag eight other un-tagged people. (I guess I am a rule-breaker... I am only tagging five!)

Tagging (only if they want to):

Yes, That's My Child Screaming
Eyeglasses & Endzones
He & Me + 3
Mom Taxi
21st Century Dad

Have fun!

***

What is your current obsession: Somehow clearing all of the weeds out of my backyard.

What are you wearing now: Jeans, running shoes, baseball cap and a striped T-shirt.

Who was the last person you hugged: My daughter.

Who is the last person who kissed you: My sweet daughter.

If you were a tree, what tree would you be: A eucalyptus tree.


What’s for dinner: A $5.00 footlong from Subway.

What was the last thing you bought: My Subway sandwich.

What are you listening to right now: Someone singing on the PBS channel, via TV from the living room.

What is your favorite weather: sunny, mid to upper 70's.

What is on your bedside table: Clutter - a lamp, lotion bottle, alarm clock, my girl's book "Sassy," a bottle of Ginko Biloba, a jar of Carmex, a bottle of Benedryl, a half-empty drinking glass, a liquid potpourri warmer, and a ponytail holder.

What is your most challenging goal right now: To make sure I keep my day job... the one that pays the bills.

Say something to the person who tagged you: You are such a wonderful mother to your girls!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, where do you want it to be: On top of a mountain, with this kind of view (see house, upper left):


Name the things you cannot live without: I can't live without clothes (can't stand to be naked), can't live without food, can't live without water, can't live without shoes (can't stand to go outside barefoot), can't live without oxygen.

What would you like to have in your hands right now: The winning lottery ticket.

Hot or Cold coffee: hot coffee, with milk.

What would you like to get rid of: All this clutter in my house, car and garage.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go: On a cruise ship, somewhere on deck where I can sit and watch the stars.

If you could have your portrait painted/made by any famous artist from any era, who would you choose: Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun.

What is your favorite book: Gone with the Wind.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

A Lesson for Both of Us

Do you remember POGS? A really hot, yet useless item (in my opinion), played with and traded by kids in the early nineties. The other day, I was reminded of that fad when my six year-old showed me a couple of cute, tiny erasers. One is shaped like a butterfly, and the other is shaped like a cat with angel wings. I asked her where she got them. She told me that one of her friends in her kindergarten class had given them to her.

"Huh. That's nice, honey." I said. I really didn't think too much about it, until she asked me if I would take her to get some more of those little erasers at the store.

I told her, "Let me find the key to your princess bank, and then you can take some of your money out to buy some of those at the dollar store." I thought surely there would be some sort of miniature erasers at the dollar store. (I could swear I'd seen some there before.) And if we couldn't find any miniature erasers, there will be something else that she would be just as happy with.

She was pleased, and went on about her business.

The next morning, it had slipped right out of my mind, until she asked, "when are we going to go get some more of those erasers?"

This would be a good opportunity to teach her about money, I thought.

I'll have her count her dollar bills, and take an allotted amount with us to the store. Maybe she will begin to appreciate just what goes into saving and spending money, and why I don't always say yes every time she asks me to buy her something random at the store. Maybe she will value money a little more if she has to spend her own money that's she's been saving for so long.

So, we opened up her princess bank, and I instructed her to count out ten one-dollar bills, and then put them into her own wallet that Santa had brought to her (just for this purpose). She counted the bills and put the money in her wallet. Soon, we got into the car and headed over to the dollar store. She was very excited. (I wish I could get that excited over something so simple as those tiny erasers.)



When we got to the dollar store, we went up and down the aisles. She was on a mission, and would not stop to look at anything else. I on the other hand was continuously distracted by all of the Easter goodies on display, making a mental note to come back sometime soon without her. I would stop to look at something, and she would turn around and say "Come on, mom. We have to find those erasers."

Well, we canvased the whole store and did not see anything close to those erasers, and she was visibly discouraged. I tried to show her some others trinkets to buy with her money. I was hoping to follow through with her lesson on shopping. She would have nothing else. Those erasers were the only thing she wanted.

I asked her if her friend at school told her where she found them, and she said "Circle Domino."

"Huh?" I said. "Domino's Pizza ? That is a PIZZA place. Are you sure that's what she said?"

She repeated, "No. Circle Domino, mom. We have to find it!"

"I don't know what that is. As far as I know, there is no such place. You need to ask her again when you go to school tomorrow." I said.

So, we went home. She was very disappointed. Almost moping.

Then I got the idea to check Walmart and Target. Surely there had to be something there that would suffice.

I chose to stop at Target first, because I don't have to fight the crowds there, and I like the clean aisles. As soon as we walked in, I told her that we needed to check the dollar bins, because I wanted her to find an inexpensive backup choice (as an alternative to those darned erasers). As I am cruising the aisle slowly, inspecting and showing her each item of interest, she is nagging me, "Mom. Let's go. Come on, let's go. Mom... mom!"

I was just about to walk away, and then it dawned on me that I needed to check one more row. As luck would have it, she spots them - right in that very last row.

And this is what the fuss is all about:




(Cute, aren't they?)

She was ecstatic. You'd have thought that it was Christmas morning! She picked up four packages of them, and told me that she'd planned to give them away to her friends at school. We walked over to the check-out, she handed the cashier five dollar bills from her wallet, put her change away, and took the receipt. All by herself.

As we drove away from the store, she spots the Target logo on the side of the building. She said, "That's it! Circle Dot. Not domino, but DOT."

By George, she's right. It really is that simple. I've had exposure to Target's brand marketing much longer than she has. (Try almost three decades.) Why couldn't I have figured that out?

I guess we both learned a lesson that day. She learned how to use her money, and I learned that I had better start thinking outside the box. And start thinking inside the circle.