Hi there everyone....hope you are having a great month. Sorry I am so slow in getting this blog published. Guess March has been busy and being a nurse/caregiver has taken up pretty much a lot of my time. 

NOTE: Just to let you know, both cards on this blog are not mine. They actually were from the internet, made by other people. I used them as examples for cards I did make, sorry, no pictures of them as yet. Most of the cards made, I gave to Hospice. I do have a few cards downstairs that I have been working on the last few days, but have not taken pictures of them as yet. 

Not a whole lot of plans for Easter. Probably will go to church. JP will stay home and watch SBN on TV. Oh, when I say SBN, I mean Jimmy Swaggart Ministries....that is our church. The church we go to is a Jimmy Swaggart church, and we watch the service from Baton Rouge on the big screen at church also. The church is 33 miles (round trip). We've been going there since 2005, 16 years now....long time members there. Wow!!

For Easter dinner I am planning to make ham loaves. I shall have to find a recipe on the internet. It is just ham ground up and mixed with ground pork and spices and rolled into little loaves and baked. Maybe a real pineapple, asparagus, mashed potatoes and whatever else I think up. Oh, I may try bread/rolls in the Air Fryer, just to see how they turn out. For dessert maybe a small cheese cake with berries on top. Sound good??? I shall see, the menu probably will change by the time Easter rolls around.

JP still has a hard time getting around, if he is not getting arm pains he is shuffling around with bad feet. I guess after we deal with all these other health issues, we will go to the foot doctor next. I told him, one doctor at a time. One can get overwhelmed what with all the doctors we have gone to in the last couple of months. It is not easy to get him from the house to the car, to the hospital/doctor and back home again.

I still catharize him, 2 times a day (that has helped, it was 3-4 times a day before) I give him his meds 3 times a day(so he does not overdose or not take them at all). Breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and many, many dishes in the sink. I feel like a maid, servant, slave, cook, nurse, and whatever else there is to be called. Oh well, such is life.

JP has a nurse that comes once a week and another lady that comes to give him a shower, wash hair and shave. That helps me, I don't have to do that also. Probably in the next month or so there will be a whole new set of people coming to help me. We will be on Community Care/Respite where people will sit with JP as I can take a few hours off and leave the house and not have to worry about him and if he would fall or do something stupid. (which he has.)

Well good news, the hospital just called and JP has an appointment set up for an MRI for his left arm to see where and why he is having these arm pains for over 12 year or longer. Would be nice to know there might be a remedy.

Well time to close this blog, it's getting pretty long and I am sure some people get bored reading long blogs....I do sometimes. You all take care, keep looking up, better days are a coming round the corner. Cheers ~ Louise

Mother's Day Cards and Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful Mother's day. I am a little late at wishing you all a great day. Finally got my pictures into the computer. A little slow here. We had a nice day. Went to church and watched Jimmy Swaggart on the big screen. Always a good service even though we are not in Baton Rouge, I can still feel the Holy Spirit in Forest Junction when watching on TV!!!

Usually on Mother's Day the ladies are given a gift for Mother's Day. Being I am the only lady there plus the Pastor's wife, I got two bags of pop corn and two Giant Pansies, one purple, one red....so pretty!! We went home and I made gyros and oven fries....yum so good. Wish we could have gone out to eat....would have been fun to not have to do the dishes afterwords.

Mother's Day has sometimes been hard to deal with as even though I had a baby....I was told, that baby had to be given up for adoption. A decision I still regret to this day. That baby is now 49 yrs old....wow time does fly!!! She has two sons and one son has had a son.....I guess that makes me a mother, grandmother and great- grandmother. Three labels, I have but don't have....oh well that is life, we make decisions, or they are made for us, then we have to live with those decisions for the rest of our lives. 

Okay....on to my card making. I recently purchased this embossing folder from Stampin'up which makes beautiful 3D flowers and roses….I fell in love with the image the moment I saw it. You had to buy $50 worth of product and got this floral embossing folder for free. I asked my Stampin'up lady if there was some way I could buy the folder without having to buy $50 worth of product. She checked into it and said I could buy her folder and she would order another one for herself.....nice lady.

So in the above card, I used gold card stock then rubbed black ink on the flowers and a little bit of green on the leaves. Placed the image on brown card stock.....such a pretty card. If you can see it, I stamped and embossed a Happy Birthday verse. This floral image can be used for just about any kind of card, Thanks, Birthday, Thinking of you, Sympathy, Mother's day etc. 

These next two Mother's Day cards, the card on the right, I used silver card stock, rubbed black ink on the flowers then versa mark and embossed with clear embossing powder. Made for a very smooth finish. The card on the left was black card stock and I rubbed silver paste on the parts I wanted to shine the most. 

I looked on Pinterest and found lots of ideas using this embossing folder.....the ideas are endless, can hardly wait to try them all. Chalks, copic markers, water color pencils, Twinkling H2O, lots of ideas on the horizon.

In these two pictures are the chocolate covered strawberries. They did not last long, I made them Friday night and ate the last of them 30 minutes ago. Yes, I shall make these again....maybe for JP's birthday this next Friday. He will be 72 years old.....when did we both get this old?????

I melted the chocolate in the mic and added butter to make it creamy then dunked the strawberries in the chocolate and sprinkled the strawberries with coconut flakes. So good!!!

Well, time to close this post before I get too wordy and start boring you. You all have a great rest of the day. Tomorrow JP has an appointment with the foot Doctor and Tuesday I have an appointment to find out what my A1C is. JP has to renew his drivers licence on Wednesday....gosh this will be a busy week and I have to decide if I am going to bake a cake or buy one....that is something I am not too good at.....baking cakes and decoration....I am no Cake Boss!!!

Take care and keep looking up, better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise

JSM MUSIC :: DRAW ME LORD

Hi there everyone. How is Saturday treating you??? I am kind of lazy today. Many things to do, but just backing off. I wandered around Jimmy Swaggarts music, probably listening for over an hours worth of music on You Tube. I love this song and there was such an anointing here....wish I could have been there. I miss the beautiful worship at my old church....Thank God I can go to JSM for my spiritual needs now.

Have a good Saturday evening and don't forget to go to church tomorrow!!! Keep looking up ~ better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Pizza & Hockey Tonight

Hi there everyone....whomever you may be?!?!?!? How was your Sunday? I missed church today, woke up with a slight sore throat and stuffiness. Decided not to go at the last minute. There is remodeling going on in the church and lots of dust flying around. Didn't care to have itchy eyes on top of not feeling that great.

Jimmy Swaggart Ministries is our Church affiliate, so I can watch the service at home and not miss anything. I sure do wish I could go to a service sometime, but they are down in Baton Rouge, LA and we are up here in Appleton, WI. That's kind of a long way to go to church.

So, today was the beginning of the racing season, Daytona 500 kicks off the season. JP likes racing, as he used to be a stock car racer back in his younger days. He probably could have made  NASCAR but you need lots of $$$ to back you and that was something we had very little of.  Racing ended about 5:30. I walked Kylie, we came home and I put this pizza together. Homemade crust with bacon, peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Oh yum this was a perfect pizza and the crust was perfectly thin and crusty.

So here is the pizza before it was baked.....it came out of the oven just in time for the Hockey game that started at 6:30pm. In this picture you see we are in the 3rd period and the score is 2-2. (this was when I decided to take a picture or two of the game, had to turn off the flash, otherwise there would have been the glare of the flash)

Pizza time....almost forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Gosh, this was a really good pizza....wonder if I will ever be able to duplicate this one?????

Another picture....the Hawks won the game....4-2 in the last couple of minutes of play, PLUS they scored in an open net cause the Blues took their goalie out of the net....sad for them....good for us!!!! The Hawks, so far have won 39 games and lost 23. We still have all of March, plus 4 games in April. Then the Play-offs for the Stanley Cup begin. This season sure is going by fast....before you know it, Baseball will be starting!!!!

Good thing we have sports......takes the mind off politics!!!!! I am not much of a Baseball fan, but I sure did enjoy watching the Cubs win the World Series ~ finally!!!!

For this next week....JP has a Doctor's appointment tomorrow, guess we will be talking about his Prostrate with the Doctor and whether or not he will have surgery.

I still need to finish our income tax and take them into the accountant next Monday. Be glad when that is finished. It's like a black cloud hangs over me till I get that stuff done.

Hospice meeting is next Friday, I have the cards done and now just need to put the inserts in. All doable things that can get done in a few days if I stick to it and get it done.

I have some bills that need to be paid this week, so hopefully the weather will be agreeable too. Well, you all have a great week and keep looking up~~~~better days are here to enjoy, now!!!

Cheers ~ Louise

MONDAY!!!!!!!

Hi everyone.....bawhahahahahahah....What a funny face on the little pooch. Found him on Pinterest and could not resist!

Hope you had a great weekend and celebrated Resurrection Sunday with family and friends. We went out to eat....have not done that in a long time, it was fun. Cause I didn't have to do dishes afterwards. A small buffet with chicken, potatoes, dressing, eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, toast, salads and desserts....oh yum, I was full. We didn't do much today except just relax. I still have the paper to look over.

We watched Jimmy Swaggart on the computer today....usually we can get  him on the TV but the connection was not working. Someone from AT&T is coming out tomorrow to fix the problem, I hope. I had to call and talk to someone in Manila, Philippine's....oh geez I really dislike having to jump through these hoops to get something done right...this whole thing is unacceptable, to say the least!!!

Well, time to close, I am getting tired and it's almost 2:00 am, time to hit the pillows....so I am not grumpy when the AT&T guy is here.

Cheers to you all ~ Louise

Bloggers Block?????????

Hi there everyone......how are you all today???? I am having "bloggers block" right now. Can't think of a thing to write. It has been so dreary and rainy outside and as usual the ceiling is leaking. I don't even like to cook in the kitchen when the ceiling is leaking. I swear, someday the ceiling will cave in.

But one things for sure....I could be in southern Ill where tornado's hit today and through out the midwest. 65 tornadoes were reported today. I could be in the Philippines and lose everything to the typhoon. Yes, we cry in our sorrows so much...not thinking that others have it worse. A leaking ceiling some how does not look so bad right now. BUT...I will be forever "Looking for a City" A city of gold where the roses never fade and we are forever young, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus.....yes there is a place like that and far much better then this world has to offer.

Hope you enjoy this little segment of Jimmy singing..........I like his music, always calms my soul!! Jimmy started playing piano at age 8, never had a lesson. He asked God to give him the talent to play the piano. His father asked him where he learned to play like that, did his aunt teach him? Jimmy said no, he just asked God to help him. Jimmy sat down and started to play a few chords and here he is today. Amazing what God will do, if we just ask with the faith of a little child.

Well, so much for today, guess I am not much into blogging today. You all have a great rest of the day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.

Taking pictures of some of the Christmas cards I have been working on, so stay tuned for the next issue of  "cards4ubylouise"  Have a great rest of the evening and Cheers - Louise

He Knows My Name

I want to share something special with you tonight....hope you like it. It is so sweet to know that HE knows my name and He prays for us to know Him in a more intimate closer relationship....Thank You Jesus!!!!!

In a Mood to Make Things AND God's Healing!!

Made this special drink just a little while ago. Got the idea on www.pinterest.com Helps a person lose weight. Using lemons, (also added my left over limes), mint leaves and water plus a packet of stevia for a little sweetness. Mix together with ice cubes, a very refreshing drink.

This great Zucchini bread was made yesterday..........gosh is it ever delicious. Here is the recipe.
3 eggs, 2 cups sugar ( I used 3/4 cups) 1 Tbls vanilla, 1 cup oil ~ Beat eggs until fluffy.  Add sugar, vanilla and oil. This is where I stirred in 2 cups shredded Zucchini, 1/2 (or more) cup of nuts and a handful or more choc. chips and mixed well.
Mix together, 1 1/2 cups white flour and 1 1/ cups whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt, 3 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. soda and mix into the liquid mixture. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 325 for 1 hour.

"My Excellent Dill Pickles" Gosh are they ever good, they almost taste like "Clausen Pickles"! I started making these in a plastic container and they seem to be working out well. Used to do pickles in  a small jar and let them sit on the counter........but for some reason, I could not get the right taste I was looking for. On a whim and a few cucs I made a batch of pickles in a plastic container and they turned out great!!! Anyone for a dill pickle sandwich????
Here is all I did to make these pickles. Soaked them overnight in water and canning salt, maybe 2 tbls and enough water to cover the pickles. Next day, take the pickles out of the brine, (don't rinse) cut length wise and place in a large plastic container layered with fresh dill (you can also use dried dill maybe about 1 tablespoon if no fresh dill).
Heat up 4 cups water, 1-2 tbls. canning salt, 2 large garlic cloves, crushed, heat water up to just a notch away from boiling.
Pour 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar over the pickles, then pour the hot salt, garlic water over the pickles. Let sit till they cool down then cover and put in frig. You can adjust the amount of salt, vinegar and garlic anyway you would like till you get the taste you are looking for.
 I think these pickles will be an on-going thing during the winter months, as Copps usually carries small cucumbers and fresh baby dill all year long.

Now for the news you have been waiting for.......God's Healing!!!
JP has been dealing with this terrible upper arm pain for about 4 years. Sometimes the attack will come 10-12 times a day and last anywheres between 1 to 3 minutes and be anywheres from a 2 or 3 to a 10 on the pain rector scale. If you have had a "charlie horse" in you legs or arms, that is how painful they are in his arm.

JP went to the family Doctor, he in turn referred JP to a orthopedic Dr. who ordered a stress test then referred JP to a cardiologist who did a cauterization (no blockage), but gave JP heart meds and antacid pills. Then JP went back to the family Doctor who then referred JP to a stomach Dr. who did a scope down the stomach. They found an ulcer.........different meds for antacid????? I have failed to see the connection between the arm pain and the stomach and wondered why he was given antacids. As he still got the arm pains and all 4 Doctors didn't seem to be concerned about the arm pains.

Saturday and Sunday JP was getting so many pains in his arm that it was driving me CRAZY!!! We ended up not going to church because of the pain. In the early afternoon we were actually arguing about his arm pain. Finally, I pulled out a book that lists Doctors that Medicare pays for and I said, go to a chiropractor here are some you can try! So JP picked one out and was ready to call first thing Monday. JP had 10 attacks Sunday, all of them before 1:07 pm.
We usually watch the 6pm live service at www.jsm.org down in Baton Rouge. Jimmy Swaggart had a special speaker last night, his name is Daniel Nalliah from Australia. Danial should have been killed a couple of times by the Muslims because of his stand against Muslims and their Sharia law. Our beliefs as Christians and "free speech" are slowly evaporating. Daniel is winning the war in Australia. His message was tremendous last night. He has seen many healings, people saved plus the dead rise to life. At the end of the service he wanted to pray for America, because what is happening to Australia will happen to America if we don't take a stand for Jesus, we will lose our freedoms and Sharia law will take over.

Jimmy Swaggart said Daniel had a word from the Lord that he should pray for healing for the people there and those watching on the Internet and TV, radio, where ever people were getting this message. He said to raise your hand, and stand where you are......I said, raise your hand JP and stand up!! Daniel said, "put your hand on your heart" we both did, plus I put my other hand on JP's arm and Daniel prayed for healing................................JP has not had any pain in his arm since1:07pm Sunday afternoon. It is now 31 hours and no PAIN!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

I believe God saw our desperation and our faith!!

JP left for work 45 minutes ago............will be interesting to see what he says when he gets home. I will let you know in my next blog! Until then, take care and keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh!!! Cheers to all ~ Louise

♥♥Popcorn, dogs and JESUS♥♥

I started this blog with a "No Title" on it...........cause I just didn't know where I am going with it. I thought that I might just ramble on and type things that came to my mind and that could have been dangerous. BUT finally did give this blog a title and as you can see it's about popcorn, dogs and Jesus...............so read on and I hope you enjoy. Better go make yourself some popcorn though.

Mmmmmmmmm......husband is making popcorn, I love the smell of popcorn....okay maybe I will think of something after a few handfuls of popcorn, luscious popcorn........oh yes so very good. With real butter drizzled and a little salt, taste just like popcorn from the show. MMMMMM ~ good! My favorite way to make popcorn is with the "Orvil Redenbacker Microwave popper" A little bit of oil, 1/4 cup corn and 4 minutes in the mic. Then drizzle butter and sprinkle salt on top ............Here's a picture>>
And here is that same popcorn........vanished.......it truely was so goooooooddddd!

Have I made you hungry for popcorn, oh so good. Well, I have munched it all away and my dog Kylie had to have some also.....funny dog, her and Hyko love to eat lettuce, popcorn, carrots, cucumbers.....neither one like spinich though, oh and they both love pasta. I ran out of dried dog food and gave them canned dog food, they must have thought they died and went to heaven cause they gobbled down that canned dog food like it was going out of style. Here are some pictures of Hyko and Kylie, my little darling dogs. This one of Hyko, he is standing on the word of God. Kylie........just likes to smile!!!!!

Well I should end this blog for tonight............as you can see my world is very small right now.....not much going. It has been VERY cold outside, burrrrrrrr, and I prefer to stay in the house and stay warm. Tuesday is the inaguration, will have to watch some of it, hopefully this country will take the course towards God and not away from him. We are to pray for Obama, pray for those in authority over us...........Today I heard Jimmy Swaggart say that we should pray for "God to direct the affairs of this country" I wrote that down, that is the way I will pray for Obama and this country..........it's all in God's hands, and we should not worry or fret about what will happen cause God has everything under control and I must believe that. The moment we start to doubt is when we stop believing the word of God. There is a saying I heard a long time ago......"God said it, I believe it and that is all there is to it" Straight and to the point!

You have a good day..........sorry for the ramblings, not alot to write in the middle of winter, and I am not leading a very exciting life at this point. Better days are coming though, just waiting for that trumpet sound and Jesus calling us home...............THEN life will be better, do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Hope so, you can have peace in the midst of the storm, just admit you are a sinner and Jesus died for your sins, ask for forgiveness and ask him into your heart and let him take over from there........so very simple, even a child can do it. You'll still have the bumps in the road, but the bumps will be cushioned with Jesus!!!!

Hey you have a great day ~ Louise

Father's Day

Welp.........today is Father's Day. My father died in 1961, gosh that is 47 years ago. My mother remarried in 1962 to Pops. Pops is still alive and lives in LasVegas. He has been there since '87 - he likes it out there. He called today, said the weather is 106 degrees during the day and 80 degrees in the evening. HOT, to Hot for me. He was concerned that we were flooded here, no I said the floods are farther south of us. We do live near the Fox River which runs down into Il, but no, thank God no flooding here yet.

I sent Pops $5, he said I shouldn't do that, I told him to buy a crossword puzzle book, he said I shouldn't have sent the money, I said well, it is actually cheaper to send the money rather then buy the books and send it, postage is high too. He had to agree. I doubt very much I will ever be able to go out there for a visit.........not unless we came into some money in the near future. He is going to be 83 this year, so time might be running out for him and me to get together.

JP and I went out to eat at the "7 angels" we sat on the veranda next to the water fountain. My goodness that was neat. We ordered the "Seniors" pork/dressing dinner, onion soup, salad, corn, french fries and topioca pudding..........a lovely meal and we actually had money left over for the tip. I think I will save some money so we can do that again. Hopefully the bees won't be out by the time we get back there.

I made JP and Pops a card, have not taken a picture of it, so I could not add it to this blog.......a light house on brown card and turquois background. was really neat looking. We went to church this morning...................would have preferred to stay home and watch Jimmy Swaggart on the internet, but being it is Father's day, thought it best to go.

Pastor Ron saw his Dr yesterday, the Dr said he needs to lose 10 lbs. Mary said she was going to start a diet too, well we decided to do it together. We will weigh in tomorrow and then write down everything we eat. Then I will email her on Saturday and let her know what I lost. Pops said he needs to lose 10 lbs also. I could stand to lose 25 lbs..............shall try, no better time then now.

Jp and I got home, I went straight to the computer and turned on TBN and Jimmy Swaggart. Gosh my computer was running very slow today.........sometimes I think it has a problem. But it could be the Yahoo server is the problem. Anyways, we worked around the house, did a few things, he cleaned the gutters, and cut some branches off the tree. I swept up the tree seeds that are starting to grow around the house. There is so much to do around here, but it has been fun this year cause JP has taken an interest in the house also, so that's been a plus.

Well, I suppose I should go for now, need to go to the other blog and write something there also, check it out www.cards4ubylouise2.blogspot.com if you haven't done this, please go to my etsy store and that address is http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com if you would like to contact me via email go to: louisellen@juno.com be sure to let me know you found me at my blogs in the subject otherwise I may not open your email. I am a very cautious person. You all have a good day, talk to you again.

Louise