Meat Buns - Bento or Mennonite, these are awesome.

In nearly all of the anime shows our family watches, bento lunches are a huge part of the interaction between characters. One of the most intriguing foods to me (besides yakisoba sandwiches, which I have yet to try) were the meat buns - so I went ahead and made them for dinner last night! Granted, the recipe was from a Mennonite blog and the "real" name for them is "Meat Perishky", but still.

These are from the original blogger's page, but mine really did turn out like this!

I used the dough recipe from the site and BBQ pulled pork for the filling, and out of the 5 dozen or so buns the recipe made, there were maybe a dozen and a half left this morning! ALL of the kids - and my husband - loved them, which is essentially unheard of. Most of us had them for breakfast this morning as well, and took them in our lunches, too - which is kind of the point, right?  :)  A bit time-consuming but VERY easy to do, and we are looking forward to experimenting with fillings (think homemade Hot Pockets). Even better - they freeze beautifully!

You can find the recipe at http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2008/06/meat-buns.html.

Random Acts of Kindness

... There's a fellow I pass on the way in to work every morning, between the bus depot and my office. He's a scrappy little guy named Roy who works the graveyard shift somewhere in Woodburn, a town about 20 minutes away from here, and we know each other only in passing - a smile, a "Good morning!". I often see him carrying two coffees that he picks up at McDonald's as he is walking in to the downtown bus depot from the commuter bus dropoff - one for himself, and one for the bus driver.

This morning, he stopped and handed me this, simply saying, "I got this for you today," with a smile. No reason. Just knew he'd see me, and picked up a little something extra. I gave him a hug in return.  :)

... It is amazing how just that one little gesture made such a huge impact on my world. It only cost him $1 and a few moments of his time, but who does that sort of thing any more?? And why don't people do it more often?!?

My day was going fine before that, just following my normal routines, feeling a little blah - but just that one tiny thing made me stop completely in my tracks and re-evaluate a few things. Like, why don't I do things like that? Is it really such a hassle for me to stop and think of the people in my world - and do just a tiny little something to brighten up their day?

Thank you, Roy, for reminding me of what's really important - and how the smallest of gestures can make such a huge impact on another person's world.

A day of summer

<p>This has been "The Summer That Wasn't" here in Oregon; 60 degrees seems to be an average high! In addition, we have been spending every waking moment unpacking and putting our new house together. It is beyond wonderful, but a lot of work! </p>
<p>So, upon leaving an absolutely crazy day at work, I step outside to a beautifully warm and sunny day, flowers everywhere, and dragonflies and butterflies zipping and fluttering around. It felt like summer for a day. :-)

I hope that whatever craziness or gloom may currently exist in your world, you are able to pause for a few moments and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you - this is truly am incredible world that we are part of.

Mitakuye oyasin!

My apologies for the recent absence!

Life in my corner has been a bit on the crazy side! Jeffrey has been dealing with a kidney stone (that is refusing to cooperate), kids are being shuttled to and fro for summer activities, and we are packing and preparing to move to our new home in a couple of weeks!

So, while I would like to give you a whole lot more content than I have been, here's a quick sampling of what I have coming down the pipeline over the next couple months:

• Natural treatments for high blood pressure and diabetes
• Social media marketing strategy and tools
• Permaculture design for suburban homes

... And in the meantime, please enjoy some free ebooks and beautiful desktop wallpapers! New wallpapers are being added weekly, so check back often for more of Jeffrey's amazing photography. ;)

Finally Spring!

Here in the lovely Pacific Northwest, spring has been slow to give us any sunshine. While we are beginning to see a glimpse here and there, what we DO get lots of are flowers. Here are a couple I spotted on my way to work this morning; may they add a little color to your day, no matter how grey! :)

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"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Awakening

"Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event, is hosted by Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this event is to get bloggers to spotlight and share the books they are anticipating on being released.

This week's eagerly anticpated novel is:

The Awakening
by Jeffrey Pierce
Release date: Friday, May 13th

From the author's website:

What if everything you thought you knew was wrong?

We're taught in Sunday School that angels are benevolent beings who watch over us, who love and protect us at every turn. Yet the Revelation of John from the Christian Bible states that it is the angels who will pour out God's wrath on humanity, murdering billions of people. If you were an angel and truly loved those you watched over, could you destroy them, even if God commanded you to? 

And if you couldn't, who would God send to do the job in your place? 

Suspenseful, thrilling, and controversial, in The Awakening we find a world where nothing is quite what it seems, where the truth of spiritual reality has been distorted by millennia of folktales and mythology. While angels exist, they aren't what we believe them to be. They are the Old Ones, living among us from the time they were sent here, over 2,000 years ago, with a dark mission they chose to reject. Having fallen in love with mankind, some of the Old Ones work behind the scenes, teaching our great spiritual leaders while other immortals have entered into relationships with humankind, their angelic blood mingling with our own, manifesting in gifts widely considered to be psychic abilities and prophetic dreams. 

Seamlessly weaving Hopi, Mayan and Christian prophesies with current events and the theories of quantum physics, The Awakening is a novel of the ending of a reality, of the reclaiming of a dimension that we call home. Told from a perspective beyond the filter of mythology, the beginning of the end is shown from a non-religious perspective while embracing the spiritual origins of our own existence.

 ... The first three chapters of The Awakening are available free on Jeffrey Pierce's website, and signed copies are available, as well. I can't wait!!

K is for Kanban

I have organizational challenges. This is no great surprise to anyone who has spent any amount of time with me. I also love gadgets and systems and things, and am forever trying out the new latest and greatest way to keep my life (brain, house, what have you) in order.

The latest nifty tool I've stumbled upon is so simple it almost seems silly. I've been playing with it four a couple weeks now, and am really enjoying my personal Kanban board! What is "Kanban", you ask? Well, from the Personal Kanban website, "A kanban is a tool to visualize, organize, and complete work." Todd Clarke at GetLit (an IT blog) offers his usage of the board, complete with pictures. I love the layout he has used, and thoroughly intend to copy it.  LOL  The whiteboard I have setup at home is much simpler, but doesn't quite do the trick. 

Todd Clarke's super-cool Personal Kanban board at LeanKit Kanban

In a fantasy world, I would have a big flat-screen monitor on the wall of my office, displaying my own personal Kanban using something like the LeanKit Kanban site - and everything could be done with a few clicks of the mouse! As it is, however, I think I'll make do with my whiteboard, colored dry erase markers, and different colored sticky notes.  :)