My heart sank the morning I woke up and went to get on my cooking page, Andrea’s Country Home Cookin’, on Facebook. It wasn’t there. How was it not there? I stayed calm, went to the search engine, and put in “Andrea’s Country Home Cookin’.” It said ERROR. My heart officially dropped into my butt at that point. I’m honestly shocked my heart failure didn’t come out years before when this happened. It was the worst feeling. I immediately called my husband and asked if he could see it. He could, but why couldn’t I? We found out that week that I had lost complete access to my page. Others could see it, but I couldn’t. It’s like I was banned from my own page!? When everything switched to Meta, it felt like I lost access as an administrator.

I was just sick about it and shed a few tears. My heart broke. For over a year, I had people trying to get it back for me. We tried everything! Computer gurus, my savvy hunky husband, and friends on Facebook whose hearts broke for me. I emailed Facebook a dozen times and got nothing.

Ya know, the timing of this stunk because it was at Christmas time. So, my background was our Christmas tree. Years later, as my account sat there with nothing new on the page for how many years, my Christmas tree was still my cover photo. I figured at that point, my poor fans probably just figured I passed away at Christmas time! Ha! Nothing had been shared or posted since. I mean, it made sense. Of course, I couldn’t have left it with something that would be good all year round.

Here we are, years later, after it happened, and now my page is completely gone. It makes me sick. I never paid for fans. I had hit the jackpot when I went viral. I got so many opportunities from having 210,000 fans. I got to write my very own first cookbook and sold thousands of copies. I got the amazing opportunity to write for Webb Weekly and film my cooking show.

But you know what?

Does it still make me sick to think about what I lost? Yes.

But you know what’s even better?

What I gained. I still write for such an amazing paper, and it still blows me away how many of you read. I was at a funeral last week and randomly met three different people there who read my columns. It’s wild where I meet some of my readers! I was also able to write a second cookbook! I mean, how awesome is that? I lost 210,000 Facebook fans, but I gained all of you. 57,000 homes EVERY week. Pretty awesome. I get paid to do what I love and reach out to so many of you weekly. Some weeks, Andrea is crazy. Some weeks, she is serious. Other weeks, she talks about family, faith, and her husband’s muscles. You just never know when you open that paper what’s going to be there. (You’re welcome.) *insert cheesy smile face here*

I often heard throughout the years,

“Andrea, why don’t you just create a new Facebook page for your cooking? Just start over.”

Because I can’t go through that again, I’d be so worried to pour my heart and soul into it as I did, then lose everything.

I have everything I need right here, including my cookbooks. I am so blessed. I do what I love every single day, and not many people get to say that.

I do have my personal account on Facebook, and on Instagram, I have a page called Andreascountyhomecooknfitness.

I post on my story often, which then automatically goes to my Facebook stories, where I share about food, family, faith, exercise, animals, flowers, and more. Things that will bring a smile to people’s faces.

I don’t need to reach over 200k people to be happy — the following I have on my personal account, and Instagram is enough. I have so many people who are so active with my stories and message me, saying how much they enjoy it. That makes my heart happy. Even if I just make one person’s day, that’s enough for me.

Folks, we have to look at the glass half full. Not half empty. It’s always how you look at things!!! We have to see the good in people and the good in this world. Yes, people can be a bunch of knuckleheads, but people can also surprise you when you least expect it. I love seeing stories of how communities come together after a tragedy or how a stranger helped another stranger. I know for a fact that, not that long ago, at a local restaurant in our area, a random customer gave a dear friend of mine a $1,000 tip! A thousand dollars!!! That is incredible! It shows that there are still good people out there. If that was you, and you are reading this, thank you for blessing her. God will surely bless you back. What an incredible gift you gave a pretty awesome person. It’s stories like this that I know we still live in a caring world. It’s not all bad. The news just gets better feedback on the bad stuff, of course.

I want heartfelt stuff. I want to make people feel good. That’s why you tell me you read my column. Thank you for that, and thank you to all of you who have also supported me in purchasing a cookbook! They are still at Rust and Shine in Williamsport and Maseto’s in Old Lycoming Township. I may extend it to other areas as well, but for now, both places are newly stocked with my cookbooks. It will make you feel good too. I want to do another meet-and-greet soon. It’s amazing meeting all of you, and thank you for being one of my many blessings.

Orange Julius
Ingredients:
• 1 (12 oz.) can frozen orange juice concentrate, partially thawed
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup “pulp” orange juice (If you don’t have this, you can still make it without)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups ice cubes
Directions:

Put all your ingredients into the blender. I put the liquids in first, then the ice, because it seems to mix it up better. Poor into glasses and place in freezer about 20-30 minutes to chill. Slice oranges and place on rim for festive beverage. Enjoy this frosted yummy goodness on a fresh spring day with your windows up and birdies chirpin!