Recipe for Xmas Cookies & Angels

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Posted on December 7, 2014

We never forget the every day angels in our lives. In the award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, angels preside.

One of the angels in my life left our family only a few months ago. She is now in another realm. She was my aunt, the wife of “King,” a real character in the life story of yours truly. She handed down to me the best recipe ever for sugar cookies. I share it with you now on this seventh day of Advent. I am so thankful for her long life, her gift of humor, and the time we spent together.

Dot’s Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 lb of 4X sugar (confectionary sugar)

1/2 lb butter 1/2 lb margarine

1/8 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs 1/4 tsp nutmeg

4 cups of flour

Directions: 300 oven. 10 min approx – till edges are light brownCream sugar & butter – add eggs, salt, nutmeg, vanilla. Add flour. Drop by tsp on ungreased cookie sheet. Press with bottom of glass dipped in powdered sugar. Cool completely on rack.

For more information on Sue Batton Leonard’s award-winning memoir, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, follow these links:

Audio Book  http://amzn.to/1trrTl9
Paperback  http://amzn.to/1qmcEHI
e-Book  http://amzn.to/1lx7oRh

Roped into Helping the Help

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Posted on December 5, 2014

Advent Day #5 A piece of rope hanging from a ceiling becomes a turning point in Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. It also changed a girl’s self-definition.

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For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it is a pity that we use it so little. – Rachel Carson

Rope hanging from the ceiling became one turning point in Sue Batton Leonard’s award-winning memoir. Outdoor clotheslines during the “baby boomer” era got heavy use! Our family had a swimming pool, which meant lots of wet towels and clorine drenched bathing suits- I can remember the odors so clearly. In the Baltimore humidity, sometimes air drying took a lot of time. During the long stretches of heavy, moist summer air the towels took so long they didn’t always smell so fresh and needing laundering all over again to remove the smell of mildew. I remember how stiff the towels got – they could almost stand by themselves.

Our beloved Fanny was usually mindful of watching the oncoming weather, knowing she had just hung the clothes out that morning. I can hear her now, “Jine, Sue, quick Miss Battoney, we needs to get dem clothes down off the da clothesline – here comes da afternoon downpour!” My mom, my sister, Fanny and I would race outside and pull the clothes off the line so as not to have them soaked all over again just when they were nearly dry.

But there was nothing like climbing into bed in spring with clean, air dried sheets. A deep, restful sleep was nearly insured. The breezy winds, with the clear blue skies not yet sated with the summer’s humidity left the best smell of all. Traces of the nearby lilacs seemed to float from the pillowcases, making for sweet dreams.

During these cold dark days of winter, memories of my childhood do much to warm my spirits. If you are interested in writing a memoir, this time of year is a great time to get started. It’s a wise use of many indoor hours.

Wishing you fulfilling days ahead and see you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

For more information on the award-winning memoir, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, please visit this link.http://amzn.to/141aW6S.

Tis the Advent Season

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Posted on December 4, 2014

Tis the Advent Season! Advent means “the coming of the greatest gift of all, the birth of Jesus.”

Traditions in many households include the use of an Advent Calendar to mark the days leading up to Christmas. Typically, these calendars, which date back to the mid-19th century, include paper doors that open up to reveal an image, a piece of chocolate or other little token or a Bible verse. Some advent calendars have become more creative and are not just made of paper. Want to know more about the history of the advent calendar? Please visit this link. http://www.gotquestions.org/advent-calendar.html.

On All Things Fulfilling, we have created our own form of an advent calendar. Each day from now until Christmas we will be giving you a little gift from the award-winning anthology Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Each day will be like opening a door on an advent calendar – a glimpse inside the book cover.

We have a little catching up to do, since today is the 4th of December. Here marks the beginning!
Day #1 Opening the Cover

Twins….one very weak and one very strong. What will become of the little one?
Day #2

Enter into the story two “pioneers” in pediatric heart surgery. A valuable gift.
Day #3

After a brush with death for the little one, another “saving grace” arrives at a door.

Advent Door Day #4 Friendship or Foe? Which brings lessons that build skills of survival for a lifetime?

For more information the memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, which has won 3 book awards, please visit these links:

How To Order:
Audio Book  http://amzn.to/1trrTl9
Paperback  http://amzn.to/1qmcEHI
e-Book  http://amzn.to/1lx7oRh

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard.

Insights Into the Soul

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Posted on December 3, 2014

Love unlocks doors and opens windows that were not there before. ~ Mignon McLaughlin

“There’s so much to see,” I said to my husband as we took a pace that was much too quick for both of us through the Denver Botanic Gardens. We wanted to see it all. “As much as I am enjoying the Chuhily exhibit, the structural elements and hardscapes that are incorporated into this garden are amazing. You can really see it this time of the year, without all the flowers. There is a real art to having something of interest in the garden year round when flowers are practically non-existent or ‘bare bones.’ They’ve done an amazing job.”

“I agree,” said Terry. His father was a landscaper, and both of us have an interest and eye for design in the garden. My dad was a custom home builder so I’ve always loved architecture. I find doors and windows incorporated into any kind of structures interesting.

Today on All Things Fulfilling, travel with me through some of my favorite doors and windows that I came across in the Denver Botanic Gardens. I captured these visual images over a very fulfilling trip during the Thanksgiving weekend.

A small key opens big doors – Turkish Proverb

Commitment opens the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the right stuff to turn our dreams into reality. ~ James Womack

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.~ Joseph Campbell

There are things known and things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception – Aldous Huxley

All the windows of my heart I open to this day ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

Let there be many windows to your soul, that all the glory of the world may beautify it ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Happiness sneaks in through a door we didn’t know we left open.” ~ Unknown

When one door is closed, don’t you know another is open. ~ Bob Marley

How can I know anything about the past or the future, when the light of the Beloved shines now. ~ Rumi

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

The heart of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. ~ Audrey Hepburn

For more insight into the soul of what makes this woman’s heart tick, check out Sue Batton Leonard’s award-winning memoir “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.” http://amzn.to/1vDFUMt

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

Sunday’s Blessing

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Posted on November 30, 2014

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home. ~Author Unknown

Happy Sunday, everybody! I hope those who traveled a distance over the Thanksgiving weekend arrive home safely and are filled with fulfilling memories of the good food and good company they shared over the weekend.

Here on All Things Fulfilling I had a nostalgic recollection, and Sunday is an appropriate day of the week to share it. Normally on weekends, I regroup and abstain from blogging.

Who among you can relate to this picture and this hand-sign diagram? If you know what it is, who taught you how to do it ? Your parents, your siblings, friends or in church or at school?What are these two children saying about faith through their actions?

If you can’t figure it out, scroll to the end of the blog and I will give you the answer.

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard. For information on her newly-released memoir, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, please visit this link.

http://amzn.to/141aW6S. The book is available in audio, book in print and e-book.

Answer: “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and see all the people?” That’s what the two above images are showing.

Old Fashioned as Mother’s Love

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Posted on November 19, 2014

“Rejecting things because they are old-fashioned would rule out the sun and the moon — and a mother’s love.” ~ Unknown

Lately, I have been reflecting on how people have different values. For instance, faith means something different to each one of us, and we all come to our faith (or not) through our own life circumstances. Here are some images that reflect an era when family, faith and community was at the forefront of American life.

Things have indeed changed since my childhood and life has gotten more complex – perhaps by our own choices or maybe because our American values in this day and age are different. It is disheartening that the U.S.A. has fallen through the ranks as no longer being one of the happiest places in the world to live. Interested in what countries occupy the top spaces? Here is an article from USA Today for you to read. http://usat.ly/1CWtnUH.

Could it be that that returning to old fashioned values of strong family, community and spiritual relationships might help us find whatever is lacking?

I would love to hear our reader’s opinions. Do you think life is less fulfilling than it used to be? Would you like to see our country return to our good old fashioned values and become more harmonious with our country’s founding principles? If so, what are you looking for in your life? Post your comment on this site.

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, the award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. For more information on the memoir, an anthology of stories, available in audio book, paperback and e-book, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/141aW6S.

The Reality of Life

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Posted on November 13, 2014

“Trust life a little bit.” ~ Maya Angelou

Have we become a society that is far too difficult to please? Sometimes I think we need to focus on being less picky about what we eat and remember how many people go to bed hungry.

I heard some statistics from a speaker from the Boys and Girls Club last Friday about the number of children who have their only nutritious meal at school or at the Boys and Girls Club. It was astounding how many kids, right here in America, want nothing more than to go to bed at night with a full stomach. It wouldn’t matter to them whether milk was whole, low fat, two percent, skim, coconut or almond, for instance. For them, just having enough to eat would be the height of living a life fulfilled.

Granted for some people with real health issues food choices are necessary and specialized diets are very important. But, at the risk of sounding like an old fogey who repeats stories like “when I was a kid we had to walk 10 miles to school, all up hill, in blizzards, without any shoes,” I’d just like to say how persnickety we have become as a society when it comes to food. Back when I was a child there was one choice:

Because our society as a whole has become so focused on every little thing we put in our mouths, we forget to be grateful that there is even food on the table. There are so many other things in life that should hold more importance, because when you come down to it –

Would you agree or does my statement sound silly, naïve or uninformed? Maybe my attitude is just too square. It seems as if living with balance has become a foreign concept.

NO MATTER WHAT WE EAT…..

In whose hand is the life of everything, and the breath of all mankind? ~Job 12:10

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author, Sue Batton Leonard. For more information on the award winning memoir, an anthology of stories, please visit this website.http://amzn.to/141aW6S.

Feeding the Needy through Literacy

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Posted on November 12, 2014

Last Saturday I participated in The Harvest Book Reading Contest, sponsored by MANASPIRITS. Since Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected won in the Young Adult Category, I was given the opportunity to read aloud from my memoir during the nationally broadcast blog talk radio show. To view the e-magazine which was published in conjunction with the contest and to read about the other finalists, please follow this link.https://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/3/97499/340894/pub/.

The purpose of this event was to “feed community literary passions while helping to feed the hungry.” I was so pleased to be included in this nationally broadcast radio show. Children’s hunger is always a good cause to support.

Proceeds went to St Mary’s Food Bank Alliance http://www.firstfoodbank.org/ which is the world’s first food bank, organized in 1967. This event alone raised enough money to fund 5,000 Thanksgiving meals for people in need.

Fueling literary passions, another mission of the Harvest Book Reading Contest, is also such a worthy cause. It has been said that “no skill is more crucial to the future of a child, or to a democratic and prosperous society, than literacy.”

In my opinion, we need opportunities no matter how small or large, to send messages to every child in America that books are the most valued material thing they can have in their lives. Above all else. And reading is the key to all understanding.

Thank you to the folks at MANASPIRITS who organized this event. I greatly appreciated being involved with it. And congratulations to all the other category winners!

This blog is brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on her book, which is winning awards in the young adult category, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/1vDFUMt

Building Skills for Great Futures

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Posted on November 11, 2014

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. ~ Diogenes

Last Friday I attended our monthly meeting of the Yampa Valley University Women. We had a wonderful speaker, Lynna Broyles, from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northwest Colorado. Her program was so informative and designed to educate people about the programs of this non-profit youth development organization.

Here are the five core programs that are available for boys and girls to get involved with. They make their own choices based on their interests:

Character & Leadership
Education & Career Development
Health & Life Skills
The Arts
Sports, Fitness & Recreation

Some figures were cited with regards to how many children in the NW Colorado Boys and Girls Club get their only hot meals for the day at school and at the Boys and Girls Club. For me those numbers were astounding and troubling. Thankfully, all youth, regardless of their parents’ socio-economic status can be involved in the program. Scholarships are available for youth who struggle with the annual membership fee ($25/annually).

The clubs are staffed by trained youth development professionals. Many very successful business people, athletes, and prestigious people in our country got a strong foundation through Boys & Girls Clubs. Youth programs as well as literacy programs are so important to the future of children in our country. Often these programs open doors and futures to much greater things. What a gift the Boys and Girls Clubs are to so many children! http://www.bgca.org/newsevents/Pages/GFSH_PSA.aspx

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of the EVVY award-winning book Gift of A Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. For more information on the book which has also won an award in the young adult category, please follow this link.http://amzn.to/1vDFUMt.

The Gift of Time

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Posted on November 5, 2014

Thank God for his priceless gifts and miracles around the world. ~ Unknown

“Good morning, Sunshine!” I said to myself as we began down a long cornfield-lined road, with sun rays gleaming on the dried golden stalks. It was a gorgeous morning on the Chesapeake. My parents and I were headed to a landmark that harkened to us from Route 213 in Kent County, Maryland.

As we drove up to the Shrewsbury Parish Church I said, “I feel as if I could be in England. This place looks like something from a British show on PBS.” All the while, I was thinking of the Vicar of Dibley, a program that I loved that is now longer broadcast.

We walked the grounds, peaked in the windows, read ages old headstones and just enjoyed being together as parents and adult child taking in the wonders of the season and the beautiful surroundings. Before we left the grounds, the Rector Rev. Henry M. Sabetti stopped and we chatted. We talked about my new memoir and I gave him a bookmark of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. http://amzn.to/1vDFUMt.

Today, I’d like to share images with our readers. If you are interested in reading more about this historic church on the Eastern shores of Chesapeake Bay country, please visit this website.http://www.shrewsburyparish.org/Shrewsbury_Parish/About_Us.html.

It’s been wonderful spending time with my family while being on my East Coast book tour. That morning was just one of many treasured early lights of day that I have spent with my parents. Now I head back to the wild, wild west!