How to Get the Flu ASAP and Other Stellar Advice

Hey, y’all! Thanks for dropping by! I’ve been looking forward to it. I’m knee deep into my speaking/travel season and life is going at warp speed! I could use some down time with my friends. Let’s chat…

You know, some people avoid hard conversations. Others tend to jump in too quickly and say too much.  Yeah, I resemble that.  And yet, the fact remains, hard conversations are necessary. They challenge us, and they change us, so regardless of your relational style, we need to learn how to have them. In today’s show, Lori Roeleveld, author of The Art of Hard Conversations, will give us some much-needed tips and tools to do just that.

But, first, let’s have us a hard conversation right now. Did you know there’s now a company out there devoted to helping you get the flu? It’s true. You know about chicken pox parties, right? I didn’t participate with mine, but I heard about ‘em. This is like that. Kinda. Only, this company that I will not name, ‘cause I don’t like to see the flu spread but I’m not in the business of helping Straight Running Crazy spread either—and we’re already in epidemic stages in many areas of our fine nation, will ship any sucker, I mean, anyone interested in their services a used tissue from someone who is already suffering from the flu! All for the super low cost of eighty bucks! If you’re trying to keep up, this means you can add this benefit to the already established offer of getting a transplant from the, um, extra output of a super pooper to aid in your digestive issues and you’ll be covered at both ends.

I’m assuming the flu tissues come with instructions, but I’m here with some that will save you the $80 bucks. Just keep the church nursery next Sunday. You’ll have access to more snotty noses and used tissues than you could ask for—and if you’re in the market for a good stomach virus, you may be able to grab one of those, too. You’re welcome! I’m just one woman, but I do what I can.

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(On the subject of church nurseries, here’s a little something from my Insta account that inspired today’s chat:

 

Add this to the bazillion reasons I love this man and why I give him grace when he does man things like…oh, I don’t know, how about standing in front of the fridge and asking if we have ketchup BEFORE he opens the door. Bless ‘em. They want to hear it from our lips, gurls. But, the pic.

This isn’t our grandchild. It doesn’t matter.

Phil and I kept the nursery Sunday. The precious young boy in my man’s lap hasn’t grown up as a nursery kid at our church. This accounts for why he was convinced that he had been abandoned, why he cried and snotted (sorry if you’re eating breakfast kids) the entire time. It’s why he refused all goldfish and cracker bribes and responded to my every “do you want to________” question with a wailing, quivering lip, “I doooooooooon’t.” I was yet another pain in the little one’s side, but Phil? The child bonded to my man like crazy glue.

Phil tried every “Pops” trick he knew to try and dry his tears. The boy wasn’t buying.

This isn’t our first trip rodeo. We’re parents and grandparents, remember? But rarely have we ever seen one remain distraught for the duration.
And that’s why Phil held him and spent the morning wiping snot off the boy’s face —and off of his own neck, face, shirt, and vest. Our traumatized little charge only quit crying when he was told service was over and he was going to be reunited with his mommy. That’s when it happened.

The child looked at Phil, stretched out his hand, and asked, “You coming, too?”

That’s the power of human touch. Let’s be someone’s solace today. God loves you. (And if I don’t have a winner/winner with this fella of mine my name isn’t Shellie Charlene).

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Today’s Guest Lori Stanley Roeleveld author of The Art of Hard Conversations

You can hear this interview on iTunes, or by clicking the audio link here.

A Taste of the South

“Cupa Cupa Blackberry Cobbler”

Okay, if I were a betting woman I would’ve put down big odds on my having my Cupa Cupa Cobbler on the website already. And I would’ve been out some money! It’s still hard to believe, but I can’t find it, so I’m fixing it.

My mama, you’ve heard me call her the Queen of Us All, because she is, taught us girls how to make this cobbler many moons ago, and it never fails me, so I always resort to it. I’m going to make it today with blackberries, but if it were summertime and fresh peaches were available, that would be almost a sin. Almost. I’m pushing the envelope as it is, seeing as how I’m settling for these store-bought berries instead of harvesting them from the banks of ditches, like we did back in the day. But something tells me the beloved farmer won’t be complaining tonight. Your folks won’t either. Let me show you how to do this.

Mama used a casserole dish for her cobblers. I like to use my cast iron, so I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and now I’m going to slide my favorite skillet in here along with a stick of butter and let it melt. I’ve got about  4 cups of berries here. I’m going to rinse them and then I’ll take the back of a spoon and smush a few to get some juices going. Okay, let’s whip up that batter. Here’s where the cupa cupa comes in. We’ll take a mixing bowl and combine a cup of flour with a cup of sugar and whisk in a cup of milk, toss in a teaspoon of vanilla and pinch of salt, stir well, and TADA! Batter up!

It’s time to pour this into the sizzling hot skillet with the melted butter and stir. Then we’ll add spoon the fruit into the batter here and there, and slide it back in the over for about an hour or until the top has formed a scrumptious golden crust! Serve with ice cream, preferably homemade. YUM!

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Southern Comfort  

Hey folks, let’s open the Word together before we go. Psalm 119: 105 says, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.” And I say, amen. We can’t get too much Word, but we can surely get too little in our busy little nine to five’s. Let’s talk about ways to fix that, beginning with that smart phone in your hand.

Our smart phones are never wiser than when we use them to connect with God and His Word. Here are just a few hastily jotted habits that have been so beneficial to me. ~Let your audio Bible read to you while you’re dressing in the morning. ~Use that valuable drive time or daily walk to listen to a good Bible teaching via the many awesome podcasts available. ~Use your reminders to set prayer alerts at regular times during the day. ~Use your notepad to keep prayer lists. ~Let it help you memorize Scripture by recording yourself saying your memory work and playing it back during the day.

Again, those are just a few ideas I use, I’m sure there are more! Drop me a note if you have one to add to the list. Or, you can leave it for the whole All Things Southern community on my Facebook author page, or on the podcast Facebook page. Yeah! That’d be more fun. I love seeing our community interact.

That’s it for this week folks. If you’re enjoying the podcast, would you be so kind as to give it a review and share it with your friends and family? Many THX! Remember, you can also subscribe to my newsletter at the website, that’s belleofallthingssouthern.com! Until next time, may the Good Lord bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace. This is Shellie with hugs for all~

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