Dandelions Everywhere!

In my adventure to eat healthy, I’ve run across a few strange things. I’ve tried to branch out from the basic green leaf lettuce and try some new stuff. I really tried. One day at the grocery store, I was feeling particularly adventurous and bought some weird mix of greens. It said it was a spring mix or something. Sounded cheerful enough, so I thought I’d give it a try. I got one bite into it and decided there wasn’t enough ranch dressing in the world to make that taste good. It was as bitter as a 6 month old beer that’s been rolling around in the back of a pickup all summer. YUCK! So I read the label on the package it came in. There was DANDELION leaves in it! WHAT????!! Sick! No wonder it tasted like WEEDS!

So today, I was in my yard digging up my flower beds to get rid of weeds and replant all the bulbs that were being overtaken. By dandelions. In fact, my whole YARD is being overtaken by the sorta-pretty weeds. They multiply before my very eyes! And they don’t double from one year to the next. They about quadruple. I sure wish my stinkin’ flowers would grow like that…..but whatever. And dont let the name fool ya. They are NOT dandy at all.



So it got me thinking. At first i was going to try this spray stuff i bought that promises to wipe out the tenacious yellow pests. Then i was going to get fertilizer that says it will make my grass grow green and kill the lovely dandelions. But I never pass up an opportunity to serve the public and these health-food-nuts are a bit crazy. The will apparently pay $5.00 for nasty bitter WEEDS to eat. And they like organic stuff….. Well let me tell ya something. I have a plan. I’m going to start selling my dandelions. GOURMET salad greens! And I’ll even cut you a smoking’ deal. Only FOUR bucks a pound! Not even $5.00 like at the grocery store! It's a steal. Especially considering that it is even organically fertilized! My neighbors dog does it for me! Occasionally the chickens help too. Doubly organic.



I expect a line around the block by tomorrow morning!

Now i just gotta figure out how to market these tumbleweeds.....

Happy Birthday Mak!

I know, i know. I'm a day late. Sorry, i was busy delivering cupcakes! :) The fundraiser was amazing! My sister came and helped me bake and frost almost 300 cupcakes on Saturday. We'll be able to send Jess almost $400 dollars!

I just want to thank everyone that ordered these pink cupcakes! The compassion and generosity of people never ceases to amaze me! I also want to thank Smith's grocery stores in Logan (on 4th) and in Brigham for donating the containers!

I've decided to make this an annual event. Every year i will make Mak cakes for anyone that wants to donate. I know Jess has big ideas in mind to be sure that Mak is never forgotten and her tragedy is used to change people's lives. That is the spirit Mak's cupcakes will be sold in.

Also, if anyone ever wants to order a batch of Mak cakes anytime throughout the year, i will be more than happy to bake them and make sure the proceeds go to Jessica!

Thanks again everyone!

CUPCAKE UPDATE!!!

I've decided to ship cupcake orders to family and friends that aren't in the Idaho/Utah area. I'm not going to send them frosted, because i think they will end up stuck to the top of the box. So they will come "some assembly required"!! But they will still taste yummy, i promise! I will have to charge a bit more for the shipping. I dont know exactly what that will be quite yet, but i will let you know for sure if you are interested in ordering!

Thanks so much!

Mak's Cupcakes!

On May 3rd, I have some special cupcakes coming. They are going to be the most vibrant hot pink I can create with frosting. There should be a baby girl blowing out her one candle on a birthday cake that day. Instead, it will be a day we remember her and pray for her family.

100% of the proceeds for these cupcakes ordered for May 3rd will go to Mak’s momma. She can use it for whatever she feels most appropriate, whether that be to help pay for the classes she’s taking right now so she can get the great job she’s after to create the life she wants for her and Cheyenne, or to help with her living expenses until she gets that great job, or to put towards a cause to remember Makenna. Whatever she needs most right now.

I can’t rewind time. I can’t make the hurt go away. I can’t fix Jessica’s financial stress. But I CAN bake!!!

The details:

• The cupcakes will be $20/dozen and $10/half-dozen.
• All of the cupcakes will be frosted in buttercream. Hot pink. Pink is Makenna, so pink they will be!
• Choice of 3 flavors: Chocolate, vanilla, or butter cake (aka yellow cake).*
• I will take orders from now til Saturday May 1st. All cupcakes will be delivered May 3rd.


TO ORDER or if you have any questions contact me at:

Wildsugar.blogspot.com
wildsugarconfections@yahoo.com
Facebook
208-705-3555 (text or call)

I know Jess has a lot of family and friends that are too far away from me to order cupcakes that would like to be involved. Don’t worry though, I have a plan for you guys too! Details to follow soon! (Let me know if you are interested though ok!)

*If you have a specific request for a flavor, let me know. Depending on how many orders I get, I may be able to get more creative with flavors!

Thankful

I know it's not Thanksgiving. Not even close. But I was just thinking today how much i really have to be thankful for.

Our finances are living on a hope and a prayer right now, but I'm thankful that i have a job, and even though Chuck doesn't have a "real job" right now, he's got awesome talent that pays the bills.

I'm so thankful that i have a little boy to sit on top of the hay stack with and talk about the important things in life. Like rocks, and why chickens hide their eggs.

I'm thankful for my baby boy that i can watch play on the lawn for the first time in his little life, and be so amazed at a blade of grass, and then grin at me because he caught me looking at him.

I'm a lucky lucky girl!

Forgiveness

Part two of today’s random thoughts! To go along the path of my last post, growing up takes a lot of strength. I don’t mean physical strength, or even mental strength. I mean emotional strength. At least for me. Growing up has taught me that I’m far from perfect, as much as I’d like to think I am. So I try to acknowledge the qualities I posses that may not be ideal.

Lately that quality I’ve been trying to adjust has been my talent to hold a grudge. I’m really good at it. You know that “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” thing? Yeah, I can hang on to that for a LOOOONG time! Go ahead, hurt my feelings. I DARE ya….

So as you can imagine, the concept of forgiving does not come easy to me. To be honest, I’m don’t even feel 100% clear on what it really means to forgive. So I Google it. Lots of quotes come up. Which is good, because quotes and song lyrics have always been an obsession of mine. And now bible verses, which is really cool for me. But anyways, in my quest to be more forgiving I found some quotes. Most of them are by a guy names Smedes. Apparently he was a very forgiving dude.

The first quote I want to use is this:

“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.” Lewis B Smedes

I like the thought of “healed memory”. I’m not sure how to go about healing some of my memories, but I’m going to give it a good shot!

In my mind I get forgiveness and letting people get away with things confused. I feel that if I forgive someone for doing something that hurt me, I let them get away with it. Like they weren’t “scorned” enough! This quote addresses that:

“You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything...We don't have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive them for doing it. Forgiving heals us personally. To tolerate everything only hurts us all in the long run." Lewis B Smedes

So I don’t HAVE to tolerate crap. I can forgive AND still stand up for myself at the same time. Apparently. I still haven’t figured out how to do that either.

I hear tell that forgiving makes you feel better. Basically, you’re not carrying around baggage if you’ve forgiven the wrong. And maybe that’s so. Maybe a lot of people are so bitter and mean because they can’t let go and forgive. I don’t want to be a bitter crazy person. Not for anyone else’s benefit, but for my own. It’s exhausting holding grudges! And according to this quote, it will make me happier!

“The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good.” Catherine Ponder

I don’t want to attract negativity!!

So my next step is to try to figure out HOW to forgive. The bible says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Well…that’s great and all, but I don’t know HOW to. How do I look at someone that has caused so much pain and not constantly see how they’ve hurt me? I was feeling discouraged that I couldn’t just MAKE myself forgive certain people. But then I read this:

"Forgiving does not usually happen at once. It is a process, sometimes a long one, especially when it comes to wounds gouged deep. And we must expect some lapses...some people seem to manage to finish off forgiving in one swoop of the heart. But when they do, you can bet they are forgiving flesh wounds. Deeper cuts take more time and can use a second coat." Smedes

Maybe it’s going to be a long road. Maybe some things take years to forgive. I wonder if you can forgive something, then get mad about it all over and have to forgive again? Or does that just mean you never really forgave in the first place?

Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

This, to me, says that it’s ok that I get mad about something that hurt me, but not to stay angry and to feel good about forgiving.

I think forgiveness will be something I always struggle with. I’ve noticed that Matthew comes up a lot in my Google searches of forgiveness. Maybe I’ll read that and get some insight on how to go about handling this.

Anyways, I’m not sure what the point of this is. Mostly to get it off my chest I guess. Sorry about the rambling and unorganized thoughts!

Growing Up

So this post started out as a random jumble of thoughts. Then I narrowed it down to two thoughts. Then I got carried away with this one and decided to write TWO posts today! Try to keep up! :)

The realization that I’m an adult is really dawning on me. I know, I know, I’ve technically been and adult for almost 9 years. But it’s not our age that makes us adults. It’s the life we experience. I laugh when I think about myself at 17 (and 18 and 19…....ok, fine. And 20). I was SUCH a know-it-all. Couldn’t tell me nothin’. But life hadn’t happened yet. I hadn’t been faced with anything difficult. I’d been pretty sheltered and protected, and probably lucky. The things that make me a grown up now, I couldn’t even FATHOM back then.

Now I have babies. And not only do the majority of my friends have babies, they’ve lost babies too. Nothing will make you feel more grown up than that particular heartache.

Now I’m a mom, I make babies and I HAVE THE ANSWERS! When my little boy asks me “How come?” I have the power to teach him! When my husband calls and asks what to do about a baby’s little cough, I HAVE THE ANSWER!!

Now I appreciate my crazy family for what they are. My rock, my strength, my heart. I failed to realize at 17 that they had all my best interests at heart. Not just a pain in my rear!

Now I’ve lost a parent. ‘Nuff said.

Now I have friends that I’ve been through the fire with. Friends that have been through the worst parts of my life with me so far and have seen me at my worst, and love me that much stronger. Friends that even thousands of miles can’t keep away. Friends I love like sisters. Friends that I had no idea I’d been missing all those years.

Now I have possible career that I love, that means something and that I have a responsibility to. I’ve never had that before.

Now I have a mortgage (I swear, that should be a four letter word!). I have a responsibility to a house and six acres. This little piece of the pie we “own” now is SO important to my kids and how they will be influenced to grow up.

Now I have a marriage that I am committed to. A love that somehow seems to always overcome serious trials. One that is going to stand the test of time.

Now I don’t know so much. I ask questions, and I listen and try to learn from mistakes. Everyone’s mistakes, not just my own.

I realize that I still have a lot of growing up to do. I have many many years of wisdom to acquire. But I’m hoping that this little revelation to myself will lead me in the right directions. I know that as an adult I have a lot to offer my family, my friends and the world. The power to positively influence the people around me. And I’m happy with that!

As my friend Jill recently wrote in her blog, “I tried to think of a wish myself…I couldn’t… when it comes to the realistic things that really make me happy, I have it all. - so life must be pretty good.” And I think I feel the same!