Fishing on the Savage Farm

Tonight I got the pleasure of eating dinner with my parents. My mama had went "fishing" earlier in the day for these lovely creatures and she was willing to share the "catch". This is one meal I would never turn down! I remember going "fishing" with my Pa Ralph on the family farm to "catch" these in the Spring time. Sometimes you would have a great day while other times you would come up empty handed.

These are morels but are more commonly known as "dryland" fish in the South. They are yummy mushrooms that are found in the springtime in the woods near fallen trees or old tree stumps and very moist dirt. They cost upwards of $200 per pound and are used in some of the finest restaurants around the world, but they can be found for free in the woods if you go "fishing".

Mama cooked up these little "dryland" fish for dinner tonight by battering them in cornmeal and then she deep fried them until they were golden brown. Needless to say these are not diet friendly, but yes I had to eat my annual dose of them.

  

Needless to say this Savage Girl is very satisfied tonight after having dinner with her parents!

My kind of "fishing" for "dryland" fish is "catching" them in the store! I like to give my "catch" as gifts. Mama got a box of "dryland" fish for Christmas this year. I caught them on a visit to Columbus, Ohio while at the NEAFCS National Meeting. I think the Savage Mama was happy with her gift, don't you think?    

Good Deals

I love a good deal and I also I love being able to stretch my money as far as it can go. Please understand that I purchase whatever I need or want as long as I stay within my monthly spending plan. I am fortunate to be able to do this because I do not have a lot of debt and I want to keep it that way. I try to purchase items second hand if possible or discounted. Now this is not always the case, and yes, I make exceptions to the rule sometimes!  

My new wardrobe...

I like to use the mantra of “buy used if you can...if the quality is great”. Recently my mom and I took a trip shopping to Lebanon, Tennessee. We visited a few local thrift stores because I was in need of a new Spring and Summer wardrobe. Losing weight has a few advantages! Both stores where we visited were half price because it was a special savings day, so we got lucky and got to save even more money! I found some great pieces to add to my closet! $64.39 got me 3 skirts, 3 dresses, 1 suit, 1 shorts, 2 pants, 16 shirts and 6 capri pants. If you did not count already that is 32 items! All of the items were either lightly or never used and all were name brand and fit nicely.

I also like to purchase items on clearance, with a coupon, or discounted. Yesterday, I went shopping at a local closeout store during lunch called “Kentucky Closeouts” and I got a deal! I have had my eye on a Keurig coffee maker for some time now, but I have refused to pay the high price. I knew eventually they would end up on clearance somewhere or in a yard sale, but yesterday I got lucky and found one in town! So for $25 I got a Cuisinart Single-Serve Coffee Maker which retails for $150 to $250.00. I think I got a great deal! I took a gamble because the store does not accept returns but I thought the benefit would be great if it worked because it would help support my morning coffee habit. I love that the coffee maker come with a reusable “K-cup” already. If you do not know about the Keurig coffee makers, a reusable “K-cup” is a feature that allows you to use your own coffee grounds instead of having to purchase the “K-cups” in the store.

The new addition to my kitchen...my Keurig coffee maker.
FYI I could not live without my Kitchen Aid Mixer!

With all my great deals and purchases aside here are some helpful tips & tricks and inspiration that I try to stick with when shopping:

• "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10).
• Avoid places where you will be tempted to purchase items that you necessarily do not need “now”.
• For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. (I Timothy 6:10)  
• Avoid going to the store period. I know I will be tempted to purchase items unnecessarily if I make multiple trips within one week, so I try to limit my trips to the store to about once a week.
• Try to have a plan before going to the store and try to stick to your list.
• Use money to help provide for your family. According to 1 Timothy 5:8 "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
• Before making a large purchase, ask yourself “Is this the best use of my money?

Good luck getting good deals on your next shopping trip! 

Spring Cleaning

Have you done any "Spring Cleaning" lately? The past few weeks I have been trying to do a few projects around the house to prepare for company that is coming to my house this week. I try to keep my house neat and relatively picked up most of the time. Sometimes I get busy and things don't always get put up instantly when I am finished using them, but for the most part my house is usually "company ready". But I still like to clean a little deeper if I know I lot of people are going to be in my house for some strange reason. I know call me crazy! I also know keeping a clean and tidy house will not get me to heaven any faster...and I hope that a cluttered office at work doesn't keep me from heaven! So after tonight I am ready inside and outside of my home for my company since I just finished my "Spring Cleaning" projects. Here are a few of my favorite rooms in my home. 

I love my kitchen! I love cooking and baking in here,
but this single girl doesn't get in here nearly enough
since cooking for 1 is crazy. Yes, I eat a big majority
of my meals at home but they aren't all "home-cooked".  

The other 1/2 of the kitchen. No matter how much company
I have over we always end up in the kitchen! I am thinking my
salt and pepper collect has outgrown their shadow boxes.
Don't you think?!?! 

After a long day nothing is better than this bed...
Can you tell it's special? I love it!
(It's been in my family I'm guessing  over 50 years.)

I addition to the "Spring Cleaning" at my house I have also been doing another type of "Spring Cleaning". I have been attending and participating in a ladies bible study over the course of the past several years. In the last few months we have been cleaning house together! We just completed studying the book "Spiritual Spring Cleaning" by Debbie Schmid. This book helped me realize that just like our houses need a little "Spring Cleaning" so do our lives. We must all go through a spiritual cleaning periodically in order to be truthful to ourselves and live up to our fullest potential as Christian ladies and gentlemen.God laid out a perfect cleaning manual for everyone in the Bible. We must study the scriptures in order to find His plan of salvation. 

This year I have been challenging myself to dig deeper into the scriptures and focus more on my spiritual life. My goal is to get to heaven one day and take others with me. I am not perfect and God knows that. That is why His forgiveness and His grace is so important. His grace saves us through faith if we have belief and obedience. If we confess our sins and repent we are forgiven, but He told us that not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter heaven. We have an easy plan to follow...God's plan is:  

1. You must hear the message (Romans 10:17). 
2. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to Earth to shed His blood, so our sins could be washed away (John 8:24).
3. You must repent of your sin. (Luke 13:3).
4. You must be willing to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Matthew 10:32-33).
5. You must be baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38)
6. And you must remain faithful and obedient until the end of your life (Revelation  2:10). 

We all will have to give an account for our lives to God on judgement day according to Romans 14:12. If we want His love, His grace, His forgiveness, and His gift of the Holy Spirit then we all have to obey His Plan of salvation in order to have an eternal home in heaven. If you're not a Christian and have got questions let me know and maybe I can help you before it is too late. I might not know the answer instantly, but I sure know a good book we can use as a reference plus I'm sure we can always use a life line by praying to God and/or calling & seeking out the advice of another Christian! 

Showing Kindness = Sweet Success

Occasionally I like to brighten someone’s day and show a little kindness. This morning I had the idea to bake lemon bars before church and then take some to a Christian shut-in sister. She loves sweets and I knew this would brighten her day, so I took a few extra minutes this morning to bake this recipe and this afternoon I made a visit. Needless to say she was surprised and excited about what I brought her. Yes, I bake yummy things even though I am trying to watch my figure and be healthier. The key is moderation and portion control. I didn't want the other half of the recipe to go to waste and I knew that if they stuck around at my house very long I would overindulge, so I took some to my parents this afternoon and some to our ladies bible study tonight before church. Needless to say the recipe made a bunch of lemon bars and I still had some left after distributing them to my peeps, so I shared the wealth to other friends at church who were not in bible class. I am happy to report that they are all gone now and the smiles and giggles I got from the 2 year old and the 97 year old today were priceless. I call this a sweet success! I know I can count on Samuel and Ella Mae to help me eat the sweets I crave when I get in a baking mood again. 

Being nice and showing kindness is when we are good to others, display a pleasant happy disposition, show concern and compassion, and are considerate to others besides ourselves. The Bible teaches us as Christians that we must be kind. Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” According to Proverbs 11:17 if we are kind we will reap the benefits personally, but if we are cruel then we only bring on ruin to ourselves. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” Colossians 3:12.

I challenge you this month (or every month) to make a point to show kindness and be nice to someone “just because”. Let someone know you appreciate them and care about them. You could also encourage someone or thank them. Send them a card, bake something like I did, or take them something “just because” to let them know you think they are special. Get creative and involve others around you. It took me 10 minutes to prepare the recipe, it baked for 40 minutes while I got ready for church, and I spent 30 minutes delivering it. This was time well spent in my opinion because I got to brighten someone’s day. What are you going to do to show kindness this month? 

That's The Way We've Always Done It.

What is the deal with people who are stuck in a rut and do not know how to get out of it? Just because it has been done a certain way in the past does not mean that is the correct way that it should be done now. I am tired of people saying "that's the way we've always done it". Things change and people change. We need to keep moving forward instead of moving forward then taking two steps backward. Sometimes things are better if they are changed and adapted. I understand this cannot happen overnight, but we need to be open, honest, and stop having back door meetings that are closed just to keep the status quo because that is how it always has been before. I know I am young and sometimes can be naïve. I know I have much to learn. But sometimes not knowing the whole history and background behind something is a good thing!

A wise mentor gave me the button that is pictured here when I got my job in Kentucky. She told me that I would come upon some challenges in my new job, but that I needed to tell people not to expect what has always been done before. Change is good and is inevitable sometimes, so you best make the changes and decisions yourself based on what you want or think is best for the situation. If you do what has always been done in the past and continue the cycle then you will have a huge mess evidentially to cleanup if the cycle is ever broken. The repair mess will be harder to cleanup than the actual planning and development of the initial change itself.
 
This summer I have been given the opportunity to learn more about leadership through an organization I am a part of called AAFCS. I have been selected for a "Leadership Academy" to help mold and train me on “leading yourself and leading others” into the future. This is an elite group of professionals like me and someone saw potential in all of us, so they selected us to be on the team. I took several leadership courses when I got my master’s degree and I have attended numerous in-services on the topic, but I am no expert and never desire to be one on the subject.  I am a lifelong learner who loves continuing my education. I am excited about this opportunity and I am sure you will hear me blog more about this after I get to experience the academy first hand. I am hoping that I will have a new wealth of knowledge to bring back to my community and the groups I work with.   

However, until then here on my thoughts and reflections on teams and leadership.

• Teams work together based on coordination, collaboration, and cooperation under a leader with a little help of delegation.
• I believe that communication is the key to making things happen when you work with teams.
• A good basic definition of leadership is to influence others toward a shared goal.
• Good leaders delegate and trust in the work of their teammates.
• To delegate means to entrust to another.
• We must have trust, which is basically faith, reliance and confidence in others instead of thinking the worst possible scenario. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is having the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
• As individuals, we cannot do it all and that is the beauty of teamwork and why it was created in the first place!
• Keep in mind that there is no “I” in team.
• We are all to have trust in the Lord and do good (Psalm 37:3). So, if we put our sight on the Lord, turn things over to him, and do good through our works then I am pretty sure that he will help fill in the gaps where there are deficiencies…but we need to have faith.
• In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus teaches us to watch out for false prophets though.  “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” As leaders we need to see the good in people and have faith they will help bear the good fruit to help the team reach the common goal. If as leaders we only think our team will bring in bad fruit, then they will bring in bad fruit because we never gave them a chance to reap a good harvest.
• Rome was not built in a day!
• Whenever our leadership roles and teamwork become overwhelming we need to tell ourselves "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13.
• In the end we all need to live by this rule of thumb, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize" Philippians 4:13 because ultimately we should be seeking to be heaven bound. 

Needless to say sometimes I get discouraged when I hear things like "That's the way we've always done it", "That's just how it is here and you'll just have to excuse us" or "I know you don't understand all the ins and outs here, but...". To me these all just sound like excuses for why people do not want to make simple changes that might start to change lives and help improve the quality of lives of people. Yes, I know I've used those lines before and I will be the first to admit it that I am as guilty as anyone else. I am trying too hold to those above thoughts that I have learned from bible studies, college classes, in-services and trainings. I am trying to put those thoughts into practice in my life with the groups and teams I work with. There comes a time when we all need to say enough is enough. When enough people band together and say enough is enough and become one then maybe others will take notice and join the team. 

Life is not always rosy, happy, and sweet like everyone wants you to believe it is. Have you ever noticed on Facebook that people usually only report the happy smiling memories? Sometimes life is real. Sometimes it involves change and making the first move. Other times it involves setting back and doing your own thing while allowing others to do their own thing and hope they realize something needs to be done. We need to have faith that those individuals will see there needs to be change and they need to initiate it. But we need to be the example and maybe one day they will want assistance when they realize they need help. You cannot make people change, they have to want it for themselves. You can lead by your example, encourage, and join a team of like minded people. But the most important thing to do is keep the faith and maybe one day true leadership and teamwork might be in the vocabulary of those around you.