Friday this and that . . .

Look for it . . . you've got to make an effort and you've got to look around. That's the only way that precious treasure can be found. You'll never catch the sunshine if you always draw the blind. You'll never make a friend unless you open heart and mind. If you want to find the best, you've got to search a bit. You'll never see the good in life . . . unless you look for it!
~Patience Strong

Oh, I am so glad that I am the type of person who strives to find the positive in all things! Life is so much easier to live when you look for silver linings! It seems I always find them! I'm just lucky that way I guess.

My dishwasher arrived yesterday!! Yayyyy!! As the day wore on, and it didn't arrive I was worried that once again it wasn't going to get here, but about half an hour before supper was ready it came and is now sitting in my kitchen waiting to be plumbed in! I thought portable meant that you could just wheel it around the kitchen and hook it up to your existing kitchen tap . . . that is not what it means over here though! (It might in North America!) We still have to have a plumber plumb it in and it will be stationary in one position. Nevermind . . . the hardest part has already taken place and it is here!! Yipee!! I can't wait to have squeaky clean drinking glasses, and Todd can't wait to hang up his dish pan hands!

We had a lovely time with the missionaries last night. I just love having them in our home. I made them a tasty meal and they always bring such a lovely spirit into our home. We have four missionaries here at the moment, but only two come at a time. Last night it was Elder Cunningham from Phoenix, AZ and Elder Yager from Hamburg, Germany. Two lovely young men. It was Elder Yager's first time at our home as he is new to the area. If I had known we would be entertaining a German, I would not have cooked sausages. Germans have such lovely sausages and cannot compare to anyones in the world. One of the first things I have to get when we go to Germany is a tasty Bratwurst! Anyways, they licked the platter clean and seemed to enjoy, so that was good. About an hour after they left, I went to go upstairs and look at what was sitting on the floor under our mail slot:



A sweet little origami shirt, complete with tie, missionary badge and pass along card!



And when you flipped it over there was a lovely message on the back side! What a nice surprise it was and such a loving gesture from two very nice young men.



A friend send me this video yesterday and I thought it was so lovely and wanted to share it with you! It' so sweet. I just love the relation that can exist between humans and animals if humans are kind and sharing and loving. It breaks my heart to see animals that have been abused in any way, but to see something like this loving relationship between this man and goose is just wonderful. It really brought a smile to my face!



(I hope she doesn't mind me pinching her picture!)

I was so happy to get a telephone call from Lura last evening as well! It had been a while since we'd been able to speak on the phone. Since her accident she gets up a bit later in the day and it takes her a while to get herself sorted and by that time I am usually in bed. (Just one of the down sides of living so far away from each other, I'm afraid!) She is doing so much better these days and hardly has to take any pain medication at all now, which is great. Do still keep her in your prayers however, as her operation to check out her ovaries is looming in just a few days now and she surely needs our prayers of comfort and support! As you can imagine this is very worriesome to her and a bit frightening. I just cannot believe however that Heavenly Father carried her through that terrible car accident to drop her now! Please hop over to her page and give her a little love and positive support! I know she would love to hear from you and your messages would help to uplift her so very much! She and her husband John just celebrated their 46 Wedding Anniversary, a real milestone in these modern times!!



After several days of beautiful sunshine we are going to get some rain today . . . and tomorrow . . . and the next day . . . oh well . . . into each life some rain must fall!! We have to take the rain with the sun don't we? If it wasn't for the rain we would not live in such a beautiful green country, so we shall grin and bear it!

I shall love you and leave you now with Happy Friday and Weekend wishes!! I hope that you are able to enjoy a little bit of all that you love today and are able to find lots of little pockets of joy wherever you look and that you are able to find the silver lining in all things! Don't forget to look for the rainbow which follows every storm!

I wish I had a pound for every time I had baked these delicious Barbeque Beef Muffin Cups for my boys!! This was always a family favourite in our house. My boys just loved them! Sometimes I did them with taco flavoured beef as well and garnished them with shredded lettuce and sliced olives, which was also very popular with them! I often doubled or tripled the recipe, which with 5 children was a necessity! The 4-H'ers also loved them! All you need on the side is a bit of salad!


(photo courtesy Pillsbury)

*Barbeque Beef Cups*
Makes 10
Printable Recipe

These are almost like Sloppy Joes, except they are in a muffin cup and easier to handle. Delicious!

1 pound of extra lean ground beef
1/2 cup of your favourite flavour barbeque sauce
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 to 2 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed
your favourite baking powder biscuit recipe (making 12 biscuits),
or a tin of refrigerated biscuits (You can get my recipe HERE.)
1/2 cup grated strong cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Spray 10 regular sized muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

Separate your biscuit dough (or tin of biscuits if using) into 10 equal pieces. Flatten out into rounds and use to line the muffin cups, pressing in firmly and forming a 1/4 inch rim over the top of the cups.

Spray a nonstick skillet with some cooking spray and brown the ground beef, stirring to break it up, and cooking until no pink remains. Add the barbeque sauce, onion and the brown sugar. Cook for several minutes, stirring constantly, to heat through and meld the flavours.

Divide the barbeque beef mixture evenly amongst the cups. (about 1/4 cup each) Sprinkle with the cheese and then bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the biscuits are cooked through and nicely browned on the edges, the filling is bubbly and the cheese is melted.

Allow to cool in pan for several minutes before removing and serving. Delicious!



Cooking in The English Kitchen today, a delicious Cherry Tomato and Sausage Bake!