Marie's Sunday Six Smile Makers

Brrr . . . it sure is cold this morning. There's no frost, but I think we got lucky there. I expect a lot of places will have frost this morning. It is like winter has popped it's head back in, just to say . . . "I'm not quite finished with you lot yet!!" Nevertheless, we have had some beautiful sunny weather off and on this past week, along with lots of showers and I have had plenty to smile about, and that can't be bad!



Cherry Blossoms. The post office in a near by village has two lovely cherry trees outside, and each spring we are treated to the delightful sight of them all bedecked in a beautiful ocean of pink blossom. Oh how I love to see them! They are absolutely spectacular!!! Indeed, as I look around, this is now the season of blossom, as the forsythia is in full bloom, along with a great many other early blooming bushes and trees, a most welcome sight after the doom and gloom of winter!



Winning Prizes and Giveaways! This was my lucky week! A few days back Michele of Michele's Treasures and Teacups had a birthday giveaway on her blog. The prize was a lovely hanky edged with pink and white tatting, a beautiful tea cup adorned with roses and a beautiful pendant that she herself had made. (She makes the most beautiful things. Make sure you check out her site to see what I mean!) I left my Happy Birthday greetings for her and lo and behold, yesterday I got an e-mail telling me that I was the lucky winner of her Birthday Giveaway! Can you say T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D!!! That would be me!!



I love my church. They have so many wonderful programs that address our every need here on earth. There is help available, and teachings to guide us through any eventuality that might crop up. In fact, on our church web site there is a whole area devoted just to Provident Living and Emergency Preparedness. You can learn anything you want to know as far as dealing with real life emergencies and adversities. Yesterday we had a Preparedness Day at our chapel. 4 different areas of emergency preparedness were presented to us in a very interesting and informative way. There were presentations on how to prepare a 72 hour emergency pack, how to budget and keep your family finances in order, how to garden and how to build, organize and keep your food storage. It was all very well done, and everyone had a great time, both teaching and learning! I know, I learned a few new things that I hadn't known before. Afterwards we were all treated to a fine lunch of sausage and mash prepared by our lovely missionary elders!



Every second year, the youth in our church have a combined camp called "EFY," which stands for the words "Especially For Youth." This week long seminar is being held in Canterbury this year, and our youth will all be travelling up there in August to meet with other youth from all over the South of England. There will be about 500 boys and girls attending, and, from what I hear, it's always a really uplifting and wonderful experience for each one of them. This year's theme is "Be Thou An Example." It costs a fair amount for each child to go, so we are having various fund raisers throughout the year to help and raise enough funds so that each of the young people in our Ward will be able to go. Yesterday we held the first one. While we grownups were all inside the chapel learning how to be prepared, the youth were outside washing our cars! (not to mention each other!!) They had a wonderful time together, and got to earn some money for this project, and we all got nice clean cars! It does my heart good to see a group of young people having good clean fun with each other and being productive instead of destructive! We have an excellent group of kids in our Ward and I love each one of them!




This little girl made me smile. I painted her yesterday afternoon. I call this one, "A Surprise For You." I will be posting the whole picture some time today over on my Art Blog. I just love this one . . . then again, I know say that every time! I am ever so grateful for a mind that dreams up these little pictures and for hands that are able to put them down onto paper! This brings me so much joy and I hope that my creations are able to bring joy to others as well. This wee one has a special surprise for a very lucky person that she is hiding behind her back. It's not her fault that she doesn't know that it is quite apparent to all and sundry exactly what it is!



Todd and I had a "Date Night" last night! We don't often go out for a meal, and so we treated ourselves to some fish and chips at one of our local pubs. Pubs are not just drinking establishments over here. You can also get some really great food in them, usually quite hearty and homey! The fish and chips were beautifully done . . . the chips all hand cut and nicely crisp and browned, and the cod moistly tucked inside a deliciously light and crisp batter! Washed down with tall glasses of lemonade and lime, we feasted like Kings! It's nice once in a while to remind ourselves that we are not just plain old Todd and Marie, but we are a couple who love each other and are devoted to each other, and still want to date each other! He is my honey bun and I know I am his too!

So there you have it, six fun things from this past week that made me smile and brought a song to my heart! I hope that you were able to enjoy at least six wonderful things in your life this week as well!

The other day I made these lovely Tuna Melts for our lunch when I came home for my lunch break. Not only were they delicious but they were healthy and low in fat as well!



*Good for You Tuna Melts*
Serves 4

By making it an open face sandwich and using low fat ingredients this is a tuna melt that is low in calories and fat. The addition of red onion, lemon juice and hot sauce gives it a lovely taste. You won't even notice that you are eating something that's good for you. I served these with some baked potato crisps and sliced sweet gerkins on the side.

4 slices of whole wheat bread
2 - 6 ounce tins of chunk light tuna, packed in water, drained
2 TBS minced red onion
2 TBS low fat or no fat mayonnaise
1 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
dash of hot sauce
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese



Pre-heat the broiler or the oven grill. Toast your bread until it is nicely toasted on both sides. Place the toasted slices of bread onto a grill pan.

Flake the tuna into a bowl. Add the onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper and hot sauce. Mix well.

Spread 1/4 cup of this tuna mixture onto each slice of toasted bread. Top each with slices of tomato. Finally, sprinkle the cheddar cheese evenly over each of them, dividing it equally.

Pop under the broiler and grill until the cheese is golden and bubbling, some 3 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately and enjoy!