Day Six: Publicly profess love and devotion for a blogger friend

I was having difficulty writing this post, not because of a lack of inspiration, but because it is a challenging topic and I couldn’t make it as short as I wanted it to be. Every time I write anything at all, I hear my college professors’ mantra reverberate throughout my head: “say what you have to say in as few words as possible” (I once condensed a short story of about 5,000 words into a six line poem due to that mantra). Well, dear professors, sometimes, it takes a lot of words to say what I have to say.

So I cheated. I wrote a totally different post about menu planning and posted it as “day six,” justifying to myself that it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want. Then I realized that my menu graphic wasn’t displaying correctly and it just wasn’t all that interesting, so I deleted that post and decided to write the original post, even though it might be somewhat lengthy.  Hopefully, you will agree that this is more interesting, anyway!

I know two ladies named Tammy and Carrie, and they have been best friends since birth. When I was sixteen and had just moved to their town and started going to their church, they befriended me and we’ve been friends ever since. They continue to amaze and inspire me with the things that they accomplish.

You can read Carrie's blog here. She started her blog and business in 2008 and is an expert at helping families save money in the Colorado Springs area. Did I mention that she has five kids? Oh, and she home schools. Add to the list the talents of fabulous cook and hostess extraordinaire, and you’re beginning to get the picture. Since I’m supposed to be talking about a blogger here, I should emphasize that her blog became a profitable business. Is any of this reminding you of the woman in Proverbs 31? Yeah, me too. That’s why I respect Carrie so much.

Tammy just started blogging a few weeks ago, but each post is just so Tammy. She is a newlywed and is counting One Daily Blessing. I don’t know any other person who actually uses the word “‘Tis.” Tammy does, though, and I love it. If I say the word “classy,” what (or whom!) comes to mind? A lot of people would say Audrey Hepburn. Not me. When I hear “classy” or “real lady,” I think of Tammy. She is the real deal and I love that about her.

These two godly women inspire me in many ways, but another big one is that they have both written books! If you know me at all you are aware that it is one of my life’s goals to write and publish a book. In recent years, my writing has taken a back seat to other life pursuits, but it is always, always simmering under the surface. One of these days, I will follow the example of my friends and actually accomplish this feat! Meanwhile, I’m inspired by their writing!

Carrie wrote an ebook called From Garbage to Gourmet. It’s kind of a cookbook, but mostly, it is a call to better kitchen stewardship by wasting less food. This is the kind of useful tool that ANY household could use. (And yes, this is a shameless plug for my friend’s book. Buy it. It will save you money.) After I read it, I put several of her suggestions into place in my own kitchen right away, and there are more for me to implement in the future.

Tammy was a history major in college and her book is the biography of her paternal grandfather. It is called Blinded By His Shadow and it is not just a biography of a great man; it is an extremely well-researched account of a WWII soldier’s experiences. After reading Tammy’s book, I felt like I knew her grandfather and I felt a deep gratitude to him for his service, and admiration for his family who took his legacy seriously. You can find more information about Tammy’s book here.

Now you can see why I was hesitant to write this post… if anyone read the whole thing (aside from their families and my mom, haha!), you get a gold star!