I took on my most dreaded household task today:  scrubbing the master bath shower. 

    No matter how often I clean it, it still looks horrible (and it looked this way when we bought our house).  Yes, I've tried every natural cleaning idea I can find.  I've tried a ton of store products, too; even industrial strength shower cleaning products.  I've tried spraying it every day after using it, in order to prevent grime and build-up.  In my desperation, I've even sprayed bleach on that tile.  :(

    It's also a tough shower to clean, because it's wheelchair accessible.  That means that there is no ledge or barrier between the floor of the shower and the floor of our bathroom. 

    Water generally gets everywhere.  :(

    Usually, my rotator cuff area in my right shoulder starts killing me after two hours of scrubbing so that it's hard to sleep all night. Ibuprofen would ease the pain, but my stomach can't tolerate that medication, so I suffer.

    But today was the day for deep cleaning the shower.  As I worked and scrubbed away, I began to grumble in my mind, and even thought the words, "I hate this shower."  The tiny one-inch tiles on the floor have needed the grout to be replaced about 20 years ago due to a number of years of neglect from tenants who rented this house.

    Since my husband has assured me that redoing the master bath will be his last project on our house, I don't expect it to be remodeled anytime soon.

    "I hate this shower." 

    I'm surprised this thought even came into my mind while scrubbing away. 

    For years and years now, ever since my girls were tiny tots, I have made a conscious effort to not use the word "hate" except when referring to Satan and evil.

    I admit it.  I allowed myself to mull on that thought for a few minutes.  Shame-shame-shame.

    Then, I began to pray.  "Jesus, help me to be grateful for this shower, even though it is so difficult to clean and causes me pain.  I don't want to hate this shower anymore!"

    After that, I began to think of other showers I've seen or used, that were far less pleasant than this tough-to-clean shower of mine.  (While I haven't actually used these specific showers, below, you know what I mean.)

    And I began to realize that we are very blessed here in the United States to even have two showers.

    Much of the world's population doesn't have access to even one shower - and if they have a shower, it won't look as nice as mine, the one I was grumbling about.

    Even though I'd love my shower to look like this, above, I'm going to choose to be grateful for the shower that we already have, despite all its flaws. 

    It's not going to be easy.  Satan is going to try to trip me up and cause me to think negative, unkind thoughts about my shower.  But I'm just gonna pray those thoughts away, like I did today.

    You know what?  I waited all evening for my right shoulder to begin pounding with pain.  It never did!

    Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us when we are unlovely.  Even as unlovely as a dirty, "I-Need-To-Be-Remodeled" shower.

    Parallel parking. . . does the photo, above, pretty much sum up your feelings about parallel parking?

    In our small town, I haven't had to parallel park in many years.

    Probably since I was in high school.

    Yes, we do have parking spots downtown that are designed for parallel parking, only.  But the downtown area isn't horribly busy except for a few times a year, so I can always find two open spots next to each other.

    That's why I've got away with not needing to parallel park for so many years!

    Things change when a high schooler is learning to drive, however!  Even though my community doesn't require parallel parking on the driver license field exam, I still want my daughters to be able to parallel park and not be completely afraid of the process.

    However, since I hadn't parallel parked in so many years, I decided not to teach my 15-year-old yet.

    Then, my sister's friend posted a YouTube video for her that easily and quickly describes how to parallel park with ease.

    This is ingenious!  I'm thrilled to have watched this helpful, quick DVD.  You can bet that I'll be showing this to my oldest daughter tomorrow so she can learn how to easily parallel park - even better than her mom. 

:)

Here's the helpful video.  EnJOY your weekend - even if it requires you to do some parallel parking!

    The Long Awakening is a riveting true story of a life-threatening coma, a miraculous awakening, and the long quest to regain what was lost.

    The day Lindsey O’Connor’s fifth baby entered the world, was the day she left. For 47 days she lay suspended in a medically-induced coma, hovering in nothingness. The time before and after her long sleep were spliced together in O’Connor’s memory. The time in the middle, too long for her loved ones, and time erased for her. The miracle her family desperately prayed for was a miracle that Lindsey missed. She awoke to a world that kept moving without her and began the long journey to love her newborn daughter, to search for her identity, meaning and lost and found love. Applying her journalism background, O’Connor set out to discover what happened during her time lost as she does when researching a piece of literary journalism about someone else. In a strange twist, she reported her own story.

    In The Long Awakening, O’Connor beautifully and bravely shares her journey to re-stitch her life after a life-altering trauma and her continuing search for self.

    On August 30, 2002 at the age of 41, O’Connor experienced childbirth complications and received over 20 units of blood, two times the amount of blood in her body, while giving birth to her daughter, Caroline.

    Doctors put her into a medically-induced coma to allow her brain, lungs and body to heal. Initially, her doctors did not know what was medically wrong, and there was no promise she would wake up. While in a coma, Lindsey suffered multi-organ failure and was close to death several times, leaving her family on an emotional roller coaster.

    For 47 excruciating days, her family waited with Lindsay’s expected death looming. Miraculously, she woke up. With no memory of the time spent in a coma, in her mind she was holding her newborn only hours ago. She knew who and where she was, but other things took much longer to know. Faced with time that kept moving when her time had stopped, she began her recovery – her long awakening.

    The Long Awakening:  A Memoir is a true story and difficult to read, especially if your family is going through or has gone through a serious medical trauma.  Lindsey writes about her experience of giving birth to her fifth child - and minutes later succumbing to very serious medical issues which caused her to sink into a complete coma for several weeks. 

    This is her remembrance, about 12 years later, of what she can recall from those weeks away from reality and of her very difficult and gradual recovery of that---and of the realization that she will probably never be quite the same due to the trauma to her brain.

    This is an interesting insight into what is happening to patients who cannot communicate but are still “there” and trying to figure out what is really happening.  It is also a wonderful testimony of the incredible love of her husband, her children, and other relatives and friends who never give up on her but are going through horrendous difficulties in dealing with this situation.

    Lindsey has great faith in God but has to deal with why this happened to her and why it is not getting better, something each of us has dealt with emotionally and spiritually at least once, maybe many times, though certainly not in the way she has had to think through and overcome. 

    Praise God for her outcome, even though not perfect.

    The Long Awakening is available as of October 2013 at your favorite bookseller - from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

    I received a copy of this book for review, but was not compensated financially in any way. The opinions expressed are those of Joy In Our Journey.com and are based solely on experiences while reading this book.

    In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission. I only recommend products I use personally. Your purchases through these links help support Joy In Our Journey. I humbly thank you for your support!

    If there ever was a chocolate addict, it's me.

    I can justify my addiction, because chocolate is supposed to be good for us now, right?

    Since I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes a couple of years ago, I had to change my mindset.

    Sure, dark-dark chocolate is good for us; but the added sugar and carbs is not good for me - and probably most Americans.

    When our family went "mostly sugar free" over 8 months ago, I grieved the thought of giving up sweets.  Thankfully, with Trim Healthy Mama as our lifestyle eating guide, I haven't had to give up sweet treats and desserts.  I've just changed up the way I prepare those kinds of goodies these days, and it mostly leaves me satisfied.  I still crave Peanut Buster Parfaits from DQ from time to time - being honest here. 
 ☺

    My mocha ice cream recipe calls for 2 tsp. of chocolate extract, so it didn't take long for me to figure that we'd be going through the extract faster than I wanted to pay for it.

    I decided it was time to figure out how to make my own Chocolate Extract, and I thought I'd share my DIY version with you in case some of you would like to try this for yourself! 

    Be aware that this isn't an overnight project.  While it's quick and easy to put together, it will need to sit in a dark cupboard for 6-12 weeks...and possibly even longer, depending on how strong you'd like it.  Some folks let it sit for as long as 10 months! 

    Place jar of cocoa extract mixture into a dark cupboard...but not so far back that you never see it.  You don't want to forget about it entirely!

    Two to three times each week, gently shake the extract and place it back into the dark recesses of your kitchen cupboards.

    After six weeks, you may start checking the extract to see how it smells and tastes.  The goal is to not just taste vodka, but to definitely taste a stronger concentrated chocolate flavor.  Depending on how you like chocolate extract, you may want to store it for as long as 10 months before using it.  That's up to you!

    Be aware that this isn't an overnight project.  While it's quick and easy to put together, it will need to sit in a dark cupboard for 6-12 weeks...and possibly even longer, depending on how strong you'd like it.  Some folks let it sit for as long as 10 months! 

    Pour 1-1/2 cups vodka into a 2-cup glass mason jar.  Gently stir in 3/4th cup cocoa powder.

    Place tight-fitting lid onto jar.  Store jar in dark cupboard, shaking gently every 3-4 days. 

    Allow to sit for 6-8 weeks, or up to 10 months, before using chocolate extract. 

    Chocolate extract doesn't need to be refrigerated, and can be stored indefinitely for your baking and cooking uses.  EnJOY!

   In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission...without it costing you a penny more.   I only recommend products I use personally. Your purchases through these links help support Joy In Our Journey. I humbly thank you for your support!