grace rain
Search 70.7 million cemetery records at by entering a surname and clicking search:
Surname:

a myspace post of mine from 2007

6:20 AM entsala
Monday, July 30, 2007 

Current mood:  contemplative
today, being the Lord's day, i took the day off from packing and trying to straighten up. you can tell by looking at my house too!  back at the grind tomorrow though. i'll be glad when this moving is completed.
i'm up alone now. my son-in-law's daughter is spending the night here with her dad. my son is sleeping in my bedroom floor, and samantha and bobby are asleep as well. i have mandy moore playing on windows media. i had ordered her new cd through her website, and i just love it. i keep playing it over & over!
it's times like this that i wish my mother was still here. goodness, how i miss her at time. i remind myself that she was saved as a teenager, and as i believe whole heartedly that salvation is eternal, i know that she is no longer in pain. how she suffered. sometimes when i think about those last months i fell sick to my stomach. please, if you ever have to deal with a painful disease/illness, be persistantly aggressive in communicating with your doctor. don't just suffer through the pain when there are so many safe and legal medications available to help us. there is no need for anyone to suffer horrible pain. i think of my mother doubled over, crying, with the tears streaming down her face. i was with her the day the oncologist looked through her chart and said that there was nothing in her chart that would show why she was having the pain that she claimed.
sometimes it makes me so very angry. the signs were all there, but two doctors, one in particular, implied that the pain was all in her head. i knew that it wasn't, but i could only give her the meds that they prescribed. they had told her she would have quality of life after her chemo, but how many times she told them that "this is NOT quality of life". i have solace in the fact that i took care of her to the very best of my ability. i cooked anything she would and could eat, kept her hydrated, got her out on a drive whenever she felt like getting out, and gave her meds when she needed them. how my heart grieves for the pain that i know she was in. how i am moved with compassion  for all that suffer with the pain of cancer.
she finally found one doctor at her family physician's office that really LISTENED.her doctor was out that day, so she saw a partner. he felt the knots in her stomach and all around her abdomen, and wouldn't let her go home until she had some tests run and he got the results back. this was on thursday.
we were hoping for at least a couple of good weeks,  two, maybe  three. we got one day. she went into the hospital and i knew she wasn't coming home. for 5 days, i only left to pick up my son from school, and to get a change of clothes for the next day. she died the following thursday morning about 6:15. she no longer hurts. but it will be maybe 40 years before i get to see her again.
the morning i took her to the hospital, she told me that she was trying, but she didn't think she was going to make it to my graduation.
if you still have your mother, be sure to cherish the time that you have together. and even though you will be upset with her at times, just like we all do, keep in mind that it won't always be this way. there will be a day that you don't have her anymore. don't just tell her you love her, show her. the little things that you do for her now, will be a blessed consolation when you are alone. the hot coffee, or the cold coke, helping her wash her back in the bathtub!... lotion on her feet and back-her skin was so dry and delicate from the chemo-...i found out that pomgrante juice is good to keep you from getting shingles (from the produce man at the fresh market) which is something she'd had more than once, and i made sure she didn't run out of it! she liked it better than grape juice. it's these memories that bring me such a wonderful consolation now. blessings, angelia

Labels: , 0 comments | edit post

21 more ways to start writing

5:58 AM entsala
 this is a myspace blog posting that i had forgotten about. thought i'd post it here for when i feel like i need to write something but can't think of anything.

21 More Ways to Start Writing
I give assignments in my writing classes because it's hard to make something up out of the clear blue sky. Two pages is all I ask, and it doesn't have to be a story. It doesn't have to be an anything. I have learned we do better when we're not trying too hard—there is nothing more deadening to creativity than the grim determination to write.
  1. Write two pages of apologies.
  2. Write two pages of instructions to the child you once were.
  3. Write two pages in which something is broken.
  4. Write two pages about an unwelcome surprise.
  5. Write two pages about a jinx.
  6. Write two pages in which something is too small.
  7. Write two pages about a proposal of marriage.
  8. Write two pages in which you do something wrong you do not regret.
  9. Write two pages about an untrainable animal.
  10. Write two pages that take place in the woods.
  11. Write two pages in which you were unmasked.
  12. Write two pages about scolding a child.
  13. Write two pages about sitting in someone's lap.
  14. Write two pages on being too cold.
  15. Write two pages on a tantrum you regret.
  16. Write two pages on taking your time.
  17. Write two pages about a bad haircut.
  18. Write two pages in which someone kills something by accident.
  19. Write two pages that end "I could go on and on."
  20. Write two pages in which a child comforts an adult.
  21. Write two pages on what you can't remember. My father, Lewis Thomas, began his memoir, The Youngest Science, "I have always had a bad memory; as far back as I can remember. It's not that I forget things outright; I forget where I put them. I need props."
Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog Life and Safekeeping, teaches memoir-writing seminars nationwide. This article is adapted from Thinking About Memoir (AARP Books/Sterling, 2008).
For black-and-white reprints of this article call 866-888-3723.
Labels: 0 comments | edit post

snow, birthdays, and my sister

2:43 AM entsala
it has finally stopped snowing up here for a while. thawing out again! Buried In Snowi can say that i have never seen this much snow. i just thought campbell county was bad for calling out whenever they saw the first snowflake...the system up here has learned the hard way, i guess, that when snow is in the forecast, they'd better cancel. i don't believe jonah is going to get a spring break. 
Snowplowthe snow itself doesn't bother me,. what is so upsetting for me is the darn snow-plower that comes through every time it snow. at first, when our landlord told us that he had a guy that would come out a plow, we thought that was wonderful. BUT....i can honestly say, that plowing every time it has snowed has done NOTHING beneficial except scrape almost every bit of the gravel off. now when it thaws out, the driveway is absolutely nothing but a strip of mud and muck. quicksand.....i can't even drive my car up because its so wet that i slide. so...i park it down by the mailbox. other than that, jonah and i have really enjoyed the snow. it is so pretty looking out into the woods, on the tree limbs. i remember mother loved looking out at the snow, expecially if it was a wet snow or icy. i guess that's why i like it so well.

speaking of mother, in a round-a-bout way, i am friends with my sister, julie, on facebook. a week or so ago, she posted a comment that she was missing her mother a little more than usual that day. and wished her mom a happy birthday. i remember her mother, who was my dad's 2nd wife, and i believe the love of his life. sometimes when i would be with my dad on the weekends, he and jane would go out on a date. i remember going to the movies with them once-at a drive-in. i think that it was the one that was on clinton highway, where the super-walmart is now. wow, that's been a long time. i always liked her, and i thought she was so pretty. she had short black hair, and i think it was kind of curly? i'm not to sure about that. when ever she would be ready to walk out the door of her house, she would open up the basement door and call down to her sister, "ruth, i'm gone". i think her sister had red hair. i always loved red hair. still do! 

i think of my mother and i still don't cry. i don't know if julie crys for her mother or not. my mom took aver a year to die. with cancer. at first, it was esophogeal cancer that the doctors thought they got taken care of. she suffered. that's hard to do, watch someone die. mother was alot different than me in the sense that she loved to work outside, and hardly ever sat down if there was ANYTHING that wasn't done. me? now that's a different story. unless i'm at workm it doesn't hinder me a bit to sit down. and you can tell the difference our houses too. and to see her just sit down, knowing why she wasn't up, staying busy, was saddening. she and i both knew. uncle don says that i haven't cried because i grieved her death while i watched her die. i've said before, i watched her melt like a piece of ice in a hot skillet. i knew that she was on her way out, and that she was in an immense amount of pain. i don't know how she did it, because just like she had always done, she never complained. and i know now that she is no longer in pain. i have no doubt about her eternity because of the testimony she had, and the dying grace that God gives His children on their deathbeds. 

julie, on the other hand, lost her mother suddenly and unexpectantly. she was on her way to work, when she  was hit head on by a drunk driver. that's most of the reason why i had a damn drunk driver. people, sit your ass at the house if you're going to drink. and i hate to cuss, but that's just the way i feel. my sister lost her mother because of a damn drunk driver not being able to stay put. julie was on 18, fresh out of high school.  she's gotten married and had 3 boys, buried dad too, all without her mom. she was an adult legally, but had to "grow up" so to speak, without her mommy. there's a difference in that word, mommy. when you don't have yours, you become a child all over again. lost, bewildered, all over again. no matter how old you are, you suddenly have to do it all on your own, you no longer have the safety net of running home, of picking up the phone to call, no more birthdays, Thanksgivings, Christmas', mother's day, not just her's, but yours too. ALL the little things that made the relationship so intimate. jane had a full time job, but also cleaned offices at night a couple days a week and dad told me that she ALWAYS had supper waiting for he and julie if they were out when she went to clean. it was hard, he said, coming home after she died, with the reality slapping him in the face again when the house was empty without the aroma of something jane had waiting for him to eat. the anniversary is hard too. i don't know if she still does or not, but julie used to take that day off because it was so hard on her. that day is almost as significant as all the others, maybe even more so. i think my sister is a strong woman. a wise woman. the kind of wisdom and strength that only comes when you've had what you love the most in the world ripped away. itputs me in mind of someone that has had to go through the grueling routine of physical therapy of learning how to walk again, how to dress yourself, how to tie your shoes again, how to feed yourself, and God forbid, how to clean yourself after toileting. God bless my sister, i love her so much. shes a good somebody.

Your Mother Is Always With You


Your mother is always with you... She's the whisper of the leaves
as you walk down the street.
She's the smell of bleach in
your freshly laundered socks.
She's the cool hand on your
brow when you're not well.
Your mother lives inside
your laughter. She's crystallized
in every tear drop...
She's the place you came from,
your first home.. She's the map you
follow with every step that you take.
She's your first love and your first heart
break....and nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time, Not space...
Not even death....
will ever separate you
from your mother....
You carry her inside of you....
- Sherry Martin
Labels: , 0 comments | edit post

almost home

5:01 PM entsala
Labels: , 0 comments | edit post

Queen's Tuesday Meme #25 -the UnValentine grumpy meme

3:32 PM entsala
The UnValentine Grumpy Meme
1. I, Mimi Pencil Skirt Peace Woman, have officially declared war on Valentine's Day. If I see one more chocolate rose covered in stupid red tin foil paper I'm gonna have a fit. What did you get for Valentine's Day?
my husband bought me a little box of "turtles", one of my favorite candies, and a 1/2 dz roses. my son bought me a card

2. What will you miss most about Valentine's Day? buying my mother flowers

3. What could you have done differently yesterday to make the day sweeter? nothing except take my mother some flowers to the graveyard

4. How many roses make a dozen? more than what i have!

5. You and your love are getting matching tattoos for Valentine's Day. What will they be? he probably wouldn't like what i would want...i would absolutely LOVE to get a floral ring around my ankle!

6. My kingdom for a man who can spell. I am so tired of getting text messages from college educated 45 yr old men like .....I miss u ....wat up?.... B there by 8... or the ever popular U home? Does your significant other have an annoying cute little habit you'd like to break? God yes!! he walks abound the house in his thermal underwear.



7. What did you get someone for Valentine's Day, if I may ask? nothing.
8. No one is looking. I promise.
Write one word on this candy heart you've been dying to say to a romantic connection from your past. I will not tell. it's a good thing you didn't ask for details.
 
9. Be a poet. Write a 4-line poem starting with Roses are red....roses are red, my jonah is crazy, instead of red rozes, he brought me a yellow daisy

10. What song best describes your Valentine's Day experience this year?the same song that describes my valentines experience 24 yrs ago. "the greatest love of all" by whitney houston

11. I, Mimi Grumpy Skirt, am so glad this meme is almost over. This is my final question. I made it eleven questions in honor of the 11 roses I didn't receive. Aren't they lovely? This is my final final question, Regis:
Two cupids are in a knock down drag out fight on the floor of the Senate. One is a constituent from Venus, the other from Mars.
What is the name of the legislation are they fighting over? great boyfriends have to make great husbands.
Labels: , 0 comments | edit post

6:39 PM entsala
i am not happy.  i really thought that he was commited to our relationship-he worked harder at cultivating and maintaining "us" when we lived 135 miles apart than he does now that we live together. its almost like now that i'm here, he doesn't have to put any effort into the marriage.

i am hurt. so very hurt. do disappointed. i have been married 3 times before and after the last divorce, joel was such a promise of a good relationship. i thought that i had found someone that would cherish me like the Bible says that a man is to do for his wife-someone that i would love to honor like the Bible says for a wife to do for her husband. our house is not a home. its just a house that we live in. i guess i saw what i wanted to see, but i really thought he was the answer to my prayers. a loving, caring husband, who also seemed to be the strong father figure that jonah needed. i did not marry joel because of jonah, i wasn't looking for a daddy for him. i married joel because i loved him. i honestly believed that he was the man that God had had me waiting for,  for the last 5 years. i know that no relationship is perfect-there are always times of hardship, when the going gets rough, but...suddenly it all has just gone *POOF* into thin air.

i've tried to talk to him, to tell him how i feel and he always apologizes, blaming it on being stressed about the bills-he had lost his unemployment there for a while-i havent found a job yet, which i feel that he resents, he was really upset that i didn't take the job at fabio's in newland, it would have been a hot foods job, and i wanted to go into baking. if i had known that it would've been so hard to find a baking job, i would have gone to work there. now, i just feel like i have been such a disappointment for him too. he hasn't said that in so many words, but its something that i feel i hear loud and clear. all the marriage is now...is just 2 residences combined into one. roommates is all we are.  i remember deannah telling him after the trip to ohio that soon i would find out how he treats women-that he would hurt me just like he had hurt diane AND donna. i haven't talked to diane, but donna said that he treated her the exact same way.
0 comments | edit post

Chili Sauce and Seafood Cocktail Sauce

10:54 PM entsala
1 c tomato puree
1/3 c light corn syrup
1/4 c white vinegar
2 t dried minced onion-(dehydrated)
2 t granulated sugar
1 t salt
1 t lemon juice
1/8 t garlic powder

Whisk together all ingredients in a small saucepan & place it over
medium/low heat. When mixture begins to bubble reduce heat to low & simmer
uncovered for 30 minutes. Cover & cool, then refrigerate until cold.
makes 1 cup.

to make seafood cocktail sauce
stir in 2 t of prepared horseradish
when the sauce has cooled. cover & chill until needed.
Labels: , , , 0 comments | edit post

a new beginning

1:13 AM entsala
lately at night after i go to bed, i have lain awake, thinking of mom. i know that people have dealt with losing their mothers since the beginning of time...but that doesn't seem to make it any easier for me. hopefully-and i will say "knock on wood" here-it will be many years before i pass away and samantha has to deal with that, but when i think that way, i realize that how ever many years samantha still gets to have me here, it will be that many years before i get to be with my mother again.
i have decided that i kind of want to use this blog to write about memories of growing up, to give samantha glimpses of events that have helped carve my personality-who i am and how i got that way, to help her to better know my grandparents, and what it was like growing up in the late 60's and 70's in the small town of lake city, tn. along with that, maybe some comfort for loss of her mamaw.
i know that what i write will not be in chronological order, so i will try to estimate the times as best i can.
i have thought a lot lately of when mother married her second husband, oscar cox, and the feelings she had to have as a young woman. i know the excitement of finding someone to fall in love with, making the decision to marry, all along believing he is the person that you will spend the rest of your life with.
it was 1971, and mother was in school at the jacksboro vocational school   to be an LPN and i was in 2nd grade at lake city elem school when she started her clinicals at the old lake city hospital. she met oscar cox, who was an ambulance driver there in town. they fell in love, and were married in july 1972. i was 9 years old.
my dad had married janie when i was 6, and promptly ceased to exist for me. evidently, mother was dead set on him not being a part of my life, that when my sister was born and my dad wanted his child support lowered, she made him agree to give up his visitation rights. to hear her tell it years later, she didn't have much persuading to do-he gave them up rather quickly, and willingly. i remember sitting outside of my grandmother and papaws house on friday afternoons, waiting for my dads car to come around the bend, being disappointed every time i heard a car coming that turned out to not be him, and crying when it came time to take a bath and go to bed.
so i think mother thought that she had found a suitable replacement for my dad, and by that time, i guess i thought so too. i'm sure that things were starting to look up for mother. she had graduated and was an LPN, had a job at the local hospital, and was a happy newlywed, looking forward to a new beginning.
Labels: 0 comments | edit post

Daily Feast-Feb 15 2010

11:59 AM entsala

February 15-Daily Feast
...



February 15 - Daily Feast

Like children, slender new oaks have taken a stand beneath the great ones that have stood the seasonal changes for well over a hundred years. What stories they could tell about the wild animals and human creatures that have shared this place. These spreading oaks have a blush of green haloed in early morning rays, and on cloudy days a mist hangs like gauzy curtains to blue the shadows. Here the wild rose canes have turned from green to gray and back to green many times. What man is does not always show on the face he wears - but this wood has no masks. Its comforting arms invite us to love and share and to feel at home.

~ As I stand before you my mind runs over many fierce battles....but now my heart is glad. ~

KOON-KAH-ZA-CHY, APACHE CHIEF

"A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 15

"One of the essential characteristics we need to learn as men was to be gentle, and to be gentle means to be serene, to enter meditation or a prayerful state in the morning and evening."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

The most important talk we can do during any day, is to start the day with prayer and meditation. We need to ask the Creator to be in our lives. We ask Him to direct our thinking. We ask Him for the courage and the power to be gentle. In the morning quiet time, we make our request for guidance using our spiritual tools. We pray for the people and we pray for ourselves. In the evening we thank the Creator for the day, for the lessons and for the opportunity to be of service to others. Then we go to sleep.

Great Spirit, today, show me the power of being gentle.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It is written that where there is a will there's a way. If a desire is sincere and the results are for the good of everyone, the first giant steps have already been taken. American clergyman Joel Hawes has been quoted, "You may be whatever you resolve to be. Determine to be something in the world, and you will be something - 'I cannot' never accomplishes anything; 'I will try' has wrought wonders."

A positive attitude can be one of the greatest joys to experience. To begin a day by willing everything good, and meeting any obstacle with the idea that it has no power, can make some of the most sudden and drastic changes in anyone's life.

To be something or someone is one of the strongest desires, but it does not mean sacrifices of doubt and apprehension and feeling sorry for oneself. It means standing straighter when it is more comfortable to crawl. It means thinking positively and speaking good words.

It is said that a great deal of talent is lost in this world for the want of a little courage. We often think of courage as the kind that wins wars and braves new fronts. But there is another plain, ordinary kind of courage that helps us face our everyday problems.

There is a surprising lack of this kind of courage, and it leads us to seek ways to dodge our responsibilities. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to face everything and everyone and take a firm stand for what we believe. It takes courage to admit we have weaknesses and needs that we must overcome. It is a daily fight to follow the right road when the wrong one looks so smooth. And it takes courage to believe, when obstacles face us.

God has given courage to each of us, for strength to overcome is available to all who are courageous in asking for help to be courageous.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*

Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*(3)
If you would like to Subscribe\Unsubscribe, or change your subscribed email address for The Daily Feast email list, visit here: http://dailyfeast.info and fill out the form!
Labels: 0 comments | edit post

Morning Coffee

11:38 AM entsala

 
 
 
 
 
“You hold your future in your mind.”
Let your mind flow freely for a moment. Look into the future and imagine that you have no limitations on what you can be, have or do. Imagine that you have everything you need to get there. Time, money, people, smarts are all readily available.
What do you see?
Your future vision is an imaginary creation of your ideal life, and this vision flows from your most important values. It idealizes both who you are and who you can become.
Let your vision crystallize so clearly that you can almost touch it. Let yourself feel the emotion that comes with imaging your ideal life. Once you do, you’ll be amazed by the energy it brings.
The steps you need to take to turn your vision into reality will crystallize, too. For, this is your pathway to an ideal future.
Jane Powell

Courage is acting in spite of fear.”
We all feel fear at some time or another. It cannot be denied. Fear is a natural emotion in the face of possible danger, whether it’s the risk from actions that could threaten our lives, or from new experiences that could threaten our happiness.
A courageous woman knows that courage is not an absence of fear – it is acting in spite of fear. She acknowledges the fear she feels and is determined not to let it stand in her way. Become that woman!
Accept that risk is the price you pay for the chance for new opportunities and new beginnings. When you acknowledge your fear and push past it, you’ll reach all your goals.

Mistakes are valuable reminders that you do not know it all. And as such, they provide golden opportunities to learn.
Mistakes are a sure sign that you're making progress. For when you make mistakes, it means you are putting forth effort and having an influence.
Mistakes are certainly no cause for shame. The greatest achievements require you to work your way through the greatest errors and misunderstandings.
Mistakes are not to be feared. For the same actions that enable you to make a mistake also put you in a position to correct it.
When you're willing to accept the possibility of mistakes, you're able to follow the best opportunities. When you become experienced at handling mistakes, you'll be skilled at creating real value.
Success comes not from avoiding all mistakes, but from learning to find a positive way forward no matter what may happen. With each mistake, get over it, get wisdom from it, and become even more effective than you were before.
Ralph Marston
 
 
 
-

Dear Readers,
" Morning Coffee " is a labor of love and meant to be shared with others to spread encouragement and inspiration. If you share, please be kind and give credit where credit is due and copy and paste or forward with Page Header and contact information included.
Thank you ,

" Morning Coffee"
Created, and maintained by:Dizzyrizzy@comcast.net GrandmaGail2BC@aol.com
Copyright © 1996 -2010
" Morning Coffee" all rights reserved.



Labels: , , , 0 comments | edit post

chocolate caramels

11:06 PM entsala
Chocolate Caramels
This recipe appeared in The Times in an 1881 article titled “Receipts.” The recipe was signed “Fanny.”
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the baking dish
41/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup molasses
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Softened butter, for cutting the caramels.
1. Butter an 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of a medium, heavy saucepan. Combine the butter, chocolate, milk, molasses and sugar in the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees on the thermometer. Do this slowly, scraping the bottom of the pan with a silicon spatula (or a wooden spoon) so the mixture doesn’t stick and burn.
2. Wearing an oven mitt, remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla to the hot mixture. Give it a quick stir, then pour the mixture into the buttered baking dish.
3. As soon as the caramel is cool enough to handle, transfer it to a cutting board and use a buttered chef’s knife (or scissors) to cut the caramel into ¾-inch-wide strips, and then crosswise into ¾-inch pieces.
4. When the caramels are completely cool, wrap them individually in wax paper, or layer in parchment paper in an airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month. Makes about 100 pieces.
0 comments | edit post

Homemade Laundery soap

12:46 PM entsala
I think the liquid is cheaper than the dry and liquid dissolves so much better as well. The liquid for 5 or 10 gallons will only cost you about $2.50 and you'll have plenty of washing soda and borax left over to make more.

Here's my Homemade Laundry Soup Recipe:
4 cups hot tap water
**1 Fels Naptha Soap bar
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup 20-Mule Team Borax

**you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote Bars instead. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps!

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium Heat until soap dissolves and is melted. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. Stir and fill a used clean laundry soap container half full with the soap and then fill the rest of the way with water. Shake before each use as the soap will gel.

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons once the soap has cooled.

Yields: 10 gallons liquid soap

Use 1/4 cup per load unless you have soft water. If you have soft water use just 1 Tablespoon per load.

This works very well and lasts a long time!
**I only make 5 gallons and use 1/4 cup per load because most of my laundry is pretty soiled (4 young kids)
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Another
* Shave one bar of soap into the large Folgers or Maxwell House Coffee Can (plastic with lid) Add 1 cup of Borax, one cup of Sun bleach for colored cloths or clorox bleach for colored cloths.
* Add one cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (from Publix, ask for help if you can't find it)
* Add one cup of baking soda.
* Stir it all up. Add two big tablespoons to a large load of laundry detergent.
------------ --------- ------

Use:

1 cup baking soda
1 cup borax
1 cup of your preferred laundry soap.(this write uses Tide for cold water, coupons this weekend!)
Heat in four cups of water: add water if needed as it is cooking.
When completely heated and the powder has turned into a cloudy liquid, turn off heat and go one to next step.
Dilute this cooled mixture with two gallons of water in a five-gallon bucket and let sit over night.
In the morning, this mixture may have a thick film of soapy goop on top. Chop it up and stir it in. This process occasionally requires a blender to get the largest chunks to blend smoothly into the rest of the mixture.
When it is completely blended to your satisfaction, (this does not have to be perfect but it is up to you), add your favorite dishwasher soap to the cooled mixture. Vigorously stir with a whisk to make sure the blending is complete.
Once complete, put into bottles of your choice. Large seltzers bottles or recycle those single-serving water bottles for this application but you can also use leftover recycled laundry soap or dish soap bottles as well. Tip: It is easier to pour from the single-serve water or soda bottles.

This recipe makes two gallons. You will not need more than that in two-three months depending on the size and frequency of your dishwasher loads. You can see why this recipe requires only 4 boxes or bottles of your favorite dishwasher soap per year.

If this recipe does not work in your household, you may have extremely hard water and you will need to cut back on your dilution. If you do not want to waste what you have already made, simply add another box or bottle of your favorite dishwasher soap to the mixture this time and when you make it again, simply do not add as much water to the recipe. (Cut back on the dilution with water by half to start)
Labels: , , , , 0 comments | edit post

You have what it takes

3:12 AM entsala
You have what it takes.
You have what it takes to live life at its best.
You have what it takes to achieve genuine and lasting excellence.
Your current situation, whatever it may be, is a perfectly workable starting point. 
You have what it takes to move positively forward in the direction of your own choosing.
Success and fulfillment, excellence and achievement are not mere matters of luck. Rather, they flow directly from your choices.
And you have what it takes to choose the path that will take you to your most treasured dreams. It is a path that is chosen not once, but over and over again in each moment, each thought, each action and each decision.
You have what it takes to be focused, disciplined, purposeful and effective. For you can think and act, learn and adapt, work and build toward any goal you choose to follow.
You have what it takes to do the things that must be done to get you where you most want to go. Choose to make use of your astounding abilities now, and again and again as each day goes by.
Labels: , , , , , , , , , 0 comments | edit post

Hold On

2:57 AM entsala
Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth. 
Hold on to what you believe, even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do, even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to life, even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you

-Pueblo blessing
Labels: , 0 comments | edit post

Just for Today

2:49 AM entsala
Just for today, I will let go of my anger.
Just for today, I will let go of my worry.
Just for today, I will give thanks for my MANY blessings.
Just for today, I will do my work honestly.
Just for today, I will be kind to my neighbor and every living thing.

Labels: , , , , , , , 0 comments | edit post

Angel Taylor~Like You Do

12:15 AM entsala


Boy, you know it's bad when you do that but you don't care
Holdin' out exactly what I want but you won't share
And I've never had a taste before but now you've got me wantin' more

You're playin' it cool, I know what you do
I feel like a fool but I would be feelin' it anyway
'Cause nobody loves me

You're messin' around, I figured you out
You're takin' me down, but I would be feelin' it anyway
'Cause nobody loves me like you do, like you do

And boy, you know it's wrong when you do that but you go there
You could lead me on or hang me out but don't you dare
And I've never had a taste before but now you got me wantin' more

You're playin' it cool, I know what you do
I feel like a fool, but I would be feelin' it anyway
'Cause nobody loves me

You're messin' around, I figured you out
You're takin' me down, but I would be feelin' it anyway
'Cause nobody loves me like you do, like you do
Like you do, like you do, like you do, oh yeah

And boy, you know it's bad when you do that but you don't care

You're playin' it cool, I know what you do
I feel like a fool, but I would be feelin' it anyway
'Cause nobody loves me

You're messin' around, I figured you out
You're takin' me down, but I would be feelin' it anyway
'Cause nobody loves me like you do, like you do

You messin'around, I figured you out
You takin' me down
Boy, you know it's bad when you do that
Labels: 0 comments | edit post

The Queen's Meme #23 ~ The Blog Blizzard Meme

11:57 PM entsala
1. An unexpected blizzard occurs. The power goes out for 10 days. There is no food in the house, no gas in the car, no heat, no TV, no computer, nada! You are snowed in and can't get to the store for supplies. How would you survive? How would you get out of this mess?
wake up and vow to NEVER eat welsh rarebit before bedtime (remember gomer pyle?)

2. Tell us about your last snowball fight.
it was just a few weeks ago-our first snow here in the high country of nc., my 11 yr old son and i had gone out to sled down our driveway. he thought it would be HILARIOUS to bomb mom in the back of the head while i was trudging back up the hill....i showed him just how funny i thought it was!!!
Click here to watch me move!
3. You have been asked to make a snowman. What is his name? the southern colonel from bugs bunny-his dog BEAUREGARD!

4. I have mountains of snow outside my door. I would like to make snow soup. What is the recipe? snow soup? pffft!! make snow cream instead!!
SNOW CREAM
1 cupmilk or cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 scant tsp vanilla
large bowl of fresh clean snow-about 3 qts
Blend milk, sugar and vanilla. Mix in snow to ice cream consistency.
Add Nestle` quik or instant cocoa for chocolate snow cream
5. It is Day 5 of the Big Blog Blizzard. You have been hunkered down for a very long time and in danger of losing your sanity. Your blog neighbors (that would be us) come callin' to see if you're OK. We peek in the window. What do we see? me in the bed asleep
What are you doing in there? screaming at you to WAKE ME UP ALREADY!!

6. Who is the flakiest snowflake in your life?
Past or present. my daughter samantha. my snow angel.

7. You are Snow White. Which dwarf is your favorite and why? happy. 'nuff said!

8. What is the most fun you've ever had inside during a snowstorm? i'd have to say making and drinking hot chocolate with my son

9. What was Jack Frost nipping at? definately my toes-i had on my hiking boots because they are the most tred safe and they definately aren't for keeping your feet warm

10. Due to blobal warming (that's blog + global for all you non-blog speakers) your snowman has prematurely melted. What was his last request? tell the Queen to wake you up before i go-go!!

Labels: , , , 0 comments | edit post

It's been 3 years

9:05 PM entsala
Monday was the 3rd year anniversary of Mother's passing. I dont know how to describe how it feels, not having your mother. It wasn't a big shock that caught us all by surprise, although for you, I still am not sure if you really knew that she wouldn't be coming home. Your Aunt Julie has been without her mom since 1988-she was 18 and just out of high school when Jane died. I asked her if it ever gets any easier-she said you just get used to it. I guess that's a good way to put it.
When my Papaw Disney died, it was very sudden. He hadn't been sick at all. Grandmother and her sister, GreatAunt Adene, had been to town and Grandmother found him out the back door where he had been carrying in wood. It was traumatic for all of us, and I was just devestated.  I cried and cried. For months. And months. It took quite a few years for me to be able to not fall to pieces when I thought about him.
I still haven't cried over Mother.
Uncle Don said that it was probably because I grieved as I watched her die over that last year. She was always busy doing something-always active, never sitting down to rest until the evening after supper. She loved to garden, whether it was over vegetables or flowers. You know how she loved her back yard? She used to garden vegetables with the same enthusiasm. I remember her cooking down tomatoes to freeze. She'd leave some chopped to put into soup, and some she make juice out of. (Wow, I loved that homemade juice, seeds and all! Talk about your tongue slapping your brain silly!) She really enjoyed gardening, and seeing the results of her hard work.
Even her last summer, in all her pain, she managed to gather enough strength to get out in that hot sun and pull weeds. She wanted to see the lilies bloom.  I think it both brought her pain, and comforted her heart. comfort because the lilies were James favorite flower, and hurt because he wasn't there to see them with her. One night, she got out of bed to have me rub that HeadOn pain relief stuff on her back, and sat down on the little step...she was so tired...so very tired...and had her head in her hand. And she said "I wish T was here".
It's when I think of things like that, that I get so sad. Not breaking down, falling apart, etc. No crying. Just an immense sadness.
Labels: , , , 0 comments | edit post