Remember

This smile is put there today compliments of my husband who had roses delivered to our front door.

Roses, and I know they are cliche' when it comes to love,

but they truly are my favorite flower

on Valentine's Day.

He knows it.

He 'GETS ME' and what I like.

 He also made us a cherry pie.

Well.... it may have been Marie Callender who made it,

but who cares.

We had a piece mid-afternoon along with whipped cream on top.

 Your relationship may have changed over the years, but always try to remember that moment you fell in love. Be good to your sweetheart today.  Remember what made you love him in the first place.  That moment of Rapture. 

That's what's important.

For Your Sweetheart's Breakfast

PANCAKES!

My husband is the cook in this house, and that's a good thing, since it's never been something I enjoyed doing.  I suppose you could call me a 'survival cook'.  I cook, only so that I can eat something to survive.  LOL  He cooks because he finds it to be more of an art?  Well, that's a weird way of putting it on my part, but it seems that he is always looking up recipes and trying something new.  

It's not quite 8AM as I type this, and already I hear something sizzling out on the stove.

A few times this past year he has made us pancakes for breakfast.  Now, I love pancakes, but do find them a bit heavy on the stomach at times, which brings me to what I remember having as a child.  Mom would make pancakes, but once in a while she made what we referred to as 'flapjacks', which were actually crepes.

Very thin pancakes that we then sprinkled with a bit of sugar and rolled up.  At least that's what my quite aged memory remembers them to be.

Gina at Skinny Taste had a lovely post about her recently passed Dad's recipe for crepes this morning HERE. 

I enjoyed this post about PANCAKES AROUND THE WORLD, which also has a nice video on  how easy it is to make Crepes.

Crepes, or flapjacks as we called them, are easy and fun and can be filled with the filling of your choice, so GO FOR IT!

Fools Should Learn To Love

 

Do I look a bit like a teacher?

Okay, so I'm not a teacher, but there are a few things I want you to know about some upcoming holidays this year, and also perhaps something you don't know about what the Bible teaches.

It's a book I was raised upon as a child, it's lessons that is, and although there is a lot to the book that I no longer believe, it does have some significant lessons in it about how we are to treat other human beings.

 Okay.... so every year Christians all across the United States and around the world celebrate Ash Wednesday, and it's from the Bible... their holiday when they run around town with a smudge of black on their foreheads....it's ash people.  Not dirt, but ash.

The ashes, generally spotted on the foreheads of Catholics, symbolize the first day of the Lenten Season and when applied by the priest, they are reminded by his words that they are dust, and to dust they shall return.

I get that part, because considering that I plan to be cremated, I will be dust before I even hit the ground.

 So, the Lenten Season leads up to Easter, which marks the day that Jesus, their son of God rises up again, after having been crucified on Good Friday.

It's all about him having died for their sins, which means they can now get away with any bullshit here on earth that they do or say, because they are forgiven for their asinine  actions.

Hence.... why they love Trump and want all DACAs returned to the countries their parents came from, even though the Dreamers had nothing to do with their coming here, being raised here, and having no memories of ever even living in another country.

Oh, but 'Send Them Back.  Send Them Back'.

Back to what??  They came here as BABIES.

Even your god would be sympathetic to THAT!

Many Christians obviously just figure they are already forgiven for being assholes to other people.

 There are MANY verses in their Bible that speak to the power of loving others... it's what their God demands of them.

There are many verses that speak to the power of hating others, and let's just say that their God has a lot of thoughts on this issue also, and so I ask myself why it is that these Christians who walk around with ashes on their foreheads come the Lenten Season choose to follow a President and a political party who tries to do so much damage to the very people that their God and their Bible says that they should love and not hate?

Does anyone have a good and realistic answer to the conundrum?

 As caucasian humans, we love, we marry, we have children and we spend the rest of our lives together loving those around us.  People of other colors do the same.  We all just want to live our lives with harmony in our families and with those around us.

Sometimes our children adopt children of other races, or in some families people of a darker color even marry into a white family or vice versa.  It's all good.  It's all harmonious.  We are all flesh.

 I'm not sure the conundrum can be solved, and I shake my head daily at people who don't support the Dreamers, children who never chose to be here in the first place, who 30 years ago were carried across the border of our country in their mother's arms before they could speak any language, and are now woven into our country as educated, hard working young people.

Is it right to punish them for an action they had no choice in making? They didn't devise a plan to dig a tunnel or hide in the back of a truck or find a coyote smuggler to get them through the deserts of Arizona.... they had no choice.

   They are now grown and they pay taxes. They speak English.  They serve in our military.  They too are now having families of their own. 

Do the people against them even know what a Dreamer and what DACA is, or do they simply see it as a color issue?

Do they only watch Fox News and never turn the channel so that they have thoughts from both sides of the political aisle?

Well, for those who believe the Bible and pray to God, their Ash Wednesday is on Valentines Day this year.

A day of love.... and I want to remind them of that.

A day of love.

And their Easter is on April 1st.... April Fools Day,

and I want to remind them of that, since they are all acting a bit foolish if you ask me.

I hope they all Go home and read their Bibles today and understand what it is that their God asks of them,

because they make no damn sense to me.

Not Your Favorite Holiday??

 There are those that for one reason or another think that this day of the year

is too pushy and over-rated about showing others that we love them,

and believe that every day of the year is enough in saying "I Love You" to those around us.

 BUT

for me it's a big deal to have one day out of 365 that is devoted to REALLY saying the words and making it a super big deal.

 Okay.... not so much, you say?

 There's so much hate in this world and it gets a boat load of time dedicated to it on TV, the internet, radio, newspapers and every kind of media.

I like to push that all away

and out of my world and mind for 24 hours and make it a full day of love.

 And besides....

there's a National Cat Day

a National Pie Day,

National Tortellini Day (how awesome)

and you name it.... there is a special day for it.

 So why not a day for Lovers?

 A day just for giving someone a card, flowers, or pink iced cupcakes to remind them that they are loved. It might just make a huge difference in their day and turn that frown upside down into a smile.

If nothing else... just give them an EXTRA big hug today and instead of being nonchalant about how you feel about them.... in fact, give them a SUPER big hug, the biggest hug ever!

and tell them out loud... "HEY!  Do you know how much I love you?"

 Stop by their house and give them an unexpected hug, a single rose, potted plant,

or a PINK ICED CUPCAKE.

I mean, it may not be YOUR favorite day of the year,

but it might be theirs.

Right?

Show some love.

LINK TO Yesterday's, Today's, and Tomorrow's Holiday List.

Happy Valentines Day Week-End

Since my posts here on Pepper Medley have been sparse as of late, I thought I would do a valentine's day post a day early.

It's a post about our life as a couple since 1997.... that's 19 years.

Not all of them have been in wedded bliss, in fact after meeting one another on an internet dating website, dating for a few weeks and then moving into his home,  we lived together for ten years before tying the knot known as 'marriage.

Week-ends were spent with quick trips to Sedona, hiking, shopping the strange little shops, and practicing photography... along with getting to know one another VERY well via lots of hand holding and tons of mad sex like bunnies.  LOL

Later that same year we decided to sell his home, (his idea, not mine) and build a new house just a bit further west in the Valley.... Goodyear, AZ, it was a little closer to his job and a little further from mine, but the time seemed right to sell the house that he had been in for numerous years and raised his children in, who were now on their own in life.  It was time to get out of the neighborhood that now seemed to be sliding downhill, and he was also ready to put a few memories behind him and start a fresh life with me.

We had fun selecting the builder, the new neighborhood, a great floor plan, the flooring, cabinets, countertops, and making all of the stressful decisions that come when deciding to go with a 'new construction' home.

We had a blast!

Two years later we headed East... Maryland to be exact, and although I cried, sobbed, and was completely unsure about moving all the way across the U.S. with a man I loved, but was not yet married to, I pulled up my big girl panties and hit the road with him on a fresh chapter in life.

The East Coast was a HUGE adjustment for me, since I had lived in Arizona for nearly twenty years.... how would I ever handle going back to frigid winters which I had not experienced since childhood... and he had been away from Indiana winters for nearly twenty years as well.

It would be the 'thermal long john underwear' years of our life.

Now, it wasn't an easy adjustment for me.... no indeed, but after a year or two Maryland had become home. great neighbors, in an area that wrapped it's arms around us and accepted us into the fold of the neighborhood with camaraderie galore.  I never ever wanted to pick up and move again.... but in life there are just so many things we don't have control over.... and then it happened.

In 2003, the company he worked for began laying people off, and by early 2004 the final employees were sent packing to find other jobs.  None seemed to be coming his way, so it was back to Arizona where his previous employer had asked him to come back.

BACK TO ARIZONA?

I was elated and he was not.

The forever long and hellish hot summers would once again be upon us.  Something I could deal with, but he could not, and he vowed that once he again found a position on the East Coast... or anywhere with a a four season lifestyle, that we would once again leave the Southwestern part of the U.S.  And so it was that I did not get attached to living in Arizona this time around.

Speaking of not getting attached?  Probably a good thing, since our stint in Arizona only lasted from 2004 until mid year 2007, which is when we decided to move to Roanoke, Virginia.

Move much, you ask?

Why yes... we do!

My guy had accepted another engineering position working for G.E., and before he left for Virginia he asked me to marry him.... I hemmed and hawed, accepted his proposal, and within a matter of a few weeks arrangements were made, and I flew from Arizona to Virginia with my wedding dress and his black suit and tie in hand, and we were married at a lovely mountaintop elopement location, with a small private cabin in which we spent our honeymoon week-end.

This autumn we will have been in Virginia for nine years.... the longest we have been in one state as a couple, although not in the same house.  

I guess we get bored being in the same house for too long.

*that's him up above.... plotting where we will move to next*

So here we are nineteen years later.

Still in love.

Still confused about where we'll go next. but knowing that wherever it is

we'll still be together in the autumn and winter years of our life

wearing thermal long john underwear if necessary.....

Wishing everyone a Valentine week-end filled with warmth as well as the knowledge that someone loves you dearly, whether that be a spouse, a significant other, your child, or a wonderful neighbor.
Think pink and red.
Think and exude love.
Make the world a better place this week-end and always.
Happy Valentine's Day!

OH.... and THIS IS FUNNY!

A Sky For Lovers

 My husband and I went out for an early dinner today.  It was our Valentine's dinner since he will be somewhere else on Valentine's Day.

We missed spending Christmas together and were not about to give up another special holiday, especially a holiday meant for lovers.

 He had beef medallions, and some superb red mashed potatoes, all with gravy on top and a light salad on the side,

followed up with a cake for dessert called Death By Chocolate. 

The man cannot have enough chocolate to sate his appetite for it.

 I chose crab cakes and french fries, also with a light salad. and a cup of green tea to warm me from today's weather of non-stop flurries and accompanied by dropping temeperatures.

Carrot cake found it's way in front of me as my dessert.

Now how did that happen?

Who ordered cake??

 As we drove towards home I noticed a ball of fire... FIRE FIRE FIRE in the western sky, otherwise known as the setting sun, but I had not taken my camera with me to the restaurant, so I had to wait until we were home to catch the last glimpses of it. 

There it goes... downward on the far side of the Shenandoah Mountains.

Kicking myself for not taking my camera with me since the sky had obviously been aglow in red for all of we Valentine Lovers.

Hope your day on Saturday will be filled with love.