Cherry Baked Oatmeal

There were no random thoughts decent enough for a blog post for me. So let’s see what I can come up with on the fly …

Oh wait - we did just come into a new toy! It’ll be at our house by the end of the weekend. AND it could be promising for more than just its educational purpose. More on that another day.

See?!

Ah! I made Cherry Baked Oatmeal last night. Yummy! If you haven’t tried baked oatmeal yet, do iiit … do iiit … just do it do it do iiittt!!! :D Seriously, though it’s amazing! Like having dessert for breakfast! You can make it even healthier by substituting bananas or applesauce into the recipe to replace the sugar. Of course, there are probably a few other adjustments when doing that, but still - it’s delicious! I never use the same recipe, but I’m trying to get there. I found a mixture we like, but I keep experimenting; this experiment was a success!

Butter (or spray) a pan {I used a pie pan}. Place the cherries (halved & pitted) in the bottom of the pan. Whisk together eggs & half & half & melted butter. Mix together oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Combine egg mixture with oatmeal mixture and then just pour the mixture right on over those cherries at the bottom of the pan. Place this into a preheated 350° oven for about 35 minutes (until edges are a golden brown). Mmmmm!

{... this is just an excerpt. Measurements are not included because I didn't measure my ingredients. I eyeballed it for the most part. Hopefully, I will measure the next time.}

#DateHour

Hey folks! If you follow us on Twitter, you've probably seen #DateHour pop up several times. We don’t actually tweet about it every day, but still we’re pretty frequent about it.

It is going to probably be the basis for our next random project, but more about that after we've finally solidified that. What’s Date Hour? It’s our way of continuing to date while not having the time or resources to be able to do weekly or monthly date nights. So to rectify that, we implemented Date Hour. Almost every day, we set aside an hour for just us. Some nights it is a simple dessert & wine date. Other nights have been movie nights. And some others have been actually going out for late night drinks. Yet others have been more business meetings (financials, business planning, etc.). All in all, we use that time to continue to reconnect & reinforce our love for each other each and every day.

Woo hoo for the forever dating married life! I’m loving mine - what about you?

{... just a thought excerpt.}

Kitchen Experiments

Over the last couple weeks, I've been on a roll experimenting in my kitchen. These experiments have been interesting especially the liquids, mostly tea. So tonight’s post is about just that … enjoy!

Liquid Concoctions

Ginger Tea Soda: Ginger Tea + Sugar + Soda Stream

Strawberry Basil Syrup: Strawberries + Basil + Sugar

Strawberry Basil Rum Soda: Strawberry Basil Syrup + Rum + Soda Stream

Strawberry Ginger Tea Cocktail: Strawberry Cocktail Base + Ginger Tea + Vodka

Dark N Stormy Tea: Ginger Tea + Sugar + Dark Rum

Dark N Stormy Tea Soda: Dark N Stormy Tea + Soda Stream

Food Concoctions

French Toast Oatmeal: Oatmeal + French Toast leftover egg mixture + Syrup

Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork: Root Beer + Pork + Slow Cooker +BBQ Sauce

Creamy Herbed Chicken: Herbed Cream of Chicken Soup + Chicken + Slow Cooker

Of all the concoctions, I think the Dark N Stormy Tea was my favorite liquid. The Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork was my hands down favorite food concoction. One of these days I’ll do better about taking pictures so y’all can see them; the strawberry basil syrup & rum soda looked amazing!!

{... an excerpt from my thoughts of the day.}

Who's In your Timeline?

This is real random, but I follow about 100 or so people/business/articles on Twitter.  I was just looking over my timeline (TL) for the day and realized, besides my friends, I follow a number of things, that don’t necessarily go with one another.  That’s the beauty of twitter, you can adjust and follow as you want to, not just one category that pigeonholes you in a certain “box”.  

Here are a few of the things I follow on twitter - You may find we have some of them in common, if you even have a twitter page (FYI - your name may or may not appear on this list.  It doesn’t mean I don’t follow you, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you.  It just means I did or did not include your name on the list):

@mmesarcasm - Wifey, best friend, my heart

@TableTalkN - Spread the word!!!

@motor_29 - Main man. We ALWAYS find humor in stuff

@smile1112 - Fam; just a joy to be around

@NaturalEmerald - Fam; One of the Original 3

@KattPackAllDay - Katt Williams

@deoncole - Check out Deon Cole’s Black Box

@BossLady610 - Fam; Co-Owner of My Day Spa

@_MyDaySpa

@Kyrarena - Homegirl that is definitely about business

@MySisterCircle - Mentoring for young ladies, Founded by @Kyrarena

@mrmisaka - Best big sister I’ve ever had

@TOAO06 - As a brother, I can’t ask for much more (I wouldn’t get a response anyway...)

@14KT - Fam; Look out for his new album dropping on 8/27; Nickel & Dimed

@_MzJessi - She plays the flute

@certifiedinja - She told me & @motor_29 about the flute...

@danieltosh - His show is not for the faint of heart...

@CTCYpsi - City of Ypsilanti

@TweakYourBiz - Online International Business Community

@BigBoi - 1/2 of the most creative and best Hip Hop groups around - Outkast

@YpsiLibrary - Ypsilanti Library

@ReggieBush - New Lion, trying to see what he’s about this year...

@Bigplaycj - Calvin Johnson Jr.; Probably the greatest/most feared receiver in the NFL today

@JalenRose - Former NBA player, Fab Five member, Charter HS founder, Detroiter

@awkwardblkgrl - She is awkward & black & a girl

@DIADetroit - Detroit Institute of Art

@VibeMagazine - They try to help me keep on top of the music game

@BarackObama - 44th President of these United States

@FLOTUS - 1st Lady that keeps it real

@DetroitLionsNFL - Detroit Lions

@DetroitPistons - Detroit Pistons

@MagicJohnson - One of the top 3 NBA players of ALL TIME!

@hbcu - I’m a proud alumni of Morehouse College - Support HBCU’s!!!

@iamjamiefoxx - Actor/Singer/Comedian

@Fidelity - Gotta keep up on my investments

@WSJ - Breaking news & features from the Wall Street Journal

Like I mentioned before, this is just an example of what I see on my TL on a daily basis.  What does it say about me?  What about you? What does your TL say about you?

Holla at me and let me know who you follow?

Get atcha!!!

Marriage Enrichment ...

So today was our annual Progressive Dinner. It wasn't so progressive in that we only had one home, but it was just as much fun as usual. I absolutely love when we all get together and just sit around eating & enjoying fellowship with other married folk. Yeah, workshops are good, but they’re even better when done with folk you know. Don’t you think? I do. And we use such times as this to get to know our fellow laborers in this ministry of marriage.

Whelp, ya know there’s sometimes a downside or two or three. Today, our son broke out in a fever and we can’t explain it. He was way too subdued and was burning up. He was invited to a party, but didn't want to go nor would we have sent him with his lil body on fire like that. Although that’s terrible, he’s 2 so there are probably many more days of that. I hope not though. The other downside was it rained & rained & rained some more; didn't stop the party though - just kept us inside. And the main downside is something that we just can’t seem to put our finger on. For some reason, we just can't seem to get the numbers (attending) up. There’s always just a select few folk and we attempt to cater to everyone. I know some folk have other engagements, but seriously we only get maybe 1/5th of our pool of married folk. What’s that all about? Do people not want to enrich their marriages? Did we offend folk and now they just stay away? What’s the deal?

… and that’s all for tonight. I’m tired after such a wonderful afternoon spent with folk I really do love dearly. They make my day more than they will ever know! And the fellowship definitely enriches our marriage so we’ll keep it up for now. :)

{Keep in mind that most of this month’s post from me will be excerpts from my thoughts. That means they probably will not be totally complete nor always thought through or make sense to anyone but me on that day. It’s cool. Welcome to a small part of my mind.}

How To Calculate The Number Of A Man

As I said yesterday, I did a quick bible reading after that crazy nightmare. I literally just opened my bible and began reading. I read Revelations 13.The 18th verse stuck out to me. My NKJV states, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”

That caught my attention not for the reason most would think. It caught me because of the mention of wisdom of understanding. I've been researching wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in my quest to be more of the Love that I think I need. So this intermingling of wisdom and understanding got me immediately. I decided to flip back to Proverbs (a book full of wise epitaphs) and was led to read Proverbs 18-19. I stopped at 19:8 although 18:15 got a few back glances. 19:8 states “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.” 18:15 states “The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge. And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” You see what happened there? What was meant for a disaster actual led me back to my research, which I had so been slacking on for the past few weeks. I love when that happens. So back on the horse riding at a more appropriate pace, I go.

Don’t miss out on your blessings & lessons focusing on the negative foolishness life throws your way. No matter how strong that hold feels, no matter how scary that experience is, you can pull right on through. When you do, keep on trucking cause there’s much more to do.

Now to this question: How to calculate the number of a man? I have no answer currently, but I have no doubt that I’m gonna run up on that answer as I delve back into my wisdom,understanding, & knowledge studies.

I pray for Understanding Wisdom to guide me in reaching the need so that we all might be secured in His Love.

The question is...

What’s going on good people?!

I apologize for not posting on the site for the last couple of weeks.  It has been a whirlwind of emotions for me and I haven’t necessarily felt compelled to share them at any given time for fear of not “verbalizing” them correctly.  I have went through the complete range of feelings recently and I wasn’t exactly sure how I was feeling at any one time.  I’ve felt happy, sad, relieved, disappointed, anxious, frazzled, blah, expected, and nauseous.  And sometimes more than one at a time.  

There is, obviously, a deep seeded resentment when it comes to the Trayvon Martin vs George Zimmerman verdict.  While I am not at all surprised by the verdict, I am hurt by it.  Yes, the jurors did follow the letter of the law and based on the facts, they found there was a reasonable doubt in the argument that Zimmerman’s defense provided.  No, I don’t believe the prosecuting attorneys did all they needed to do to prove otherwise.  Good news - we have a legal system and it was followed without shenanigans or questionable calls; bad news - a life was lost based solely on someone’s prejudices and ignorances and he was not held accountable for that.  (I personally don’t think that it should have been murder charges, but manslaughter and the outcome would have been different - but I’m not a lawyer).  

I am glad that there were no riots following the verdict because the LAST thing that we need is for us not to get what we want and then go into a violent rage.  That’s called a temper-tantrum.  I don’t like it from my 2 year old.  I don’t like it from grown ups.  If we feel the need for reform in some type of way, we should work through the channels set up to make it happen.  Which is what I believe is happening with the addressing of this nonsense they labeled “Stand your ground”.  Let’s show that we know the game and can play by the rules.  Make them work to our advantage (again).  This happened before, but we began to abuse it and take it for granted, and we are now on the verge of losing out completely.  If you don’t know what I’m referring to, I’ll bring it back up at a later date.  

The most disheartening thing, I feel, is this trial has basically opened the door for everyone to say and vent what they feel.  I have read different articles, mostly online, and not only do I see the hurtful comments that people leave, but at the same time, I look at the enormous amount of support they get behind their comments.  It hurts to come to the realization that so many people in our world still believe that the majority of Black America are thugs who do nothing but smoke weed, hate on white people, pimp out hoes, and listen to gangsta rap.  For the record - we don’t all do that, but if we do, guess what, it’s a personal choice.  No 2 people are exactly alike, not even twins.  So to classify one group of people as such, well, is just “racial profiling”.  Last time I checked, that was wrong.  

The question I have now, the one I’ll pose to my 2 year old son for the rest of his life, and look myself in the mirror and ask myself is: “What am I going to do about it?”.  How will I portray myself in a light that says “I am an individual. Don’t profile me until you know me”? How will I fight the ignorance and close-minded people that continue to look at me and assume that I am up to no good?  

The answer will change everyday, so I must continue to ask, because I’m in it for the long haul.