CELEBRATION...

Today, I will accomplish the goal of writing my last blog for the year, 2012.

In the Bible, there are many accounts of celebrating accomplishments.  The one that first comes to mind took place in the life of King David.  After David had defeated the Philistines, he organized his troops to bring the ark of the covenant home to Israel.  The ark housed the tablets of the law and served as a symbol of the presence of the living God.  It had been missing from its rightful place for seventy years, having been taken by the Philistines.  

David was determined it would once again be in the center of the kingdom of God's people, so after the victory he brought the ark home.

So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.  When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.  David... danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

David was commemorating the victory!  The goal had been accomplished and it was time to celebrate, to dance, to shout, to blow trumpets.  There was a sacrifice made, which was characteristic for David's day.

Today, we offer the sacrifice of praise to God.  We thank him for what he does by praising his name and telling others of the glory of his greatness.  That's all part of the celebration process, so to speak.  All of our accomplishments are made possible by the grace and provision of God.  There is no better way to praise him than to "dance before him" with all our might.  It's as though joy flowed out of King David's pores.  He couldn't contain himself.  Nor should we!  Celebrations for accomplishments are definitely in order.

Oh, the joy of accomplishment!  Aim for a goal and stick to it.  And when you reach that goal, the natural result is to celebrate.  We like to finish things don't we?  And to absolutely know we've finished, there's nothing like beating the drums,... throwing the confetti and commemorating the victory.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas!

EASY, BREEZY, GRANOLA!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease (lightly) a 9x13 inch pan.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Press into prepared pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.  Cool and store in an airtight container.

My family loves this recipe!

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup craisins

THE FOOD MOOD GIRL

Have  you met the Food Mood Girl?  Author and Certified Health Coach, Lindsey Smith is a recovering emotional eater, who can  show you a  better way - one that relieves the burden of self-denial and invites both joy and health back into your life.

1.  What is the one thing, you would like people to know about you?  In short - I am a woman on a journey.  A journey to help others and myself unravel their relationship with their bodies, and their relationship with themselves.

In my own journey, I suffered from severe anxiety and depression as a child, which left me hospitalized by age 12.  After seeing several therapists and psychologists, I finally found a mentor and coach who "got me."  We focused on what I call, the recipe to health and happiness, which is to "Think Good Thoughts, Eat Real Food, Love Yourself, and Repeat As Necessary."  This recipe changed my life at a young age and I have made it my mission to help others going through similar situations by using those key ingredients.

2.  How would you describe your book to readers?  Junk Foods & Junk Moods:  Stop Craving and Start Living is a life changing, inspirational guide to the little steps we can take every day to overcome our painful wounds of the past and to fill the void with love, friendship, relationships and wholesome foods in order to live happy and healthy lives.

I share my personal story of overcoming emotional eating and my negative relationship with food and invite everyone to begin their own journey of healing.

Junk Foods and Junk Moods is broken down into my recipe for health and happiness.  Each section provides tools to help you understand how foods affect your moods and how moods affect your food choices.

Junk Food and Junk Moods is meant to meet you where you are  in your journey to health and happiness and also to serve as a resource that you can rely on year after year.

3.  What is your greatest desire in life?  My greatest desire is to wake up every single day with the ability to spread love and joy into the world, keeping that as my soul purpose continuously.

4.  What are you currently reading?  Enchanted Love:  The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships by Marianne Williamson.

5.  How can readers contact you or purchase your book?  Readers can visit my site at http://foodmoodgirl.com/ or they can send me a tweet https://twitter.com/LindseySmithHHC.

MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT

Chapter 5

MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT

The next morning when I stepped onto the school bus, I probably resembled a grizzly bear in my fuzzy sweater.  But I didn't care what anyone else might be thinking; I felt like the prettiest girl on the whole bus.  I was wearing a cocoa brown and sky blue colored plaid wool skirt.  The skirt reached about mid calf length and came with its own brown leather belt.  I had even tucked my white blouse inside my skirt, but I made sure my new angora sweater covered my body from my neckline to my ever-increasing waistline.  Even though I wasn't petite like the other girls, I felt like I was part of the in-crowd.  I no longer felt like the chubby girl who was the brunt of all the fat jokes.

I had always loved going to school, and...

A MIDDLE SCHOOL DREAM

Chapter 4

A MIDDLE SCHOOL DREAM

As the saying goes, "Time waits for no man."  In this case, no child either.  Could it be possible that I was thirteen years old and entering the seventh grade?  I will never in a million years forget my first day of junior high school or what we now refer to as middle school.  I still had not acquired a taste for breakfast, so I gulped down my cup of cream and sugar with a little coffee.  I said my goodbyes to my grandma and grandpa and emerged from the house that morning wearing one of my new dresses.

The dress I chose to wear for my first day at school had short sleeves that were gathered together with elastic, and the waistband had an attached nylon petticoat that was gathered together with elastic too.  I guess the elastic bands were sewn into my dress so that they could accommodate my forever-growing waistline.  That morning when I boarded the school bus, it didn't take me very long to realize that I definitely did not look like the other girls on the bus.  Some of the girls stared at me and rolled their eyes around in their heads, like I was from some planet in outer space.  A few of the girls turned their heads toward the bus windows, probably thinking that I wouldn't notice them giggling at me.

My face felt hot, and I knew that it must have been turning bright red.  I felt sick to my stomach, like I might vomit up my cup of coffee.  Oh, how at that very moment I wished my grandma had said it was okay to ride to school with my cousin Freddie in his brother's new car.  But she didn't, and now I was stuck on this yellow submarine being submerged deeper and deeper with no way out.  As I frantically looked up and down the aisle for an empty seat, I...

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

How about an easy recipe?

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1 package Moist Deluxe Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix

1/2 cup butter 

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple slices, drained

Red maraschino cherries, drained and halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in ungreased 13x9 - inch pan.  Sprinkle brown sugar evenly in pan.  Arrange pineapple slices on brown sugar.  Place maraschino cherry halves, cut side up, in center of pineapple slices.

Prepare cake mix following package directions for Basic Recipe.  Pour batter evenly over fruit in pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 43 to 48 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes in pan.  Invert onto heat resistant serving plate.

WEARY TRAVELERS

Chapter 3

WEARY TRAVELERS

My new friend sat on our backdoor steps staring at the baseball field for a long time.  I guess he didn't have anything else to say, so I just sat beside him staring at the baseball field too.  Then he stretched out his long legs like a spider, stood up, and tapped on the secret window in our back door.  My grandma came to the door, opened it, and took the dinner plate from the hobo.  He thanked her for the food and said it was the best food he had ever eaten.  My grandma gave him a quick nod of her head, as if to say thank you, and then she told me that it was time to come into the house.  I told my friend goodbye and walked into the house with my grandma right behind me.  She closed the back door and walked over to the kitchen sink to wash the dinner plate.

I stood on the tip of my toes with my face pressed against the back door window, trying to catch a final glimpse  of my new friend and to see if he was going to walk back to the train tracks.  But much to my surprise, he didn't walk away.  He stood on the bottom step of our back porch, looking out over the baseball field like he was searching for something or someone.  He then glanced toward the side of our house like a secret agent in a spy movie.  I held my breath as I was afraid he...

SEASONING WITH SALT AND PEPPER

Chapter 2

SEASONING WITH SALT AND PEPPER

My first encounter with the men my grandma called the hobos was from a branch on a lone pine tree that loomed over our garage like a giant octopus stretching in all directions.  I wasn't allowed to climb the pine tree, as it had sticky sap oozing from every branch.  My grandma would yell at me whenever I attempted to climb the tree.

     "Tonia Kay, I better not catch you up in that pine tree."

     But my grandpa finally gave in to my persistence and nailed an old piece of pinewood between two branches as my perch.  I would sit on my perch with the sparrows and blackbirds and listen to them sing.  What I really enjoyed, though, was waiting for the afternoon freight train.  The railroad tracks were so close to the pine tree that the ground beneath it would start to rumble and shake before I could even catch a glimpse of the train.  Then I would sit very still and wait for the whistle.  Once I heard the train whistle, I knew that at any second the clanking of the steel wheels would roll by on those skinny rails, squeaking and hissing, and then I would...