Simply Sunday at the end of March...

I cannot believe its the end of March already!!! Wasn't it just Groundhog Day?? I swear it was!

We're having a very relaxing day after our Hundred Mile Drive yesterday, all in town I might add. I'm not sure if we actually drove 100 miles but it sure felt like it with all the hauling and collecting of the various children. After all that driving, I came home and made a huge pot of Chicken Tortilla Soup to take the chill off.

3-4 bnls/sknls chicken breasts, in 1-inch cubes(or smaller)
1 green pepper, chopped small
1 onion, chopped small
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil.

Combine the above and cook til chicken is mostly done. Add the following:

2 chicken broth cubes, dissolved in about 6 cups hot water(I think I may have added more water than this total)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained or 1 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup salsa(or more to taste)
1-2 teaspoons each: cumin, chili powder, oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Simmer for about 30-45 minutes and serve over crushed chips and a handful of cheese and sour cream on top.

We hit the sack early and slept well.

Today after lunch the men went fishing at Lone Star Lake and the womenfolk are here at the house. The younger ones have been outside all day long, enjoying the 65 degree sunny weather, and I've been inside deciding on paint colors. I posted a while back about wanting to use orange in our dining room and kitchen but after reading about how reds can raise blood pressure, that's NOT what I need. I'm 99% sure now that we'll be using a light yellow-green, the shade of these beautiful leaves.



I had a nice relaxing bath with salts, soaps, and conditioners from my friendPatricia's online store, Herbal Grace so now I smell fantabulous. We've nibbled on chips and hot sauce(our favorite is a mix of Albert's Hot Sauce and Herdez Salsa Verde). We're about to make Blondies from SpruceHill's recipe. YUM. Our microwave gave up the ghost today so we're having to wait on the butter to soften the old timey way.

Right now girls and I are watching Planet Earth and Africam at the same time. Over the past two years we've seen 30 different types of animal at the watering hole, including a cape buffalo being caught and eaten by lions, rhinos fighting, wildebeasts, hippos, snakes, bugs, zebras, baboons, turtles, antelope, cheetas, elephants, hyenas, giraffes, warthogs(so cute!), cervals, porcupines, and all kinds of birds. I would LOVE to visit this place!!

The men will be home shortly after dark and, after showers, we'll heat the leftover soup and sit around being lazy for the last few hours of the day. I wish all our weekends were this restful.

Coming Clean...

I've had a few questions about why I changed my blog url/name so I think I'll take this public space to let everyone know what went on.

This happened because of an incident with a local homeschool mom "friend". For reasons I don't understand, back in early November she started planting seeds in the heads of many moms in our local (99% conservative Christian) homeschooling community that I was a devil worshipper(pagan, wiccan, choose your poison) apparently because I love nature and voted for Obama.

Yeah.

She did.

Sigh.

I heard one of the things that caused her to think this, or whatever, was because I had pine cones in a basket at Christmastime. Also, she appeared to "know"(by osmosis I guess) that I didn't have any Bibles in my home. For the record, we have NINE, more if you count a few from childhood and at least one of them gets read multiple times a day. And that I didn't have any crosses in my home. We do have crosses, they just aren't prominently displayed on my walls. If those things make someone a non-Christian then a lot more of us might be in big trouble!! Personally, I don't believe one should decorate with crosses to prove one's faith. Having them in possession is one thing, displaying them is one thing, but for it to be a requirement of Christianity is quite another! Not buying it.

***updated to add this: Another thing she questioned(or brought up to others for questioning actually) was a quilt I had made. She claimed it was a pagan symbol of some sort. She had told another friend it was pictured on my blog so I searched and searched. Surely I would know if I made a quilt with pagan symbols on it, don't you think? Anyway, I finally found what she was talking about(I think), a paper-pieced hexagon quilt in a six-pointed star shape. Oooooh. Apparently there is some reference to a six pointed star in Revelation being the sign of the devil. I really had to do some research on that one. Sheesh. At this point it became very clear to me that she was strictly on a "witch hunt" and I was the target. What was so bad is that she got a few of my long-time friends involved with this. My relationship with some of them will never be the same.

Here is a neat site about Christian symbols, and another.

I can assure you that I am not what she claimed. I am a Christian, raised Southern Baptist but not in a church home right now. Truth is something I'm all for, I wouldn't deny believing a certain way if it was really what I believed. Religions fascinate me, I love learning about why and what others believe in. Some of my local friends are pagan and/or Wiccan. They are not going to convert me or corrupt me, loss of my salvation isn't an issue. They are interesting and non-judgemental(well, ok, there are a few who are quite judgemental...oh well) but I am friends with them because I LIKE them. I am NOT doing anything wrong by having people with different belief systems in my life. It's too bad that others have a problem with this but I'm not going to change nor does it negate my status as a child of God.

Anyway, she questioned my Dark Oak Woman name(which was strictly an "indian name", hello, I have been interested in Indians since I was a preschooler and majored in Native American Studies at OU!) and dirtied it for me. That's ok though!! I really love the new name, it fits my personality much better.

I cut all ties with this person in mid-February and will not allow her toxic spewing back into my life, ever! I've even asked others not to tell me if the issue is still being discussed. This has been a nightmare for me and my family but has finally leveled out on my end. Now is the time for me to be done with it completely, it has wasted FAR, FAR too much of my time.

And that's the story of why I'm now at uneven edges.*G* Hope yall understand my need for a change!

Well Now...

I have a new blog name and a new blog url! Sorry to make this such a pain but would you all please bookmark or change in your favorites to the new address. Purty Pleeeze? Thanks!! I'll set to work fixing things up here soon enough. Bear with me! My Dark Oak Woman blog will remain up but all my new posts will be here. I'll have a permanent link to the old place though.

Ok, I'm off to clean my room, today we're expecting storms for company later this afternoon and I'd hate for a tornado to catch me with a dirty floor! Aack!! I already hear thunder!