Saturday This and That . . .

 

Oh I was having the most lovely dream right before I woke up this morning.  I have really vivid dreams, so fasten your seatbelt.  I was dreaming that Susan Branch was here in the UK staying at a house and she invited me and a few other friends over to have a picnic at the house she was staying at.  (She is actually going to be over here in May with her husband and they are having a picnic up at Castle Cottage in the Lake District.)  But this wasn't in the lakes or at Castle Cottage. 

 

It was right there in a little kitchen and we were working together to put together a lunch for us all.  And Joe was wearing his beret.  I was telling her how to make good Yorkshire puddings, because I make the best ones don't you know, and we were talking about my working at the Manor (only nice things because I am a nice person.)  Oh, I did not want to wake up and leave, but alas, I could not stay in a dream forever.  

Oh that we could.  Who knows what kind of trouble we would

get ourselves into.  Probably better that we can't!

  

I have been a huge fan of hers since the days when she used to have a recipe printed in Country Living Magazine every month. I used to collect Country Living Magazines.  I used to save my pennies each month and I would buy one. It was my favourite magazine. 

 

I would dream about one day being able to decorate my home just like the homes on its pages. That has never happened, but it is still a dream of mine.  Maybe when I get to heaven.  

 

I've been a long time fan of Coronation Street.  I actually started watching it back on the CBC when I was still living at home, in the 1970's, so a very long time.  I recently discovered that you can watch these old episodes on the BBC 4 (I think it is) and have been enjoying watching these old ones again. Right now it is about 1981 or so, and its been a real pleasure reliving some of these shows and revisiting some of these old characters, most long since gone and many having passed away in real life. There are only a very few who are still in it.  Sally and Kevin, Gail, Rita, Audrey, Ken and Jenny.  I think they are the only original cast members still on the show from back then. Some of the characters are still there of course, but are played by different actors now as they were children in the show and are now adults!  Its been very nostalgic. 

  

I've had several really good night's sleep these past couple of nights.  I dug out my old sleep hypnosis CD and have been listening to it when I get into bed and it has worked like a charm.  Sending me off right away within the first few minutes.  I have had it for at least 8 years now.  It works really well.  I had been listening to it on my portable walkman, but that stopped working ages ago.  We had to get a new radio for the bedroom this week, and it has a cd player in it, so I had Todd put it on my night table and I just plug my ear phones into it and drift off.  I do wake up long enough to pull out the ear phones and put in my ear plugs, but that's it.  I am asleep for the whole rest of the night, only really dreaming until just before I wake up in the morning.  It feels so much better.  These last few years I have found myself dreaming off and on all night and waking up about every hour on the hour, so having a few nights solid sleep has been great. 

  

Have you noticed?  Television shows seem to be getting more and more violent and very visually violent, and the sex on them is outrageous.  It wasn't so long ago that that would have been considered to be pornography.  As soon as it starts we find ourselves switching it off, or changing the channel.  I hate all that blood and gore, foul language and sex. Its not really necessary.  I think alot of the changes we are seeing in society in general and in our youth have a lot to do with what is being watched on the boob tube.  I think people are gradually becoming desensitized to these things and I think it is a real shame.  Its not really necessary.  For instance we started to watch a new show on Netflix last night called Altered Carbon.  They were blowing people up in the first few minutes and there was male frontal nudity. It was horrible. We No Like. 

We switched over to Once Upon a Time. 

   

(Don't you just love this teapot?  Aga Cookshop!)

I had a bit of a baking day yesterday.  I made some brownies and a sponge cake.  Todd likes a bit of cake in the house, and I like to post baked goodies on the blog at the weekend because that is when most people have time to bake and are looking for something to bake.  I had some bananas that had turned almost overnight before we could eat them, so used one of those and made Chocolate Chip Banana Brownies.  Todd has really been enjoying them, and he also likes a Victoria Sponge.  I used Mary Berry's recipe for a large sponge yesterday.  She uses soft margarine in it, but I used all butter instead and it turned out lovely. 

 

Her recipes are pretty fool-proof. 

I used the big cake tin liners that I had bought a few years back at Lakeland and I am not overly fond of the side crinkles in this one.  Oh, sure, I know it doesn't affect the taste of the cake, but it doesn't enhance it's beauty either. 

  

I bought a pack of these because they were on offer earlier this week.  Mitzie likes them.  I cut them into quarters and once a day she gets one quarter cut up into bits and stuffed into her treat ball.  She has to  nose the ball all over the house until the bits fall out, so it is a way of giving her something of interest to do and she gets a bit of exercise for both her body and her brain.   I had a wee taste yesterday and blecch!  It doesn't taste like cheese at all.  It might smell a bit like cheese, which is probably why the dog likes it, but it has little or  no flavour.  

That reminds me of something.  Todd wanted a sandwich the other day 

and I used cheese slices which I had and needed using up,

I hardly ever use cheese slices, only very rarely.

He noticed and asked me if I was 

annoyed with him.

I said why?

His response, you tried to feed me plastic cheese.

Apparently if you love someone you shouldn't feed them plastic cheese.

And there may be some truth to that! 

A thought to carry with you through the day . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛. Entire water of the sea can't sink the ship

unless it gets inside the ship.

Similarily negativity of the world

can't put you down, unless

you allow it to get inside of you.

~Unknown     •。★★ 。* 。 

Spiritual Enlightenment 

BOOK OF MORMON CORNER - Today's Reading - Words of Mormon 1:1-18 

Question -  How do you distinguish between a false prophet and a holy Prophet? Why do we sometimes have to labour with our might so we can have peace?  

 

My Thoughts -  By their fruits ye shall know them! Righteous, holy men, speaking with power and authority, prophesying and receiving revelation. Many people have had a problem with Joseph Smith, but when you look at the fruits, the visions, the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the Church, the restoration of the Priesthood, revelations, how can you deny it? How does living the gospel make you feel? For me the answer is complete, peaceful, happy, purposeful. For that and for other reasons I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet and this church is truly Christ's church.  There will always be those who oppose God's work, but, it is His work, we need only trust in Him. I absolutely know that the prophets and apostles will never lead me astray. That can be very difficult in the world we are living in, which is filled with voices that seem to be turning truth upside down all the time, and would present to us a voice, which would appear to be truth, but is filled with deception and the lies of Satan.  For instance.  A marriage license really is only a piece of paper. That is the truth.  And so many people today do not bother to get married because, its only a piece of paper and they have bought into that worldly view, but in reality, Marriage is much more than a piece of paper.  It is a long lasting comittment between two people who care enough about each other and the family they might have together, and the desire to make it permanent.  We see all around us the negative consequences of people not getting married.  Children growing up in single parent homes, often not even knowing who their father is.  Children growing up with low self-esteem because they have fathers (and in some cases mothers) who didn't care enough to stick around in the long-term.  Children in families with siblings all having different fathers. Etc. etc.  And all because their parents bought into the lie that marriage is just a piece of paper.  And that is only one example of the world's deceit. There are many, many others. Peace comes from doing what is right, and in living correct principles.  That can oftimes take a lot of work and be really hard thing to stick to, especially in the face of the deceit of the world. 

 

Tomorrow's Reading (Monday, Day 93) - Mosiah 1:1-14 

Question - Why do we need to hear testimonies? How does sharing our testimony help us? 

 

 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Chocolate Chip Banana Brownies.  Yummo!

Have a great Saturday!  Don't forget! 

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 And I do too!