I thought I would share the recipes I used for my Pear Sauce and Pear Butter. I’ve found other recipes for Pear Butter since making mine and I don’t think I cooked mine down long enough. It still tastes good though.
05 October 2011
04 October 2011
Mile Stone…
We’ve reached another mile stone here at the Francom home. The Hubs is mowing the lawn for the first time!
It’s so lush and green and perty… The photo really doesn’t do it justice. In case you’re wondering why I edited it in that fashion… It would appear that my camera might be having some issues. It’s turning things pink! So the edit was to try and get rid of the pink. The hubs isn’t really a pink shirt wearing kind of guy!
03 October 2011
Pop!
It’s a lovely a sound. I learned/did something new last weekend. I bottled pears and pear butter. I am going to finish off the last 10 pounds tonight by making pear sauce. The jars look so lovely sitting on my counter. I’m going to have to move them downstairs at some point, but for now I think I’ll just look at them…
02 October 2011
Forget Me Not…
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It’s wonderful that you have strengths. And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses. God wants to help us to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths,1 but He knows that this is a long-term goal. He wants us to become perfect,2 and if we stay on the path of discipleship, one day we will. It’s OK that you’re not quite there yet. Keep working on it, but stop punishing yourself.”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
01 October 2011
Did You Know…
07 September 2011
WE HAVE GRASS!!!!!
After much hard work by the Hubs and some very awesome neighbors (we really can’t thank them enough… 1/2 the ward showed up) the grass is in! Most of it anyway. Hubs underestimated the amount we would need and will have to finish up on Monday. We still have walks and driveways to clear of some excess dirt, but other then that we are good to go!
06 September 2011
What Phase Are We On?
And by we, I mean Rick… Just thought I would share the latest yard pictures.
The grass comes today. Yippee!! The Young Men in our ward are coming over tonight to help Rick get the sod down. I’ve made chocolate cupcakes... Do you think that will help motivate them???
I didn’t take pictures of the back yard. It looks like the front... Nice and smooth, ready for grass. I’ll post pictures tomorrow of the finished product.
23 August 2011
Something to Think About…
My mom sent this to me. Something to think about…
The Power of Perspective
by John G. Miller
The QBQ! Guy
I don't know about you, but from what I hear and read, people don't seem very happy nowadays. The economy is struggling, lots of folks are out of work, the stock market is dropping, and consumer confidence is in the tank. A brand new poll shows that 89% of Americans are unsatisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Meanwhile, our political "leaders" can only seem to point fingers at the media, whine about their bad luck, and attack each other.
Maybe it's those "dog days" of summer. Maybe we're just cranky. I don't know.
But I do know this: It's all about perspective. The truth is, for most of us, things could almost always be worse. The next time I think I'm having a bad day, I'm going to keep the following in mind ...
I had just finished a "Personal Accountability and the QBQ!" presentation at a banking institution in central Wisconsin where I'd talked about the dangers of blame, victim thinking, and procrastination when thirtysomething Wally walked up and told me a story. Later that day, he emailed it to me.
A few years ago I was a foreman in a manufacturing plant where I was responsible for nearly thirty workers. One of them, a likable fella who was six months away from retirement named Edward, had worked in the factory his entire life and was looking forward to his “golden years.” I knew that he'd undergone an angioplasty procedure so I wasn't surprised one day at quitting time when he told me he'd be going to see his heart doctor in the morning.
But then he added, "I'm not feeling quite right."
The next day I assumed he was at the doctor's so it was no surprise to me when Edward didn't show up for work. But I was totally caught off guard when I received a call from my boss informing me that Edward had experienced a heart attack that morning and collapsed on his driveway while shoveling snow.
He never made it to his doctor's. Nor to his golden years.
Edward was gone.
After my boss and I decided to hold off on a formal announcement till the next morning, I spent the afternoon in a fog, struggling to focus on my work. When my shift finally ended, I took the shortest route from my office to my car, which is through the men's locker room. There I heard the regular sounds of an entire shift of factory workers hurriedly showering and changing their clothes in an attempt to run to their cars and get home as fast as they could. As I made my way, I overheard a group making comments about how happy they were to be done with their shift. If not for the fact that I was still trying to come to terms with Edward’s passing just six months away from his golden years, the comment that I heard next may not have had such a profound impact on my life—I'll never know.
One of the guys shouted above the din, "The only good thing about today is that it brings me one day closer to retirement!”
Edward and his family came to mind.
It was at that precise moment in my life that I made the decision to live each day as positively as I can. Life is simply too short to live any other way.
----------------
"I made the decision to live each day as positively as I can"—I don't believe it can be said any better than that. Certainly, a tragic story for Edward and his family. Yet I thank Wally for sharing it because it helps me put lots of stuff in perspective.
If you've been feeling cranky lately, here's what I suggest:
Just ask The Question Behind the Question (QBQ) - "How can I make the most of today?"
Because we never know what a day will bring.
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