An excellent article about keeping finances in order, (*which is especially good for "mental" health, you know?)

If you let your debt get greater than your salary, you may find suddenly the credit card companies JACK UP your interest rate simply because they KNOW you are stuck financially and cannot pay them off. 

A guy on the news a couple years ago told how he.....

• never missed a payment,
• ALWAYS paid on time,
• ALWAYS paid more than their "minimum"

yet suddenly found himself at 24% interest on a card! 
That level threatened to send him into total bankruptcy!

So, to read a good article on finances CLICK HERE

(*or go to http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/03/28/uh-oh-my-debt-is-bigger-than-my-salary/?intcmp=obnetwork if the link isn't working.)

I've recently been in charge of "dinners" for anywhere from 10 to 70 people!  (*Thankfully we had the 70 at a wonderful Chinese restaurant!)

In dealing with such a wide variety of people, I've learned you can never go wrong with a beautiful bowl of FRESH FRUIT! 

Seriously - so many are intimidated at throwing a dinner party yet I've found the simplest foods are often the best! 

Take a mixture of fruits - melon chunks, apples diced large, strawberries cut into halves or fourths, whole grapes, even a few segments of clementines - and you've got a beautiful dish!


At one of the last big dinners, I heard the guests vying for the last bit of mango!

I just smiled and thought,
"Successful dinner? Yes!" 

I like weekends to be slow and unscheduled so I can catch up on anything my heart has longed for all week - sleep, reading, baking.

Yesterday was like that and it lulled me into a much needed mental "rest" but...as always…..riding home from church, my calm was shattered when I realized our son has a "required" make-up baseball practice!

Yikes! I was so immersed in the show “Seven Signs of the Apocalypse” on the History Channel yesterday (*scary stuff, folks!) that I didn’t think ahead for dinner AT ALL. 

I started plundering in the freezer, thinking, “What on earth can I throw together that fast?”.  

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – check!
• Balsamic vinaigrette –check!

Put them together and you’ve got “AWESOME CHICKEN, MOM!”, as our son said!

The "How to" is super easy!  I took a skillet – mine was a cast iron flat griddle. Added the chicken breast, covered it with vinaigrette, and let it cook, flipping it occasionally until they were thawed enough to cut into slices.

Once sliced, I simply allowed the vinaigrette to “cook down” into a thick sauce.

Who says you have to be a good cook to create something "awesome"! These slices would be great over a spring mix salad or piled high in a sandwich!