Kathleen Smith's Blog, page 21

Fondue or Don’t

This weekend my family and I went bowling at Lucky Strikes at Crossgates Mall. Then we went to The Melting Pot. And after that we went to Dave and Busters.

As much fun as we had at all three places, today’s blog will be about our adventures at The Melting Pot.

For about a year or so now my husband has been wanting to take me to The Melting Pot. Saturday we were at CrossGates Mall with our kids. We were trying to figure out what we wanted for lunch when my husband suggested The Melting Pot. We figured it was as good a time as any to final try it. So we went!

When we first walked in to this places we waited a few minutes to be seated, but that was okay. When we were finally taken to our booth we quickly found out there was more to this place then meets the eye. It was like a maze in there! Who knew a restaurant could have so many rooms with booths? We sure didn’t.

When the waiter came to our booth he asked us if we had been there before. We told him no and we had no idea what we were doing. So he processed to explain how everything worked and we went from there.

We decided to order the four course fondue meal that they offer. Mind you we were learning as we went through this lunch which, by the way, took us about three hours.

Our first course was cheese fondue with different raw veggies, some bread bites and chips.  We had a spinach artichoke cheese dip and a Wisconsin cheddar. We didn’t know what to expect and were pleasantly surprised when the waiter put all the ingredients together in the pot right in front of us. You know exactly what is going into your fondue!

Our second course was a simple salad. It was very good. I had the Strawberry Caprese.

Our third course was a variety of different raw meats to cook in different methods. We had duck, steak, chicken, shrimp and more. We cooked them in “Seasoned Court Bouillon” and “Mojo” — citrus type broth.

Our fourth course was chocolate fondue with different pieces of cake, fruit and marshmallows to dip in. We had the “Dark with Berries and Cream” which had mascarpone cheese and “Cookies and Cream Marshmallow Dream” which had bits of Oreo in with marshmallows and dark chocolate.

We had a lot of skewers to use for the different courses.

I have to say there was a lot to eat between all the different foods they gave us with each course. I personally liked the cheese and chocolate fondue the best. In fact my husband and I agreed the next time we go we would only do the cheese and chocolate fondue. We also would only do a single order. For the four of us we could have done two four course orders and it would have been enough (we did three and had a lot of left over meat–not any leftover chocolate though.)

I imagine there might be some people who don’t like to eat fondue, but I would highly suggest you give The Melting Pot a try. Maybe this place will change your mind. Maybe it won’t. All I know is for me the cheese fondue and the chocolate fondue I could have kept eating. The food was great and the waiter was friendly. I look forward to going back to The Melting Pot, but the next time I would like it to be a date with my wonderful husband.

Fall Festival

In past blogs I have written about Fall colors. How the leaves change from the color green to vibrant pinks, reds and yellow. I have written about apple cider donuts and apple cider. And let’s not forget about apple pies. Without a doubt Fall in Upstate New York wouldn’t be complete without all of the above.

In today’s blog I want to share about Fall Festivals. These are also a lot of fun to go to. This weekend my husband, our youngest daughter and I went to a Fall Festival held at Sacandaga Bible Conference in Broadalbin, NY. The three of us had a great time there together.

All three of us tried to do the bow and arrow. My husband did the best at it. Although I don’t think it was quite fair that he had done it before. My husband and my daughter also tried other games like paint ball guns, the hammer game where you try to hit the bell and some wood thing that they had to get in and walk like a hamster. Oh, yeah my daughter also got her face painted.

While we were there we also enjoyed some hot chocolate, popcorn and a cinnamon roll. There was also a wagon ride we enjoyed. It did rain off and on while we were there, but that’s ok we still had a good time together. There were other things to do there like a hay maze and giant swings, but we didn’t attempt those.

I believe this was the second time we’ve been to this Fall Festival at SAC and both times we enjoyed it. This is a time for us to get to see friends and sometimes family too. Fall Festivals with my family are always enjoyable. It’s a time where we get to enjoy being outside and be surrounded by the beautiful Fall colors. And let’s not forget about that chill that’s in the air!

Watch video of fall festival here

HEY YOU – Creating The Book

A couple of years ago I started this blog, I called it Hey You. I called it Hey You because I have a tendency to yell that at people when I can’t get their attention with their names.  The purpose for my blog originally was to try and get people to notice my books more and hopefully get some book sales.

My blog quickly became more then that for me. It became a way for me to get my thoughts and feelings out on different subjects. It became a way for me to express myself and meet other bloggers in the process. It wasn’t something I expected to happen, but I’m glad it did.

My blog has allowed me to share my thoughts on being a mom and loosing my mom to cancer. It has allowed me to share my thought on different topics like makeup and what to where. It even gave me the opportunity to get my feelings out about my husband’s heart attack and how it effected us.

About a year ago I came up with an idea to turn some of my blog posts into a book. I wanted the book to look just like my blog. Problem was I couldn’t figure out how to do that. So I decided to hold off on that idea. Sometime after that when I would talk to people about reading my blog they would tell me “I would read your blog, but I hardly ever go on the Internet”.  I thought well there goes that reader.

About a month ago I decided it was time to make that blog book. I thought this would be a good way for people to read my blog who don’t like to go on the Internet. So I started searching through all my post to see which posts would be good for the book. Turned out I had more posts then I realized and became excited about this new book. I also decided to make it look simple like my other two books.

So I got all the posts together that I wanted. I put them in my Google documents and the process began. After I got all the posts I wanted along with their titles and pictures, my husband helped me make sure everything was on the right pages. As he was doing that I looked for green or red squiggly lines. Those lines let me know something was spelled wrong. After we were all done with the formatting my husband made the book cover for me. Once that was done and we looked at everything we were ready to get a proof copy made through Create Space on Amazon.

We received the proof copy of my blogs book on Saturday which by the way I titled — Posts From the Blog Hey You — we did see a few errors which we will be taking care of this week. After that the book will be ready and will be available for preorder.

I am looking forward to getting my third book published. And I am hoping people will enjoy it.

Rejoice!

Philippians 4: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

I’ve been thinking about writing a post on Rejoicing for the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been putting it off. I have no idea why, but I have. This week I’m finally doing it!

I’ve been thinking a lot about rejoicing. How people do it and when they do it. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to rejoice when things are going well.

When your at a wedding it’s easy to rejoice with the bride and groom. When your at a birthday party it’s easy to rejoice with your friends and have a great time laughing and joking. When your getting together with friends for the fun of it, it’s easy to rejoice with.

Let’s not forget when a baby is born or someone is getting baptized or whatever else. It’s so easy to rejoice with those people.

What about during bad times. What about when someone is sick. When someone passed away. When you’re going through a hard time or know someone who is. Or anything else like this.

The Bible tells us to rejoice always. But it isn’t easy to rejoice during sad or difficult times. I have found for myself I’ve had to remind myself during hard, sad times to put a smile on. To find something to rejoice in at that sad moment. Like when my mom passed away. I was heartbroken that she was gone. At the same time I knew I would see her again one day. That is a comfort to me.

For me it’s easy to rejoice in good times and I do my best to remind myself to rejoice in bad times. To find one thing about that situation that can make me rejoice. Doesn’t matter how small I cling to that one thought to get me through it.

What about you?

Accents – Does Everyone Have One?

About a week ago I read a blog by Emi Meadows titled “9 Struggles Having a Southern Accent.” In it she was explaining how she didn’t know she had an accent till she went to college or somewhere. She was from Georgia and had no idea of her accent till someone told her how nice it sounded.

That got me thinking. Everyone has an accent. The thing about each person’s  accent is that we can’t hear them ourselves.

In the states alone there must be 50 different accents, at least. How do I figure that? Well there are 50 states in America and each state has their own accent. Seriously down south they have a southern accent. And I believe each southern state has their own accent.

Then you have the northeastern states. Boston, Rhode Island and New York have their own distinct accents. Then you have your mid western accents. And the list goes on.

To make things even more complicated different areas of different states have their own accent. New York for example. When it comes to NY you have the  Brooklyn accent, Long Island accent and the upstate NY accent. Sounds complicated doesn’t it. It’s not I promise.

I always find it funny when southerners are visiting New York and we can tell their accent right away. But when people from the NY are visiting down south, the people there know we aren’t from the area, but sometimes they can’t tell which part of the country we are from. After we tell them we are from New York they automatically think New York City. That’s a whole other conversation.

To me some accents sound better than others. Not to be mean or anything but I don’t care for the Boston or Rhode Island accent. The southern accent, to me, I think it depends on where the person is from and how deep of a southern accent they have. Again no offence.

When you think about it some more you realize we aren’t the only country with an accent. People from England have a British accent. People from Ireland have an Irish accent and people from Australia have an Australian accent. All three of these accents are seriously cool sounding! At least to me they are.

Me, I have a Brooklyn accent. Growing up I didn’t know I had an accent till my first trip to Upstate NY. The people would look at me and they would be like – “What kind of accent is that!” I would tell them “I’m from Brooklyn”. Since then I have been asked to say something, anything to people so they can hear my Brooklyn accent. When I explain to them it doesn’t come out on demand they get disappointed. When they do finally here it I get that same reaction — “What was that!”

I decided to add a small video to this blog. It’s me answering my husband’s questions. Tell me what you think, do you hear my Brooklyn accent or not?

 

Lighthouses & Prince Edward Island

A couple of weeks ago my husband asked me what I would like to do for my birthday. Since we already went to Ireland in June I knew asking to go back so soon was out of the question. So I thought about it and I told him it would be nice to go to Maine and see some lighthouses. He thought that sounded like a good idea and we’ve never done it before. He told me Prince Edward Island wasn’t that much farther of a drive. Well to us anyway. And if we could make it that far we could see the house that Anne of Green Gables was based on. I loved that idea. I’ve wanted to visit PEI for a long time so the idea of going for my birthday excited me.

So Thursday afternoon my husband came home from work early and we headed for Maine. It wasn’t a bad drive especially with three drivers. OH, did I mention our entire family went on the weekend getaway? Yep, all five of us went! So anyway by the time we stopped to eat supper in Maine it was nine o’clock at night. We ate at the Maine Dinner and then we stopped at a hotel.

The next morning we bought donuts at this place called Holy Donuts. They were okay. We then went to see our first lighthouse!  From a distance it was quite the site. At least to me. I have to say the view of the ocean was pretty cool too.

After that we started driving again. We quickly found out for us Maine is a pretty boring state to drive through with nothing but trees to look at after you leave the tourist section. Finding a place for lunch on Friday wasn’t easy, but we finally found an ice cream place and ate there. After that we drove again. Pretty much we drove all day Friday.  Eventually we made it to the Canadian border. My oldest daughter and I were extremely excited. She wanted to visit PEI as much as I did! We probably drove for another hour before we stopped at another hotel for the night.

Saturday August 20th, my birthday, we got up early and headed to PEI! It was a nice drive. When we finally got to the house that Anne of Green Gables was based on my oldest daughter and I were super excited! This dream of ours was coming true! The house is rather pretty. It looks kinda small on the outside, but once you get inside and start walking around, you see that there is more to the house then you think.

When we were done walking around the house we went on the trail that goes from the house to where L.M. Montgomery’s house use to be. It was a fun trail to walk with my family. We had a lot of good laughs there. When we were done there we went to one last lighthouse. This lighthouse was at the end of this dirt road that in my opinion should NOT be driven on. And yet my husband still drove on it and scared us in the process.

I have to be honest that last lighthouse wasn’t impressive, but the view of the ocean was. The view really was breath taking to say the least and it made the trip to PEI that much more memorable. We ended that day with some cake and coffee at a cute little pastry shop.

Okay so all this was done yesterday on my birthday and I can say it was one of the best birthday’s I’ve ever had. Getting to go on a road trip with my family, see some lighthouses and visit the Anne of Green Gables house on my birthday. Yeah, it made one awesome birthday weekend.

22nd Anniversary

Twenty-two years ago on July 30, 1994 I walked down the aisle of a Church on my dad’s arm. At the end of that aisle was my fiance waiting for me. On that day we said our vows to each other. We promised to loves each other in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad times, for richer or poorer.  Trust me we have had our fair share of all of them from miscarriages to heart attacks. Through it all my husband and I stayed true to each other and I believe our marriage is stronger for it all.

I am beyond thankful for my husband and our marriage. In these past 22 years he has become more then just my husband. He is my best friend. My confidant. The father of my children. The one person I talk to about everything and anything. He is the one who’s shoulder I want to cry on. He is the one I love laughing with most. And at this point in our marriage and lives he knows me better then anyone else does or ever could. He knows what I like and want. He knows what I’m going to say before I even say it. He is my PERFECT match made in Heaven!

I pray that God allows us another twenty two PLUS years together!

I would have written this blog last weekend when it was July 3oth, but my husband and I were celebrating in New York City and by the time we got back home I didn’t feel like writing a blog. We did have a great time together last weekend. We stayed at a nice Hotel on Park Avenue. We went to see Jersey Boys. We had gyros. We went to an “Irish Pub” for lunch. We had supper one night at a British restaurant. We walked and we walked and we walked. Did I mention we walked? We/I did some shopping at Macy’s, Crocs and at one store in the Manhattan Mall.

 

 

Desires of the Heart

 

Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Over the last twenty one plus years I have found this verse to be very true. It’s a Bible verse that I have gone to and read many times. Especially when there was something I really wanted. The problem is waiting for the perfect timing, God’s timing.  That timing when God said “I hear you and when the timing is right with me I will give you the desires of your heart”.

For example. I actually have three examples.

Example 1: Before I met my husband I really, really, really wanted a boyfriend. But nothing was happening. I knew a bunch of boys, but none of them wanted to be my boyfriend. I was starting to think there was something wrong with me. Maybe I wasn’t pretty enough or something. I had no clue what the problem was. Then one day my mom told me when I least expected I would meet that one special guy. I thought she was crazy. Then I read Psalm 37:4 and I prayed and I waited. It took some time, but in God’s timing I did finally meet that special guy and he not only became my boyfriend but he also eventually became my husband. The man I am in love with today.

Example 2: After my husband and I got married we decided to start having a family right away. Sadly things didn’t go exactly the way we thought they would when having babies. Yes, we do have three children, but during that process of trying to have a family we also had three miscarriages. Those miscarriages were devastating. After my third miscarriage I didn’t know what to do. We wanted to have another baby so much, but at the same time we were scared of loosing another baby. That’s when I looked to Psalm 37:4 again and prayed. God new how much we/I wanted another baby. And once again in His perfect timing He gave me the desires of my heart.

Example 3: For years, and I do mean years, I wanted to go to Ireland. It was a huge dream of mine. Problem with that was I have always been afraid to fly over a large body of water. In order to get to Ireland I would need to fly over a large body of water. Because of that and no passport that dream was put on hold for many, many years. Not to long ago my family and I were able to get our passports. That was a start to my dreams coming true. We still needed to wait till the beginning of this Summer for our trip to Ireland, but we made it. I faced my fears, flew over the Atlantic Ocean and God gave me the desires of my heart. That trip was so worth the wait!

We were only able to stay in Ireland for a week, but what a week it was. It was truly the best vacation I ever had and I can’t wait to go back. I also really want to visit England now. Guess what? You got it, I have to wait.

Here’s the thing I have noticed about my desires. I pray about them. I ask God to provide a way for me to have them. And I wait. I have to say that waiting time is hard. But it is worth it. I have already started asking God to provide my family and I with the funds we need to go back to Ireland and see England. I know He will give me the desires of my heart. I also know I have to wait for His perfect timing.

Philippians 4:13

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthenth me.

This has always been my go to verse when I needed help getting through something. Didn’t matter what it was that was my verse.

When I was in school and needed to get through my school work. That was my verse.

When my mom was sick and near death that was my go to verse. 

When I needed to help my dad make funeral arrangements for my mom and go to her funeral. That was my go to verse.

When I went through my three miscarriages and I was going through all that emotional pain. That was my go to verse.

No matter the situation good or bad. Difficult or not so difficult. That was my go to verse.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I can’t do anything right. I’ve been feeling down about my book sales and how my blog had been doing with its limited readers. I’ve been down.

Last Sunday I was reminded that without prayer and reading the Bible I can’t do anything. It’s impossible. I can try, but with out those two things in my life it won’t work.

That’s when I realized I haven’t been reading my Bible and praying like I should be. So this week I made sure I did both. I try to read my Bible in the morning or afternoon, but sometimes I forget and end up reading it before I go to bed.

I’ve noticed a difference in myself this week because of me reading my Bible. I was happier and smiling more. I even got a book sale!

So what I need to do is focus on God, His Word and pray. Everything else will fall into place.

And remember — Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthenth me.

 

A Week in Ireland

Do you know a good way to start Summer? I do. A family vacation to Ireland and that’s just what my family did. We started our Summer with a trip to Ireland! It was the best vacation we ever had! It was also our first trip overseas. To say that I was a little nervous about flying over a large body of water would be putting it mildly. Once the plane took off I was to excited to be scared of that water and I enjoyed the flight. I tried to get some sleep, but that didn’t go so well. 

When we finally arrived in Ireland the first thing we did was get our car rental for the week. My husband drove around the parking lot once to get comfortable driving on the opposite side of the road. I have to say he did a very good job the entire week we were in Ireland driving on the opposite side of the road. I was impressed.

There were so many things we wanted to see and do, but it was impossible for us to get it all done in a weeks time. What we did do and what we did see was all amazing.

I believe the first place we went to was ST Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh. We also walked around Armagh some and went to their Mall. This part of our trip was emotional for me because this is where the last name McCann started and where my mom’s dads family comes from. The city of Armagh is beautiful. And although I don’t like going into Roman Catholic Churches I made an exception for this one.

On that same day we also went to see the Titanic Museum in Belfast which was nice and then we drove to the Giants Causeway. This place was breathtaking. My entire family loved this place. And I would highly recommend it to anyone who plans to visit Ireland. 

We had the pleasure of going to a Banquet at Bunratty Castle. Everything about this banquet was enjoyable. One of the men reminded me of my Irish grandpa. When he sang the song “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” it brought tears to my eyes. We also had a little bit of mead before the banquet started. It was nice, but strong. I couldn’t finish mine lol. 

Right before the banquet, while we were waiting, we did some shopping across the road. We bought some wool sweaters for one of my daughters and me. We ended up wearing them while in Ireland because the weather was rainy and damp. And the sweaters kept us warm.

We went to Dublin twice that week and did a bunch of shopping while we were there. We also did the Hop on Hop off bus tour which was nice and informative. Being able to see all the different areas of Dublin before we did any shopping was nice. I could feel the history while we walked along the streets of Dublin. At the same time it felt like I was in Manhattan. Two very different cities and yet they felt very much the same in their own ways. 

While shopping in Dublin on the first day we ate at a Traditional Irish pub/restaurant. I had the Traditional Irish Stew. It was okay. Don’t know if I would want it again, but at least now I can say I tried it.

On another day we went to Belfast to an Irish out door Museum (Ulster Folk and Transport Museum). This was a nice place. My favorite part about it wasn’t the place itself, but getting to finally meet my friend Samantha who I met online about four years ago. We became good friends over time and we finally got to meet each other. We had a good time together. I didn’t want to say good bye. After my families time with my friend we went to the city party of Belfast and found a restaurant right outside a Mall and had some lunch. I had the traditional Fish and Chips and let me tell you that was some of the best Fish and Chips I ever had. OH and the waiter’s Irish accent! I could have listened to that accent all day.

The last thing we did in Ireland was taking a tour of Trim Castle. It was raining that day, but the tour was still fun. This is the same Castle that was used in the movie Brave Heart. Besides for Trim Castle we got to see many other Castles in Ireland. They were all great to see. And the ruins were just as awesome to see.

All in all Ireland was absolute wonderful! The landscape is beautiful. The castles are cool to see. The country roads are a bit scary to drive on sometimes, but fun at the same time. The different towns we drove threw were so cute! I was taking in as much of everything that I could! I already miss Ireland especially hearing that Irish accent. OH and the guys over there, man their cute! Don’t get me wrong I Love my husband and I told him so, but they are cute. At the end of our week in Ireland I asked my husband if he could leave me there for another week. He said “No your mine”. So I came back home with my family.

We also went to Trinity College and we go to see its library. That is quite the library let me tell you. We did so much more, but to put it in this blog would take a while. I have to say It was truly an amazing experience and I look forward to go back to Ireland some day. Hopefully sooner rather then later.