Oh yum! This is the easiest and most delicious recipe. I’ve made this several times to give it away – but my kids and I eat it before it gets delivered. I suppose I need to make bigger batches.
Ingredients:
1 – 14 ounce can of stewed tomatoes
1 fresh jalapeño (remove stem and seeds)
1/2 onion
1 bunch of fresh cilantro – stems removed
Juice from 1/2 Lime
1 tsp Garlic powder
Salt/Pepper
Directions:
Throw everything in a blender and pulse 5 to 7 times – done!
I love to eat this salsa with lime chips. It’s also good on eggs or tacos.
Super Simple Summer Salsa – YUM!!!
Money Saving Tip: Buy the ingredients from Aldi and make this batch for only $1.35
This month I read one a book by a former President, another by a former First Lady, one celebrity memoir, one celebrity biography, and the final was a book on writing by a well known author.
I listened to this on my free Hoopla app. The book started a little slow, but as Theodore Roosevelt (aka Teddy) went to college, his life became very interesting. He grew to become a remarkable man who fought against cronyism and crime in government.
I loved the story of how he became president. It started when he was asked by William McKinley to be his VICE president. He said NO. He didn’t want to be Vice President for three reasons:
He enjoyed his current job as of governor of New York.
The pay wasn’t enough. He was making $10,000 a year as governor, and his home in New York was paid for. If he became Vice President, the pay was only $8,000 a year – and he’d have to rent a home for his large family in Washington DC. He honestly didn’t think his family could survive on that smaller amount of money.
He just wasn’t interested in being Vice President.
Well, the public LOVED how ‘humble’ he was about not wanting to be Vice President. There was enough pressure for him to change his mind and accept the position. McKinley-Roosevelt won the election in a landslide. As Teddy expected, he didn’t love the job of VP. He had to remain mostly quiet and listen (he preferred talking and sharing his point of view), and he didn’t feel like he could make much of a difference as Vice President. However, six months into his new role, McKinley was killed, and Teddy Roosevelt became President. He served for the next 7.5 years, and loved his role. He was only 42 years old – the youngest man ever to be president.
Review: I slowly listened to the audiobook (that Michelle reads herself) in my car over the last few months.
The beginning is slow. Michelle is a lawyer and the beginning chapters feel like she’s reading a deposition. The first 7 chapters could have probably been summed up in two. I skimmed over a few parts, waiting for this book to get better, and it finally did. When Michelle introduces us to Barack, the story gets interesting.
I enjoyed learning what it was like for a young family to be in politics. I admire how she stuck through the challenges of political life – sharing her husband with the world and carrying the load of raising their daughters, while trying to keep some semblance of family life. She talks about buying lots of “take out” and fast food during their busy life, and how that began to negatively affect their health – especially the health of their children. That’s how her platform as First Lady was born – encouraging Americans, and especially children, to eat a little healthier and get some exercise. She was the first First Lady to have a garden at the White House!
I loved the part of the book where she shares what life was like in the White House. They have a cleaning staff, a cooking staff, etc. There are fresh flowers daily and someone constantly cleaning up behind them. There’s a bowling alley and movie theatre. She compares it to living in a fancy hotel. However, I didn’t know that the Presidents pay for their own groceries. They got a ‘food bill’ at the end of each month!
I didn’t agree with or support everything written in this book, but I think we could all benefit from getting to know and try to understand people who are different from us – different skin color, different beliefs and different politics. Politics can be so mean and ugly. I would love to see Democrats and Republicans work respectfully together to make this a better nation. Michelle and I do agree about this :).
I wasn’t really planning to read this celebrity memoir, but I kept hearing other’s say that they really liked it, so I gave in and checked it out from the library.
The title “Open Book” is exactly what it is. Jessica shares way more details of her life than I was expecting to read. She holds nothing back and everyone is fair game – her ex-husband Nick, her parents, her ex-boyfriends, her current husband, and of course, herself. Jessica shares how she got into music, about her marriage and divorce, about her struggle with addiction and more. She tries to pull out the good and shares the lessons she’s learned along the way.
We received this book free from our library as part of the summer reading program, so Clark and I read it together. Jackie Chan has had a very interesting life. He began his life with his family in ONE room of a larger house where his dad worked. Jackie began training in Kung Fu and theatre at the young age of 7 – working up to 16 hours a day, sleeping only 5 hours each night. His career began as a stunt person in the film industry, then he began acting, writing, singing, and directing. I had no idea how much he had accomplished in his life – it was a simple and fun book to read together. I love the “Who Was/Is” series for kids!!
This is a book on WRITING…written by a well-known author. I wanted some insight and inspiration as I consider my next book, and work on this blog.
Here are a few of the gold nuggets I pulled from the book:
One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to go places and explore. It motivates you to look closely at life.
There are stories and ideas and vision and memories and plots inside me, and only I can give birth to them.
“Present and in awe” is how we should be in the world. There is ecstasy in paying attention. You can find holiness in everything, a sign that God is implicent in all creation. We can see everything as an outward and visaible sign of inward invisible grace. Anyone who wants to can be surprised by the beauty or pain of the world.
How often have you opened a book and said “YES!” … I want to give people that too!!
I automatically think that closing down is safe, but really – staying OPEN and LOVING is safer, because then we’re connected to all that life and love.
Maybe what I’ve written will help others, maybe it will be a small part of the solution. You don’t even have to know how or in what way, but if you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find and doing the best you can to understand and communicate, this will shine on paper like its own little lighthouse. Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save, they just stand there shining.
All quotes by Anne Lamott in her writing memoir, Bird by Bird
Have you read anything interesting lately? Leave a comment!
My husband, the great Ted Egly, has written another inspiring article for leaders and team members at Target and I thought I would share with you. Ted, take it away…
Let’s be honest, the world is overwhelming right now, and many questions are orbiting the caverns of our minds:
How will I continue to cope? How concerned should I be? How can I help?
Leave those questions alone for a moment. Instead, focus on having the best day you can right in front of you.
Win the day. Not the next few weeks or next few months, but today.
Here are some practical ways you can win the day:
Start your day with something that provides positive momentum. A gratitude practice, listening to music or a podcast, or reading. Once you get positive momentum, you will be hard to stop.
A leader I know started what he calls the “three-minute daily difference maker.” He sends three texts a day to friends, family members or colleagues. The difference it’s made, especially during quarantine, is exponential.
Keep a healthy balance between expending energy and renewing energy. You can refill your energy tank by setting boundaries between home and work, praying/meditating, prioritizing sleep, taking a daily walk or sharing a meal with family/friends.
Take note of the volume of information that you’re taking in. An abundance of information leads to a deficit of attention.
Another leader asked me the other day, “How do I get things back to the way they used to be?” Maybe some of you are asking that same question. But perhaps that’s the wrong question. Maybe the question we should be asking is, “What does this new situation make possible?”
Schedule your values. Good time management doesn’t mean you do more; it means you do more of what really matters most. Identify your non-negotiables – those go on the calendar first.
Imagine for a moment that there is a gatekeeper at the doorway of today, and that gatekeeper is courage. Courage invites you in to win the moment right in front of you. To win the day.
My son Paul was invited to spend the night at his friend Isaiah’s house. As we were getting out of the car, Paul asked everyone to get out and see a nest of baby birds they had discovered the day before in Isaish’s backyard. The mother had made a nest on a precarious branch in the lower part of a small blue spruce tree.
We went to the back and found that the baby birds and nest had fallen from the tree and were scattered in the backyard. Paul gently picked up the birds, put them back in their nest, and tucked them safely in the tree.
Paul and the baby sparrows
I noticed that Clark’s eyes were glued to the lake. Something out there had his full attention.
‘Mom, look at that TIki boat – it’s stuck and there are people on it. We should go help!’
Immediately, George, Clark, and their friend Landon, grabbed life jackets, put the canoe in the water, and paddled out.
They arrived at the Tiki Boat and discovered four ladies and the boat driver completely stuck in a bog.
They used their oars, strength and ingenuity to get the boat free … only for it to lodge itself deeper 10 yards away. This time it was REALLY stuck.
Two by two, Clark brought the ladies onto shore. George and Landon stayed on the Tiki boat until everyone was safe. They’d be the last ones to come back in.
George and Landon waiting on the Tiki Boat
Clark bringing in the ladies, two by two
Paul and his friend Isaiah, brought the boat driver safely to shore.
Two EIGHT YEAR OLDS saving the 20-something year old boat driver.
Once the women were safely on land, they couldn’t stop praising the brave young men who rescued them. These women were shocked when they saw the boys rowing toward them. They were THRILLED that help had arrived. You see, there are no motor boats on this lake. The Tiki Boat is the only boat with a motor on the entire lake. There was no one coming to help. They were sure they’d have to wade through the muck and mud, holding their Tory Burch shoes and Loius Vitton purses overhead.
The brave young men who saved the Damsels in Distress and the Tiki Boat Driver.
I gave the ladies a ride back to their restaurant. They looked happy to be off the boat – but I’m sure they had a night they’ll never forget.
The ladies gave the older boys a tip. George and Clark say they don’t want to spend the money. They want to save it for the memory. They are also on the lookout for any other damsels in distress.
Update: The Tiki Boat did eventually get free when a homeowner on the lake used a long rope and a four wheeler to pull the boat from the muck, allowing it to motor back to it’s home base – The Charthouse Restaurant.
Clark had asked me last month if he could get a ride on that Tiki boat, but you have to be 18 to ride. It’s pretty ironic that they are too young to ride, but not too young to rescue the passengers aboard!
I’m a small town, Indiana girl – and though I was happy to leave my little town just after graduating from high school, I love going home to visit.
The best time to go back home is around the 4thof July. Boats are in the water, friends and family are gathered, and sweet corn is served at every meal.
Family love
The boys are blessed with cousins who live on a lake and share all their lake toys with them, and grandparents who live next door who share all their land toys with them – and lots of family nearby to share all their love with them!
George driving a boat
Luke learning to drive the Boston Whaler
Papa’s four wheeler
Papa’s Ranger
Highlights for the kids:
Tubing
Smores
Swimming and gathering treasures from the bottom of the lake.
They found a glove on the bottom of the lake that Kate had lost when ice skating over the winter!
She takes them to get the world’s best donuts at Rise and Roll, to get candy, ride the Carousel, and a Soft pretzel at Davis Mercantile
Riding the wave runner
My nephew Jack asked me to take him out. I let him drive, not realizing that he is a CRAZY fast driver. Within minutes, he threw me off the back – I thought I was going to lose my arm, but thankfully I only lost my sunglasses. After the ride with Jack – I’m retiring from the wave runner.
I bought replacements sunglasses for $1. And George asked for some too!
Highlights for me:
Annual Date Night on the lake with Ted, my sister, and brother-in-law.
We do a “progressive dinner” on the boat – stopping at one restaurant for an appetizer, then another for dinner … watching the sunset in between.
Sisters
Time with family and friends
Cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncle
Look at Luke’s smile (Jon is holding him in the back). Luke was so excited to see Jon. The last time he saw him was on The Voice. Luke said: You’re my cousin and you’re real?!?
Review: This is such a wonderful, powerful book. I listened to it on my free Hoopla app, but now want to buy my own copy. This book is full of good truths about the enormous love God has for each one of us – just as we are. This book would make a great gift. Thanks to my sister Krista, for the recommendation!
Review: This is the story of the life of a black male (Kiese Laymon) growing up in the south. I appreciated how the author opened the curtain of his life. Kiese was raised by a single mom in a dysfunctional home – filled with abuse and poverty. The book’s title “HEAVY” – has a couple of different meanings. First – the author is large for his age and his weight is a theme throughout the book. Second, the story itself is “heavy” with a lot of struggle and very little redemption.
Review: I read a few pages out of this book most mornings for the last few months. It’s a book you’ll want to read slowly and absorb. I took pages and pages of notes. The book gives lots of inspiration and truth into how to move past insecurity and weakness and make a positive difference in the world. If you have goals and dreams for your life that you are waiting to see fulfilled, this book would be great for you!
Ted took George and Clark to help clean up our city.
I participated in my first ‘peace walk’ – “Moms March for Peace.”
I was invited by my friend Lourdmy – both of us are moms raising four sons. She is black, I am white. She asked if I wanted to join her for this peace march. I was happy to walk with her, to listen and to learn. It was an emotional and beautiful event.
Lots of time outside …
On the water and in the water
Fishing – I watched Luke catch a fish for the first time!
Hiking and Picnicking
Swimming, Sprinklers, and Slip in Slides
Luke
Paul
Paul, Luke and their friend
Luke and a friend
The boys fishing with neighbors
Paul and a friend canoeing
Can you spot me and Clark on the paddle boat?
Luke loves his new tank from Target
Swimming at Orchard Lake
It’s been HOT in Minnesota. You’d think that since we have such COLD winters, we should be rewarded with not so hot summers. Nope. Not this June. It’s been HOT and HUMID with endless amounts of mosquitoes.
However, everything is BLOOMING and BEAUTIFUL! There is NEW life everywhere – flowers, baby ducks, toads and turtles.
Thank you Minnesota, for recognizing that June 10 is my birthday, and choosing to open all gyms, restaurants and pools. I’m honored!!
My day started at the gym. (Exercise prevents cake-eating guilt.) Next, I stopped by Starbucks for my favorite FREE birthday drink – Iced Cloud Caramel Macchiato.
Then I stopped by Caribou for my FREE birthday breakfast sandwich.
I came home and the boys were up and gave me hugs and wished me happy birthday.
I made them banana bread and we did a puzzle together.
Ted went to Target and I asked him what he was getting.
Ted: Well, I was buying you flowers. It was supposed to be a surprise, but since you’re asking – what kind would you like?
Me: I’d prefer a plant over a bouquet, it lasts longer.
George: Dad, just get her seeds – those last the longest!
——–
Ted brought home a cake, and after lunch the boys sang to me, and we had CAKE! I opened a couple of cards I’d received in the mail, plus a gift from my mom and mother-in-law. The boys gave me handmade cards. The card from Clark was the start of a scavenger hunt. He gave me one clue, that led to another clue, that led me all over the house. The last clue was to “go to the room where you sleep.” I opened my bedroom door and all the boys jumped out and yelled:
Surprise!! Happy Birthday!!
Oh … so …. sweet. The best gifts are the ones you can’t buy.
After lunch, Ted offered to let me sneak away to get a pedicure.
That evening, a super kind friend came to watch our boys so that Ted and I could go to dinner – our first time inside a restaurant in MONTHS!
We had a delicious dinner at COV – a beautiful restaurant right on Lake Minnetonka. We shared the best CRAB CAKE I’ve ever eaten… also salmon, sushi, brussel sprouts and then more CAKE! YUM!
After dinner, I took a walk with my boys and ended the night watching a few minutes of The Greatest Showman (we love this movie).
Thanks for birthday wishes. I felt LOVED and extravagantly blessed.
‘In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.’
Abraham Lincoln
Here are some birthday freebies I received and you can get them too:
Review: This book is a warm blanket and a gentle push in the right direction. It brought joy-filled tears to my eyes as I read each page.
The author is someone I worked with at New Life Church. He’s a great leader, pastor, and friend. I knew I’d like his book, I didn’t know how MUCH I’d like it.
This book answers the questions:
How do we become the kind of people who know how to handle whatever life throws at them?
Review: I cannot recommend the Biographies by Benge’s highly enough. They are so well written and always about the most fascinating people from history.
I watched the new movie “Harriet,” and wanted to know more about her life. I listened to this book on my Hoopla app and it was EXCELLENT. The book shares hard and fascinating stories about Harriet. I can’t believe one woman did so much in her life. She was a phenomenal woman!
Let me share one story from the book:
Harriet had freed many slaves, but had not been able to free her parents. Her parents were old, had lived hard lives as slaves, and could not “runaway” to freedom. Harriet had a dream that her father was in trouble, and she knew it was time to help. Harriet needed $20 to get them transfered safely North. She went to the Abolition office to ask for help. They had no money to give her. She went to the waiting room and decided she would not eat or drink until she had the money to free her parents. She fell asleep in the chair, and when she woke up, money was tucked inside her shawl. The lady at the front desk told her that people kept coming in, and when they saw Harriet, they gave whatever they could. The amount totaled $60! When Harriet arrived at her father’s shack, she discovered he would be arrested the next day and sent to jail. He was being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. Often, slave owners would accuse their elderly slaves of a false crime, so the slave would be send to prison and the owner no longer had to house or feed them when they were too old to work. Harriet got both of her parents to freedom, and they lived in her home for the rest of their lives.
When I finished the book, I took a moment to thank God for how far we’ve come. Days later, George Floyd was killed and I realized we still have a long way to go. I’m incredibly grateful for women like Harriet Tubman and think we all need to hear her story!
Review: This is a memoir of a Patti Smith – who shares what life was like in New York City during the 70s as an artist. The writing was excellent, but the content is gritty.
Review: Another great book by the Benges. George Muller was a simple man who housed and fed HUNDREDS of orphans. He didn’t have much, but always prayed and trusted God to provide. Let me tell you a story from the book:
One morning, the cook let George know that there was not going to be enough breakfast to feed several hundred orphans. He calmly replied: God will provide. Tell the children to come and eat. As soon as the children prayed and sat down, a local baker knocked on the door and said: I couldn’t sleep last night. I had this feeling you all would need bread today, so I baked all night for you. A few minutes later, a local milk delivery man knocked on the door. He shared that his truck got stuck right outside the orphanage. He asked if they would please take all the milk he had, so that his truck would be light enough to get out of the hole.
That’s just one morning in the life of George Muller – the book is full of incredible stories like this as you follow his life through the book. This would be a great story to read or listen to (on the free Hoopla App) with kids ages 8 and up.
Review: I started reading this several months ago and finally finished. This is a book I would hear people mention, so I finally read it. It tells the story of a family growing up in Brooklyn, NY. The characters are well developed and believable. It’s a novel that loosely follows the life of the author.
Review: I’ve been reading a couple pages out of this book most mornings since January. It’s a Bible Study filled with practical wisdom and inspiration for moms of all ages.
