Versatile Blogger Award

April 7, 2012April 7, 2012 / www.spilledcookies.com / 16 Comments

It appears that I have been nominated for a blogging award by http://kathrynrubidoux.wordpress.com/ She cracks me up and writes an amazing blog! When you have a moment go check it out. 🙂 Thank you, Kathryn!!

I rather like these awards. What a great way to reach out and encourage other bloggers along the way – just a “hey, I follow you and think you’re something special!” moment.

I notice in the rules I have to pass it on to 15 other bloggers. This is getting harder the more blogs I come into contact with and read. There are so many that are doing a great job out there! To be fair, I will try to pick some people I haven’t suggested before.

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

I enjoy each of these blogs, even though I just added a few of them, they all seem very promising and I am looking forward to great things from them!

Seven Things About Me:

Wolves and Owls are my favorite animals.

I am half Cherokee and half Irish.

I am from Dallas, Texas – I try not to have an accent, but some days I fail.

I love black cats.

I love all kinds of spicy food.

I am a knowledge junkie – I love researching things, as well as finding out what people believe and why.

I married and divorced, and have been a single mom for 7 years.

So there’s your random bits of trivia about me.

Easter Is Coming!!

April 7, 2012April 7, 2012 / www.spilledcookies.com / 5 Comments

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It’s Easter time! Easter is one of the most significant times of the year for Christians. It is when Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice for mankind. God gave the ultimate sacrifice in allowing His son to take on all the guilt and shame of the world that was not his, so much that He could not look at His son, and had to sit silent and allow Him to be judged and die. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection and defeat of evil and death.

I know all that, grew up with it, wrote plays about it, sang songs, took part in feasts and revivals over the years. While Christmas is the birth of hope and joy, Easter is the birth of forgiveness and faith.

Easter is also about the Easter bunny. Oh sure, there is a debate, but really, should there be? I mean come on, it’s a bunny that hides eggs, is there really a contest? It’s just for fun people, live a little, have a scavenger hunt, play with your children you know they will only be young for a little while and childhood just doesn’t last long enough now days.

So why is this year different? Well, for most people it’s not, other than it is later in the year being in April instead of March. For me, it is different this year because this year, oddly enough, Easter falls on April 8^th which is my mom’s birthday.

Though I try to get into the spirit of the season, I confess to having a hard time this year. It’s not that I don’t want too; it’s just a sort of hollow, bitter-sweet thing at the moment, yes, even though I know the wonderful promise that comes with Easter.

Still, the bluebonnets are beautiful this year and the kids have had lots of fun hunting eggs, the music is beautiful as always and the weather has been exceptional. Me? I will keep putting one foot in front of the other, feeling the sunshine and waiting for the warmth to be more than just skin deep. I have so very many things to be thankful for, and spring always brings new growth, beautiful flowers and birds raising their voices in song. Nature celebrates and renews in spring and so shall I. Here’s to a new start, a renewed spirit and a rebirth of hope and faith!

Cherry Coley ©

The Philosophy of Spilled Cookies

April 7, 2012April 7, 2012 / www.spilledcookies.com / 24 Comments

It’s funny how names come to you. I struggled with what to name my blog, I wanted something catchy and memorable, but really had no idea of what to call it. Then one Saturday I was making cookies for a friend’s birthday and as I was taking them out of the oven I managed to clip the oven door with the pan, shift it in my hand so that the pot-holder slipped and wind up dropping them on the floor. Yep, I had spilled cookies all over the floor.

Then it I remembered doing this same thing before as a teenager. My brother was off at college and came home on the weekends to do laundry, get food, and I liked to make him a big batch of chocolate chip cookies to take with him back to college when he came.

I was baking up a nice big batch of chocolate chip cookies and the house was filled with the smell of them cooking. Part of the reason I love chocolate chip cookies is because of the wonderful aroma they give off while baking. I had worked so hard to make them in time and there they were spilled on the floor. I wanted to cry, but instead I started over and worked faster.

As I was searching for a name I realized that my life has been a big round of spilled cookies at times, not the hurl up kind, but the work your tail off, try hard to get things right and have time to enjoy things, only to have them somehow get knocked down or dropped and everything to get crumbled and spilled on the floor kind.

There is of course a lesson there and it’s one I thankfully learned pretty early. First, don’t just rush through the preparation of things and think you will enjoy the end product, take your time, smell the aroma’s, enjoy the taste, the feel, the putting together of things as you go, then even if things don’t work out, you haven’t lost much because you still have the wonderful experiences and memories of the journey to get there.

Second, learn to laugh and take things lightly. Life is hard enough without having to take everything so seriously. It’s okay to drop a few cookies, or have some crumble along the way, it happens! Just think of all the smiles and laughter that you’ve had along the way and the joy when things do actually go right and everything works out as planned.

It’s a beautiful day today, and a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. So, get up, it’s time to start the preparation and take that step on to the next goal, even if it’s just cooking up another batch of cookies.

Cherry Coley (c)