Favorite Finds Friday

Here are my picks for Favorite Finds Friday. I hope you all have a wonderful Good Friday and enjoy your Easter weekend!

Beautiful Quote
 

This quote is just amazing because this is so me! I love listening to people talk about what they love. Even if I don't like or know about it, it it's so great to learn from them and share with them the passion they have for it.

 

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Places I've Been
 

This is a picture of Mount Vernon, George Washington's home along the Potomac River. This was probably my favorite place that we went to when we went to Washington DC. Mostly because it was so rich in not only American history but agriculture history.

 

 Via
 

I've Got to Have it

 

I LOVE OLD THINGS!! This is something that you should know about me. But more importantly I love antiques including furniture. This piece is beautiful. This past weekend I went to an auction that had a bunch of old furniture and it really made me wish I a. had my own house and b. had tons of extra cash! Someday my house will be full of this sort of stuff!

 

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Beautiful Car
 

 I will have a VW van when I'm older!! They are just the coolest things in the world! I'm not sure what color yet but I'm thinking either purple or lime green!
 



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Some Nursing/Medical Humor

 

For anyone who isn't in the medical field HIPPA is basically a privacy thing and about how you can't discuss anything you see or know about a patient in a hospital or nursing home.

 

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Things You Should Know

 

Thought this was kind of cool!

 

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Tattoo I'd Get

 

I don't have any tattoos but I would like to get at least one or two. I would love to have a cross somewhere and I thought this was kind of unique.

 

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Something on my Bucket List

 

I have always thought it would be cool to know how they flip the bottles and the knowledge of what alcohols to mix to make a good drink.

 

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Something Funny

 

If you don't like Duck Dynasty I don't know if we can be friends!! It is one of the best shows running. They are good people of faith and family and so hilarious. Of course Si is my favorite. If you don't watch Duck Dynasty now you better start! It's on Wednesdays on A&E.

 

 via

 

A time to be honest.

The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs and in her post that day she talked about how she considers her fellow bloggers friends. I got to thinking about that and realized that I too see several of you as friends. We have never met each other and may never meet each other in person but we share tidbits of our lives with each other and share a special bond over the world wide web that I think is really neat. But today as I sit hear typing this post I feel that I have let you all down. Most of my posts are just about happy things going on in my life and really only the things that I felt comfortable sharing with you. It makes me a little mad because when I started this blog I wanted it to be a place to express how I honestly felt and a way for me to kind of vent and just type what I feel. So today I'm going to share with you something that is way out of my comfort zone. I don't know if you all will care but I really need to share it somehow and I hope that I will be able to in the future share more personal stuff with you all. Now I'm not going to become some Debbie downer and post only negative depressing stuff but once in a while on a bad day I may need to vent and I truly feel comfortable sharing with you. I don't know what you all have going on in your lives but if this helps in some way I am glad it did.

So if I haven't mentioned it before I work in a nursing home during the night shift. During this time we don't have very much interaction with the residents but there are a few who are awake when we are there and some that we really have the chance to connect with. I know a lot of people have a hard time connecting with older people but to me I seem to connect  and enjoy working with 2 age groups really little kids and the elderly. I have had many interesting conversations with some of the residents and when you see them almost everyday and hold their care in your hands you really grow attached to them and look forward to seeing them each day. This becomes extremely hard if they become sick and become to the point where they are close to the end of their lives. You want them to stay the same happy, joking, beautiful people that you love to see every day but that doesn't happen. A lot of them don't get better. That is why they are in our facility because they need a comfortable place as their health declines.

In our CNA classes they have a section on dealing with death and how it's ok to cry, how it's ok to feel sad. You don't really grasp that until you actually experience your first death. I have been working at this nursing home for almost 10 months now and as of today I have had 3 deaths on my shift since I've been there. Today though has been by far the hardest one. The woman who passed today was someone who I looked forward to seeing each day. She was one of the kindest, funniest, most caring women I have ever met and It sucks knowing I will never get to talk to her again. The even harder part is that I was the one who was sitting with her holding her hand when she passed. She had had several health issues during her life and we knew her time was coming so we each sat in with her to make sure she was comfortable. As I was sitting with her I shot up a prayer to God asking Him to take care of her for us and to make sure she was happy. It was an unreal experience because right after I was done praying I looked up and saw a single tear running down her face and then she let out her last breath. At that point she was no longer in pain and in peace and going to be one of the best angels up in heaven looking after all of us girls at the nursing home.

I chose this line of work I know that this will not be my last death and that I will have hard days but I know that at whatever cost I will do my best at loving my job and showing the greatest amount of compassion towards each person I meet. You don't know what kind of battle they are facing or what kind of blessings they can offer you by being in your life. I feel that this is my true calling in life and that God has given me a big enough heart to care for as many people as I come in contact with. I hope everyone else I meet treats me and everyone else they meet with that same amount of compassion. I hope you realize how hard this was for me to post and I hope this will be the beginning of a new more honest me.

http://breakfastatyurmans.tumblr.com/post/29172952684 



Worlds Best Pecan Pie

 

I have had many pecan pies in my life and by far this is the best one. The crust is so flakey and has a little bit of saltiness that compliments the sweetness of the filling. I almost didn't want to share it with you because it feels like a family secret. But hey you all are so great and I wanted to be nice.

 

This is a unique recipe that combines 2 different recipes from 2 different cookbooks. One cookbook for the crust and one for the pie filling. But together they make the best pie in the world!!

 

Recipe for Pie Filling

Recipe for Crust

The bottom cookbook is a cookbook of my mom's from my her hometown when they had their 125th anniversary in 1976. The cool thing was that they reprinted that same cookbook and my sister, cousin and I all got one for Christmas this year. There are several recipes in it that are from some of our family members which is really neat.

 

Don't be afraid of this recipe it is really easy to make and other than baking doesn't take to much time. I hope you try it out.

 

 

Crust: From Mrs. Harold Brooks

 

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 tablespoons milk (more if your crust seems a little dry but ONLY IF NECESSARY)

 

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a 9 inch pie pan, mix with fork.

 

 

Beat oil and milk together with a fork in a separate bowl. Mix into flour mixture until evenly dampened.

 

 

Press with fingers in even layer over bottom, sides so that it sticks up about 1/4 of an inch above rim.

It will start looking like this but keep working it and squishing it with your fingers.

 



 

Now you flute the edges. Basically taking 2 your fingers your pointer and thumb and make a little triangle and push with your other pointer finger to make a triangle. You can go around once and do it loosely and then go back and make them prettier.

 

(thank you mom for being a hand model :))

 





 

 

The Filling:

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white corn syrup

3 eggs

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tablespoon flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 cup pecans (mostly halves so they look pretty on pie but you can have some chopped for inside pie)

 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Add syrup and whip until light and fluffy.

 

 

In another bowl beat eggs and salt together. Add to mixture along with flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix well and I mean very well like 3-4 min on high speed.

 

 

Mix in 1/2 cup of pecans (this is where you can use the chopped nuts) into the mixture that way you have some nuts mixed throughout the pie and not just on top. Then pour into pie crust.

 

 

Place pecan halves, rounded part facing upwards, all over the top of pie.

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes. Top will be golden brown and not jiggley (like my word) when you move it around.

 

 

 

Enjoy!!!







Favorite Finds Friday!

As you will see in other posts I love Pinterest!!! I have close to 5,000 pins including recipes, cool pictures, inspiring people, quotes etc. I saw on another bloggers blog (Ashley from Horseshoes & Pearls -go Check her page out!) that she does a weekly post on what she finds on Pinterest. So I thought I would do something similar to that of some of my favorite pins that I've already pinned and some new finds. If you don't follow me on Pinterest you should and you can do that Here!

 

Here are this weeks Pins! Please let me know with a comment if you like this idea or not!

 

Something to Eat

 

This looks really tasty and pretty easy!

Pesto Chicken

Photo Credit/ Recipe: http://www.recipebyphoto.com/pesto-cheese-stuffed-chicken/ 

A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

 

I thought this picture was truly amazing!!

Photo Credit: National Geographic

 

I've Got to Have It!

 

I love to cook and I will try and have the craziest color of Kitchen Aid mixer I can possibly find!!!

Photo Credit: Kitchen Aid

 

Inspiring People

 

Lately I have been in LOVE with Patti Page's music! I made a station just of her on Pandora and now have really enjoyed listening to her and Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. I know I never thought I would say that but their music is really amazing! 

 

Photo Credit: Patti Page

 

Here is my favorite song of hers The Tennessee Waltz Please Listen!

Video From :You Tube

 

Something Funny

I just love this and hope you do to!

 

 

Places to Go

Someday I will go or maybe live in Alaska it will happen! Something about that state just calls my name. The beauty and wilderness is just so amazing to me.

 

Photo Credit: Alaska In Pictures

 

If you enjoyed this Let me know! I want to post things that people enjoy reading!!

My Trip to Illinois

Photo Credit www.dadant.com

Early Friday morning my dad and I drove 4 hours to the northeastern part of Missouri and western Illinois. A bee supply company by the name of Dadant, headquarters located in Hamilton, Illinois, celebrated their 150th anniversary and had tours of their facilities and a dinner and several guest speakers. Friday morning on the way to Hamilton we stopped in the little town of Kahoka, Missouri to tour their candle making facility. I was ready to take thousands of pictures to share with you all but of course they wouldn't allow pictures :( It was amazing to see how they make their candles. Most of their candles are either 100% bees wax or 51% bees wax. They make candles of all shapes  and sizes. Some of the coolest candles are these twisted candles that the workers make by hand every single one of them!! They also make religious candles some up to around 3 feet tall that cost from 300-600 dollars a piece.

The Spiral candles they hand twist!
Photo Credit www.dadantcandles.com

After we went to the candle factory we went on to the main facility in Hamilton Illinois to tour it. Again no pictures. At this company almost all of their equipment is made by them personally. From suits, to hive bodies, to metal equipment it is all made by them which is really cool how much pride they take in producing a good quality product. At this facility they put together the wooden ware products, bee suits, wax foundation, and they publish the American Bee Journal a national beekeeping publication. One of the coolest things in the building that they showed us was this room full of books related to beekeeping. They had one of the largest collections in the world.

Along with the tours they had several guest speakers who talked about a variety of subjects including selling your honey at farmers markets, verroa mites, queen rearing and making nucs, honey bee health, and why the drone bee is important. Some were more interesting than others but they were presented by some of the best beekeepers in the country so you knew what they said was important.

Along with the beekeeping stuff we thought we would take in some of the local history of the towns we were near. The town of Carthage Illinois was where our hotel was. Some interesting things that happened in Carthage were that Abraham Lincoln when he was still a lawyer made a speech in Carthage. Also Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints Movement, was killed at the jail in Carthage. We got to tour a museum with stuff from their local history and we got to tour the Jail that Joseph Smith stayed in and was killed in.

This was the actual door frame that Abraham Lincoln Stood in front of while giving that speech. It was taken from the house and put into the museum.

Here Are some of the pictures I took:

 

The Museum





Some Medical Equipment

 

This was the embalming display

This is an old can of honey kind of cool since we were there for a beekeeping thing

 

A display Kitchen

 

A replica of Lincolns Tomb

 

The Prison

A little background information on who Joseph Smith is an why he was sent to the prison and then later killed. When Joseph was around 18 years old he was visited by an angel who told him of some ancient records dealing with the former inhabitants of the American Continent. He found those records and then began translating those words and writing what is called the Book of Mormon. A few years later he organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He then spent the rest of his life preaching this new form of religion to people all across the country. But along the way he and his people kept getting drove out of states such as Missouri and Ohio. But then the State of Illinois took them in. There were still people (non-Mormons)  who disagreed with what he was preaching and then imprisoned him and his brother Hyrum. While they were there they were both shot and killed.

 

http://www.pbs.org/americanprophet/joseph-smith.html

 

This is the Jail Joseph smith was killed in

 

Jailors quarters

 

The original door from the "minimum Security room"

 

 The "Maximum Security Cell"

 

Some shackles they would have used

There were 2 of these tiny windows in the Maximum Security cell so the room was really dark

The door to the Cell

 

The Rock walls that were about 3 feet Thick

The Timbers for the celling that were extremely sturdy  

 

This is is the Jailors Bedroom. They held the prisoners in this room the night they were killed because they thought it would be safer for them rather than the other Cell.

 

When the angry people who came to kill the prisoners they first shot the lock off the door to try and get in.

 

They then shot through the door hitting Josephs brother Hyrum Smith in the Head and killing him instantly

 

The window in the bedroom that after being shot multiple times Joseph Smith jumped through and died instantly. It is on the second floor.

 

The outside view of the window he jumped from (the top one)