Marie's Sunday Six

Welcome to my Sunday Six post for this, the 24th of January, 2010. My goodness but this month has just flown by. My head is almost spinning, the days have gone so quickly! I hope the rest of the year is not like this!! I have lots of lovely smiles to share with you this week though, so I guess it doesn't really matter how quickly the week's pass, just so long as you find something to smile about!



I started off my week by giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday. I never mind giving talks. I always really enjoy them. I love the writing aspect of it and I love the delivering aspect of them. I just love to talk about the Gospel and everything about it, and I am a person that loves to share my thoughts and words. I don't really get nervous when I have to speak. It doesn't really bother me to stand up at the front and share what I have written with the people in my congregation. I am lucky that way I guess. I actually feel more nervous once I have finished than I do before I begin. It's really wierd. My talk was on how I came to accept the Book of Mormon as Scripture. A great topic that I really, really enjoyed writing and speaking about, and not something that I had really thought about in my nine 1/2 years in the church. I guess it was just something that I had taken for granted. I have found though, that with every talk I have been asked to give during those nine years, that I have learned something new . . . about the Gospel, about my Heavenly Father . . . about myself. That's one of the great things about giving a talk . . . learning. It usually ends up that I get a lot more out of it than anyone else I think!



I had been stuck on a bit of a plateau with my weight loss. I didn't gain anything over Christmas, but I hadn't really lost anything either, and then a couple of weeks ago I was finally down one pound and yayy!!! This week I was down two! It is good to stay the same, but it is even better to go down. Todd, however, has managed to gain half a stone. hmmm . . . . probably because he is eating all this yummy stuff I cook, and I am not! I do taste for, let's face it, I am only human. I really enjoy what I taste too. I just don't feel the need to over indulge anymore, and that's a good thing. I am so thankful for the hypno-therapy. It has been life saving for me, and very empowering. Sure, I do still have a long ways to go, but I have the confidence that I can and will do it. That makes me smile too!



Todd had a bit of a funny turn the other evening about 2 o'clock in the morning. I was fast asleep and I got woken up by the bed violently shaking. It was Todd. He had gotten up to go to the Loo, and he started shaking and could not stop. He was shaking really bad, from head to toe and it was really strong too . . . very scary. I got him downstairs and onto the sofa and covered him with a blanket, and then I got him a drink of water as he was very thirsty. I called the emergency number for the Doctor on call. When he called me back he told me just to keep an eye on him and if it didn't go off to call him again in an hours time. Thankfully it did go off and that made me smile. I was sooooo worried. It was very strange and disconcerting. Needless to say neither one of us slept again that night, and Todd took himself off to the Doctor's Surgery the next morning. They could find no reason for it, and it has not returned, but himself hasn't been feeling too well the rest of this week. He has flu like symptoms, in that he is kind of achy and very blah feeling, like with no energy, but that is all. I was so grateful though that the shaking stopped and that the Doctor couldn't find anything seriously wrong with him. He is my whole life. (Todd, not the Doctor)



Larkrise to Candleford is on our telly screens again, and that really makes me smile! I just love that show. The characters in it are so wonderfully loveable, even the strange ones . . . and some of them are quite strange to be sure. I love the sets, and I love the costumes, and I love the stories that it entertains us with each week. I love Larkrise, and I love Candleford and all the people that live in each town. It's just a sweet , sweet show and it makes me feel very happy when Todd and I watch it together. I am so glad that I have a husband who enjoys these things with me, who is an old softie and not hard. Oh, I am so very lucky!



The flowers that I got earlier this week are still making me smile. They are lasting ever so long and still looking ever so good! I am most impressed. The chocolates however . . . they haven't lasted near as long . . . but then, that's to be expected I suppose!!



Talking to my mom on the telephone last Sunday afternoon made me smile. I just love being able to speak with my mom. She has not been really well lately with her heart, but thankfully now she has been to see the heart specialist and is on a medication that will help, fingers crossed and prayers said. She has a heart arythemia, although the specialist says she has a really strong heart. There are three blockages though, so that is a concern. I think it must be heriditary though, as my mom is as small as a bird and eats like one too. She has always taken really good care of herself. There is heart disease in the family though so I expect I need to be really careful too. Anyways, it was very good to get to talk to her, and to laugh with her and to talk about our visit home to see her this summer. No fixed dates yet, but we are working on them. I can't wait! Talking to my mom makes me smile, but getting to spend real time with her makes me even happier!

And there you have it, my Sunday Six smilemakers for this week. I hope that you found lots of things to smile about this week as well. I'd love to hear about them so please, feel free to share!

I made a very tasty dessert for Todd yesterday. A good old fashioned dessert, the type that he loves most of all. This falls under the cottage pudding type of desserts. Cottage puddings, aren't really puddings at all, but moist cakes, usually served with a sauce of some sort. The sauce with this one is exceptionally good. With each bite, you get the delicious tartness from the cranberries, mingled with the sweet richness of the wonderful butter sauce. Oh, my . . . this is some good. I had a tiny piece and I enjoyed every morsel to the n'th degree!




*Cranberry Pudding*
Serves 9
Printable Recipe

A delicious cottage type of pudding that is stogged full of delicious cranberries and covered in a lucious, reich creamy butter sauce. Fantastic!

2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup milk
2 cups whole raw cranberries

For the Sauce:
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter and flour a 9 inch square baking pan. Set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the milk, and then the cranberries.

Pour this mixture into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake tests down when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

While the cake is baking make the butter sauce. Combine the butter, sugar and cream in the top of a double boiler. Bring to the boil, stirring, and then leave to set over the simmering water, cooking until thickened. This should take about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

To serve, cut the warm cake into squares with a portion of the hot butter sauce spooned over top. Delicious!!



There's some very tasty Pains Aux Chocolate over on The English Kitchen this morning.