Ring a Ding Ding

Well….it’s been 4 days now with no power, heat, or internet. We did finally get our phone back though after my brother suggested I go foraging in the basement. We get a lot of donations from people for our street ministry and so we never know what will be in a box or a bag. It can be anything from basic clothing, bedding or house wares all the way to kids toys, books and knick-knacks. So I decided to go to the basement and look through and see if I could find an old school , plug in wall phone that we could use until we get power back. Sure enough, there was one down there. It wasn’t exactly the kind I was expecting to find though.  I thought maybe I would find a simple off-white or black plug in, or maybe even a cool retro rotary phone. Ohhhhhhh no…..no, not this one.  This is the Babij household after-all….and we thrive on the unique. So what does our temporary home phone look like? Well, let me describe it to you. It is a basic plug in hand held black phone…(so far so good right?)…that has been covered with fuzzy fake zebra fur….and then to add a level of class and sophistication…..trimmed out with a band of pale powder blue marabou feathers.  **What the….??????** Yep….that’s what I said…..fake zebra fur and feathers. The first thing out of Ben’s mouth when he saw it was, “Where ON EARTH did THAT come from???”

“I have no idea….I found it in the basement..”

“…in OUR basement???”   (Who’s basement did he think I had rummaged through?)

“Yep, somebody donated it…”

“It’s HIDEOUS!!!”

“Yes it is….”

“Who would DONATE that??”

“I have no idea…hopefully somebody with little kids…”

“I don’t want that thing….”

“We aren’t keeping it dear….we’re only going to use it until we get power back…”

“Good, cuz that thing’s ugly!”

The really sad part is that the price tag is still stuck n the bottom of the phone. Would you like to know how much the original owner actually PAID for this piece of hideous electronica? A shocking $39.99! That’s right; somebody felt that 40 bucks was not too high a price to pay for this tack-a-licious fashion statement!! I thought I had experienced buyers remorse before….but I can just picture the donor now…. “WHAT was I thinking…WHY did I pay so much for THIS …THIS……THING ?!?!??!?! I know, I’ll donate it to charity…that way nobody will ever have to know it came from me!!!” Sooooo…………..In the 21^st century, an era filled with amazing technology that allows people from one continent to communicate to people on another continent in real time and actually see them talking, our verbal communication to the outside world has temporarily been reduced to the abilities of….not a HOME phone, but…..a “Ho Phone”. 

Life is good!

Dogs Can't Spell

Well.....it has been an interesting past few days and nights to say the least. Connecticut got slammed by storm Alfred this past Saturday and from the last report I heard over 750,000 state residents have no power. When we woke up Sunday morning and looked into our normally beautiful backyard with pine trees, fruit trees and a dogwood tree...it looked like a tornado had come through. Thank God though nothing hit our house and no power lines were ripped off of our house. The truly sad thing is that by comparison this was not a bad storm at all. We've had horrible storms before that dumped several feet of snow...and not had damage like this. The reason this has caused so much destruction is that most of our trees were still at peak color meaning they still had leaves...and lots of them. So instead of falling through bare branches to the cold ground below...the snow loaded up the leaves and just decimated the trees. We went for a drive yesterday afternoon to see the damage in our city and it is just unbelievable...power lines down everywhere, trees down everywhere, roads closed, businesses closed, 30 car, or more, lines at open gas stations...until they ran out of gas like a few have. Then people are just parking their cars in the gas stations and waiting for the next delivery truck to arrive so they don't lose their place in line. Without being facetious, I have a small inkling now of what a refugee must feel like. Wow...what an eye opener this has been....it reminded me of tornado damage growing up in Alabama.
Soooo.....the Pollyana moment perspective? Come on.....you long time readers know it's coming...here it is. We have been blessed by helping our neighbors to restore heat, and other necessities. Friends who needed help with generators, animal care etc....even car care....we've been able to help Then at night, when the darkness and silence are overwhelming....it's amazing how much better we can hear from God when we tune out the world....or when it's tuned out for us. For the moment we are at a friend's house and I am amazed at how thankful I am for God's provision. I'm sitting at a friend's computer overlooking a gorgeous lake with snow,sun and wind and blue sky...sure I'll be back in power loss in less than an hour or so, but you know what....praise God even in the midst of adversity!

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I will be joyful in God my savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Anyway, so we back to no power, no phones and no internet. Just me, Ben and the two dogs playing scrabble by candlelight. LOL....the dogs have really crummy grammar by the way! Everything is spelled T-R-E-A-T .


Joy all All Ways,
Fran

AMH Cooks: Alabama Fire Crackers

Sooooooo being raised down South I tend to get homesick every once in a while...especially at this time of year because it's SEC time. Which, for those of you that don't know....that means college football. That is a really big deal in Alabama and the other parts of the south too, but of course I'm biased to my home state and my home football team of Auburn. When I feel homesick I tend to think about anything that reminds me of back home. Of course some would say, "Well you aren't Southern anymore anyway...you've lived in Connecticut longer than you lived in Alabama." Well...it's true I have lived in Connecticut for 22 years now and only in Alabama for the first 14 years of my life...but what non-Southerners don't know and can't ever really understand is that being Southern isn't just an address....it's part of our DNA. It never leaves us....we are a part of that land as much as the red clay that forms it. Of course I love my New England home too (minus the politics) and all of my friends and family here, but my antebellum roots are always there and I want to share as much of them with you as I can. Now I have all kinds of Southern recipes from my family and from my time down there,.....but  this is not one of them....LOL. This recipe I actually found a little over a year ago and was initially drawn to it because it's named after Alabama. HOWEVER, once you try these simple little crackers you may never want to go without them again. They are AMAZING!  So, enjoy and let me know what you think. They are a great game time snack that is super easy and super inexpensive to make. I also included some alternative uses for them at the bottom.                         Alabama Fire Crackers

Ingredients:

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 (1 ounce) envelopes ranch dressing mix

1 (1 ounce) envelopes Italian dressing mix

3 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes

1 (16.5 ounce) box Nabisco unsalted saltine crackers

 Directions:

Whisk all ingredients (EXCEPT THE CRACKERS) together until thoroughly mixed then pour into a 2-gallon plastic zipper bag. Place the crackers into the bag, seal, and gently turn the bag over to cover all the crackers with the spice mix. Let the bag sit for about 1 hour, then gently turn again. Repeat several more times until the crackers are well-coated with spice mix, then allow the bag to sit overnight. In the morning, remove crackers and serve. *Note: If you feel they are a bit too oily for your taste then you can spread them onto a cookie sheet and let them dry in a 200 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes.

They are great for snacking on by themselves or along with soups, chili, salad, even tuna and chicken salad. If you can't or don't want to use them all as crackers to munch on you can also crush them and use them for breading on pork chops, chicken or fish.You can use them like you would regular crackers in meatloaf or meatballs. You can also use them to make a crust for a meat pie or for add ins to casseroles like broccoli casserole. The possibilities are endless really because you can also use different kinds of crackers. Try it with Wheat Thins, Triscuits, Goldfish, Oyster crackers....Club crackers or Ritz...get creative!