How to Win

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Winning is fun. Winning is exciting! Winning is satisfying. We were created to WIN! Then, why are there so many areas of life where we fall short of victory? What's wrong with this picture?

Do you look at Mondays as a "start over day"? You know. It's almost like a New Year's resolution but, instead, it is the first-day-of-the-week resolution.  
It may look something like:

• Eat right
• Lose weight
• Start an exercise plan
• Make a budget
• Stop spending money
• Get out of debt
• Be more generous
• Be less selfish and more helpful
• Get this place clean
• Keep this place clean
• Catch up with the paperwork... forever!
• Make, and follow, a schedule
• Spend more quality time with my family
• Take better care of the dog...or cat

Do you have Monday resolutions that we can add to this list?

Point is, if these items have continually shown up on your "This Monday is the day" list, never conquering any of them, then there is a lack somewhere.
You truly WANT to change this pattern, but the resolve isn't there. You give in too quickly to outside pressures or lack the energy to get the job done.  (I am preaching to myself here.) 


The lack inside is a lack of DISCIPLINE. (Yikes...don't you hate that word? Just the sound of it is uncomfortable. I think I hate that word.)


But when we talk about winners, we aren't talking about the winners of Publishers Clearing House. (Of which I am one.  They just need to get better directions to my house.  "He guys, over here!")   
The winners we are talking about are the Olympic Medalists. They know what extreme discipline is all about!


We are talking about running the race, finishing the race and even making good time. We're talking about not quitting. We're talking about applying ourselves to the task till the job really gets done! How do we WIN in life? Use discipline. Self-discipline, to be more exact!

The Winner
Digitalart photo from freedigitalphotos.com

Ever heard the phrase "all talk--no action"?  Well, let's resolve today that that will not be us! We now are "ACTION HEROES".  That's us. If someone were to observe what we say or do and imitate us...they'd come out very-OK in this life.

So, find out what's the most important thing to you on your "winners list" and take it on with resolve.  A no-quit plan.  You may want to journal your results.  
When it comes to certain things like diets, budgets, and exercise plans keeping records can be very helpful. It keeps you focused. 

Read and listen to motivating material that keeps you on track. That may be a book or web articles related to your topic, or for many of us, spiritual material like the Bible.

Last week Joyce Meyer had two days of absolute wisdom on the topic of discipline that really lit my fire concerning turning some things around in my life. 
If you've never heard of Joyce...or perhaps you shy away from tv preachers...  well, I recommend giving her a try. I wrote an article about her incredible life. 

Joyce Meyer--The Woman and Her Words

Get familiar with how real she is and then go to her website to listen to her inspiration on self discipline and the doors it can open for you. I think you'll be glad. 

Joyce Meyer Books

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Appetizers - 5 Classic Recipes

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Celebrations, picnics and family gatherings -- every get together is so much better with delicious appetizers. Make enough of them, and you won't need a main dish!
Some of the easiest party snacks are dips. They fill out the table so nicely. But how about some yummy hot hors d'oeuvres, too? 


Here are five of the most popular, easy-to-make appetizers that everyone will love!

Grape Jelly Glazed Meatballs

Olive Tarts

Artichoke Heart Dip

Pigs in a Blanket

Crabmeat and Cheese Dip

Grape Jelly Glazed Meatballs
photo: Finger Food Recipes

Grape Jelly Glazed Meatballs

1 1/2 lb 90% ground beef

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 tsp. salt

1 large egg

1 cup chili sauce

1 cup grape jelly

Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, salt and egg. Mush together. Roll into 1/2 balls. Sautee in a large non-stick skillet until done. Drain juices off. Add chili sauce and grape jelly and simmer, gently turning on occasion, until the sauce turns into a glaze on the meatballs (about 15 minutes).  Makes 3 dozen.

OLIVE TARTS
Photo: S'kat and the Miscelania

Olive Tarts        
                                       

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika 

48 pimento stuffed Spanish olives

Combine cheese and butter; toss with the other ingredients --except for the olives--to make a dough. Using a teaspoon, scoop a little dough into your hand and flatten it. Place an olive in the center. Surround the olive with the dough and roll in your hand like a meatball.  
Place on a cookie sheet, very close together but not touching, and freeze them. Once frozen, either transfer them to a freezer bag or bake immediately on a cookie sheet, about an inch apart, at  400°  for 15 minutes.  Serve hot.   

ARTICHOKE HEART DIP
Photo: Maryland Meals

Artichoke Heart Dip

2 jars or cans of artichoke hearts (drained)

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup real mayonnaise

lemon juice

paprika

Mix and bake at 325° until bubbly. 
Serve with crackers.

Pigs in a Blanket
Photo: wickimedia.org

Pigs in a Blanket

32 cocktail hot dogs

 2 tubes Pillsbury® crescent rolls

Unroll crescent rolls. Cut each triangle in half. Roll one cocktail hot up in a triangle and place on a cookie sheet. Keep them 1 inch apart. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375° for 10-15 minutes. (Remove when lightly browned). Serve with ketchup, mustard or ranch dressing to dip in.

VELVEETA a Key Ingredient in Crabmeat and Cheese Dip
Photo: Tulsa Food

Crabmeat and Cheese Dip

2 lb. VELVEETA® cheese

1 lb. crab meat, chopped

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 dashes Tabasco sauce

2 sticks butter 

Combine Velveeta cheese, garlic powder, Tabasco and butter in a double boiler, microwavable bowl or crock pot. Heat until cheese and butter is melted. Stir. Gently add the boneless crab meat and blend. Serve hot with Melba toast or crackers.

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Home Improvement...a miracle in the making!

So...I almost thought this day would never come but, finally, after 20-something years my dream is coming true! I love pretty things but I've never been much for spending money on new things for my home, or on myself for that matter, if what I have is still in good shape. When we first bought our house it was really nice. 


That was 1984.  But, over time the house began to deteriorate... and everything else in our lives was in a similar sad condition. Finances, relationships...it all was one big barren place. My kids were my blessing...the lights of my life...but everything else was difficult and a faith-stand. To put it simply, nothing was right.

The house? For lack of finances or know-how, my solution to fix broken things was DUCT TAPE and glue! The tiles were falling off the walls in our master bathroom and I was literally taping them back up, through tears! I'd pray as I go, trying to stay thankful. After all, there were people who didn't own a  bathroom. I needed to keep my attitude in check.

But how do you clean a duct-taped bathroom? You really don't. I couldn't think of anything else to use to repair it, nor could I afford to have someone do it for me. 


Eventually, the siding on the house started to break and fall off, too. The lawn began to die. Things were getting serious around here. Embarrassingly serious.

Decaying Ceiling Over The Front Porch

Not to sound goofy or anything, but in the midst of all that God gave me a big promise.  He said that someday my land would "blossom like the Garden of Eden"* and that everyone who shook their heads saying "that place is really falling apart, why don't they DO something about it" would see the miraculous change and know it had to be God!  


Interesting thing, other people who didn't even know me and had never seen my house were telling me that He was saying the same thing, too. I knew it was true but why was it taking so long? Do you know how LONG I've waited for this?  Can't say for sure but I think it was 1990 when He first said it! Now it's 2012! It felt like an endless seige over those years.


I may never know why it took this long but all I can say is "it's here"!  My land is blossoming, step by step.  New siding, a new fence (I've always wanted one for my dogs), new enlarged kitchen, colorful new paint on my walls (they'd been an unimaginative white-ish forever), some new carpeting and even a sweet pastel yellow playroom for the little ones in my family. Room by room it is becoming new and pretty again!


Now, here's the interesting part...while miracles are in progress, chaos ensues!  That may not be a Biblical principal but it's just what I am experiencing. STRESS is HIGH!  Our house is all ripped up and we have no place to put anything. Soon we won't even have a kitchen while it is being updated. Fun, exciting and yucky --- all at the same time. As the miracle unfolds, though, I am ever soooo grateful.  


This is one of the reasons I've needed help with posts.  Time to write is hard to come by in the midst of this. 


Thanks to all who have written such great guest posts for me...still eagerly accepting new submissions: Help Wanted...Writers!


Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.  Thanks to all those in the military and their families who have sacrificed so much for our freedom!
Click: With love to our World War II Veterans


A couple more vivid "before" pictures:

Disgusting Downstairs Shower
This did get much better using a great enzyme product called Moldzyme but still...yuck!
The shower stall is so old and the faucets have been repaired so many times they are now beyond repair.
It needs to go!

Closeup of the Porch Ceiling.  
Bees loved it but they cannot live here anymore!

"Dogs in Dirt!"
Yes, this USED to be a beautiful flower garden, years ago, but time took its toll and now it's a mini-desert.
Our yellow labs still like it for napping but my sweeties lack discernment! :) Check out the front porch. All broken up. That, plus a dangerously out-of-alignment front sidewalk, demand attention as well.

So here is a pic of the beginning stages of transformation: 
My son-in-law, Steve, is an expert home builder. He is siding the house for us.
Clean, neat, pretty and NEW!
So, what miracle are YOU waiting for?
Let me encourage you, don't give up.

Much love,

Sinea from Ducks 'n a Row

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*"They will say, 'This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.' Ezekiel 36:35"

Couponing and Cooking...a great combination!

This week's spotlight is on a sweet little blog called Couponing & Cooking. Kaylee, it's creator, is passionate about saving money and making restaurant-quality meals, as well. 


Take a look at her latest post "Pesto Spaghetti Squash with Chicken and Honey Glazed Carrots".  I happen to love spaghetti squash but I've lacked imagination when it comes to creative cooking with it. Her recipe has flare! 

So, stop by Kaylee's blog and say "hello". 

Let her know that you found her on Ducks 'n a Row.

Today is Wonderful Wednesday and that means a Blog Hop!

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