Kathi Lipp's Blog, page 145

It's the thought that counts….

Here is a lesson in how to react when your aunt gives you another Christmas sweater with Jingle Bells attached…click here for a great Garfunkel and Oates video.

I've Missed You

I've really, really missed you.

It has been a whirlwind month with racking up flights on Southwest, meeting new friends in New Mexico, Missouri and hanging out with Mickey in Florida.

But with all that traveling, and the time changes and the altitude (who knew that New Mexico was so high…?!?) I just plain left the my real world (bloggy and home) behind.

Here are some of the things that I missed, in no particular order…

1. My dog Jake

2. Being able to share random thoughts on the blog and having all of you share back with me.

3. My mattress

4. Sharing recipes here

5. Facebook (ok, I did a little of it…)

6. Starbucks (the didn't have it at the Ghost Ranch in NM and the coffee at Disneyworld is atrocious…)

7. Tivo

8. Cooking

9. Writing

Oh, and did I mention the coffee?

Glad to be home. I will be working on finishing up my next book, The What's for Dinner Solution. I'm excited to finish it up and be home for a while.

The Comfortable Traveler – Part 1: Airplane Travel – The Little Things

For the Airport

Contigo 

 I am an unpaid sales person for the Contigo Travel Mug. I evangelize everywhere I go about how much I LOVE this little gadget for one reason and one reason only – it does not spill or leak.

Ever.

There is a button at the back of the lid you have to push in order to take a sip – keeping you from spilling. The cup is dishwasher safe but the lid must be cleaned by hand. That is how confident I am about this mug. It keeps coffee hot for about 3 hours, and tea cold for about 4. I throw my coffee into my computer case – that is how confident I am about this cup.

I was at a conference in the New Mexico desert for almost a week. I was without a car and about 90 minutes from the closest Starbucks. My Contigo became my best friend.

At the airport, I pack it in my carryon and then fill it up once I get past security. That way, if I have a super early flight, my morning Peet's coffee doesn't land on the lap of the guy sitting next to me.

Southwest Airlines' Early Bird Check In

For only $10 one way, you can be in the early borading group assuring that you will at least get the window or aisle seat – whatever your preference. This is definately worth the extra $10 when I'm traveling with Roger or a friend so we can sit together.

Neck Pillow

If you are someone who can fall asleep on a plane or in a car or on a train, (thank you, Dr. Suess…) this little pillow is a must have in order for you to keep from drooling on your seatmate. I always do the Early Bird ticketing so I can have a window seat and fall asleep with my head in the neck pillow, leaning against a window.

Noise Canceling Headphones

I didn't buy noise candeling headphones for a while since I thought if I wanted to get some effective ones I would have to pay the $200 for the ones that are  avaiable from foo-foo chi-chi shops. No thanks.

However, after a long flight of trying to watch movies with my cheapo headphones, I knew I had to try something… Sony makes a pair that retails for around $50 that is just great.I can hear every word of How I Met Your Mother on my iPad. And that's a good thing.

So tell me – what is your favorite travel tip for those long flights.

If You Haven't Figured Out How You're Going to Cook Your Turkey Yet

Every year we have two kinds of turkey; boy turkey and girl turkey.

No, we don't pay extra to have our birds sexed. The boy turkey is the one that Roger puts in the smoker and tends to all Thanksgiving day, and the girl turkey is the one that I get drunk the night before and throw in the oven late Thursday morning.

Roger's turkey is has tender meat and a dark, smokey skin. So yummy.

My turkey is juicy and savory and falls off the bone.

Since we are all about saving time, I will not tell you the boy recipe – if your husband is crazy enough to want to buy all the stuff to do it, I will not contribute to the madness.

If you want a delicious, easy turkey that requires a large garbage bag to prepare, (really, it's not as gross as it sounds…) check out this recipe of Emeril's here.

Plus, I would love to have your recipe for the dish you just can't do Thanksgiving without. You know I love a new recipe…

Recipe Friday – Special Guest: Sunnie Weber

Hello to all!  While Kathi is teaching this week at CLASS, she decided to give me, her assistant, the opportunity to share a favorite recipe.

I am no cook, but I can make a mean cookie!  I am officially known as the Cookie Monster in my house by my children.  In the fall, my favorite cookie to make is the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.  Made with real butter, these cookies are moist and delicious with fall flavors.  I hope you enjoy making (and eating) these yummy treats!

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softned

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs (I actuall use 1 1/2 because I like my cookie just a little more gooey)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp bakng soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tspground cloves

2 cups milk chocolate chips (Ghiradelli are the best!!)

Instructions:

Heat the ovent to 350 degrees

Using mixer, beat the butter until smoothe.  Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.  Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Drop by large, heaping teaspoons onto your baking sheet and bake 15-20 minutes (I cook mine closer to 13 minutes).

Giveaway – Majesty in Brokenness by Featured Author: Judy Squire

Every once in a while I like to feature one of my favorite authors and give away some swag. Here is the wonderful Judy Squire talking about her book His Majesty in Brokenness. If after reading her excerpt below you want a copy of the book, just leave a comment below about a time God has worked through your brokeness.  I will randomly pick a winner on Monday!

 I asked Judy to introduce herself:

Judy has been Mrs. David Squier for 42 blessed years. She is Mama Mia to three adult daughters and Granny Goose to her granddaughter. Her family called the San Francisco Bay Area home for four decades before retiring to southern Oregon. She's been an inspirational speaker since age thirteen and this year achieved her life-long goal: the publication of His Majesty in Brokenness.

Now here is more about her book:

 Born without complete legs, I watched others have all the fun. The whole time I believed that those with legs were living the life I was missing. As I coveted their physical adeptness, their social calendars, and their seeming satisfaction in their own skin, I remained clueless that they indeed shared my condition – a missing "something" in their lives.

Come to find out each one of us could fill a page with a list of what's missing in our lives: a loving childhood, the perfect figure, a mate, our dream career with sufficient income to pay the bills. Could it be that the very absence of these ingredients provides the stage for God to show up?

His Majesty in Brokenness contains stories of the past sixty-five years of my life lived in intimate relationship with God, thanks to some everyday missing pieces – not just legs, but self-esteem, and courage. Plus it's not just about me – you, the reader, are invited to apply the life lessons in a section at the end of each chapter called What About You?

Gain strength for the journey as you find the living God, His Majesty, alive and well in your brokenness redeemed.

www.judysquier.com

What's On My iPod (book-wise)

On My Kindle/Droid/iPad

On My iPod

These are the books I listen to while walking, driving, cleaning the kitchen or doing my hair. (Whoever said curly hair was easy has sniffed too much product. I have to spend about 35 minutes every couple of days so that I don't look like Rondald Mc Donald.)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

This is the third, and as far as we know, the final book in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. (The author died with a fourth book in process, and we don't know if his girlfriend is planning on releasing it.)

I don't like novels that are overly graphic (and can't watch the movies), but the stories are so compelling I couldn't help but get sucked it.

There is a lot of violence against women, but it is always seen as a bad thing, and never glorified. The other thing you have to take into consideration is that while American morals may be lacking, Sweden (where the stories are set) has a very different idea of what is right and wrong than even my most liberal countrymen.

How to Get Your Husband to do (just about) Anything

On Tuesday Roger and I will begetting up at 4:30 in the morning, (have I mentioned that I am not a morning person?) to fly to New Mexico to teach at the Ghost Ranch CLASS Christian Writers Conference.

We must really love writers in order to get up before many farmers.

There has been a lot of prep work getting ready for this conference and that, on top of our every day jobs, (me, writing and speaking, Roger, working for HP,) has been a bit overwhelming what with the plague hitting our house and all.

I don't think that Roger was expecting quite so much prep work and kind of shut off his brain to the influx of all the e-mails that were coming in. Which worked for him.

For a while.

That is until one or two people were trying to get me to get him to respond. One of those people, Gary Chevalier, had requested an interesting fact from each of us to use in his role as emcee for the event. He was getting desperate and sent me the following email:

I've sent him (Roger) the email about telling me an Interesting fact for Introductions, but I haven't heard back from him yet. Can you give him a gentle spousal reminder to do that? Maybe over dinner tonight, you can give him a little something like this,

"Oh Roger! I had so much fun today coming up with an interesting fact about me to send to Gary Chevalier (pictured left with his adorable wife Andrea) for the Writer's Conference.

Remember when I flashed those trick-or-treaters?

It was sooooo hysterical!

What interesting fact did you tell him?

What?

You haven't sent him anything yet?

Roger Lipp, I'm appalled!

No nooky for you until you send Gary that interesting fact!"

Roger sent Gary the interesting fact about 30 minutes later.

A Few of the Things on my Nightstand (and on my Kindle, and on my Droid, and on my iPad…)

It's pretty funny. When ever I recommend a book on the blog, I will have people tell me 4-6 months later that they read the book and LOVED it. I think that many of the reader here have some of the same book passions I do so let me recommend some of the tinges I've been reading (and loving) lately and ask you for some of your recommendations as well.

Physical Books (real ink and paper – both bought from The Tattered Cover in Denver, CO).

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Who knew that the theft of rare books is more common than art theft? Besides being a fascinating story about the buying and selling of rare books (if you love reading, I think you will find this as fascinating as I do,) as well as one of the most notorious thieves in recent history (who was based right here in Northern California.)

Oogy – A Dog Only a Family Could Love

When I first read the synopsis of this story – this young puppy being used as bait in a dog fighting ring because he refused to fight, I didn't think I could handle hearing about any dog in pain. But Oogy's spirit triumphs over his physical limitation and makes him someone you would love to bring into your own family.

WinThe Man Who Loved Books too Much

On Thursday and Friday I will be sharing a couple of my favorite books via iPod, iPad and Kindle. But I want to hear what you're reading. Tell me in the comments on either today's, Thursday's or Friday's post and I will enter your name in to win the copy of The Man Who Loved Books too Much – yes – it's been read by me – but hey – it's recycling – and it's an AUTOGRAPHED copy. I will announce the winner next week when I'm back in CA and have internet access.

And our Winner of Kathy Howard's book God's Truth Revealed as determined by Random.org is…

Gina Kelley

True Random Number Generator Min:

Max:

Result: 3 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Gina – email my assistant at sunnie at kathilipp.com and she will get you all set up!

Giveaway: God's Truth Revealed by Kathy Howard – Featured Author

Every once in a while I like to feature one of my favorite authors and give away some swag. Here is the wonderful Kathy Howard talking about her new book God's Truth Revealed. If after reading her excerpt below you want a copy of the book, just leave a comment below about a time God revealed His truth to you (y'all encourage me so much!) I will randomly pick a winner on Monday!

I asked Kathy to introduce herself:

Call me a "confused southerner." Raised in Louisiana, our family has moved to Wyoming, then Texas, then Alberta, and finally back to Texas. I don't know whether to drink "pop" or "coke", or call my friends "ya'll" or "you guys." But one thing I do know — God loves us and wants us to know Him! That's definitely worth writing, teaching, and speaking about.

And here is a little bit from the book:

It was our first day on the beach with our rented boogie boards. Wanting to catch the waves where they were breaking, I headed away from the shore. By the time I realized they were breaking too far out, the water was over my head. On the board from the waist up, I started kicking to get back to the beach. After a couple of minutes I had not made any progress. In fact, I was farther away. So, with the board trailing behind me by the strap, I swam until I was exhausted and swallowing water. But I was further still. No matter how hard I tried, I could not save myself.

My husband grabbed another board, left the safety of the beach and came to my rescue. When Wayne reached me, he calmed me down and talked me through riding out the riptide back to shore.

Like the riptide separated me from the beach, sin has separated each of us from God. We can never do enough to bridge that gulf. We cannot save ourselves, but God Himself came to our rescue. Jesus left heaven and came to earth to provide salvation. The 12-session study, "God's Truth Revealed," guides readers through the Bible to see our need for a Savior, and to discover how we can know Him. For more about the book, and to download the first session free, visit www.godstruthrevealed.com

Links/Free Resources

Free Discipleship Tools: http://www.kathyhoward.org/disciplesh...

This page is full of free Bible reading plans, Scripture memory tips and plans, Quiet time helps, prayer guides, and more!

Free helps for Ministry Leaders: http://www.kathyhoward.org/leader-helps/

This page includes a video workshop to train small group leaders, tips for guiding small group discussion, and a devotional for leaders.

Free video introduction for "Before His Throne:" http://www.kathyhoward.org/books/

This 12-minute video is perfect to kick-off a study of Kathy's book "Before His Throne."

Free download of the entire first session of "God's Truth Revealed:"

http://godstruthrevealed.org/about-th...

For more information about Kathy and her ministry visit: www.kathyhoward.org/bio/