Shorty Forgot

So on facebook Shorty posts she is in Hawaii...wait she was suppose to call when she got to the airport in SF on her way to Hawaii. So I left a post and said hay you forgot something.. ME. So Shorty called today and said she was very sorry, but her husband was afraid to let her wonder off  and out of the airport with her old drinking buddy's. Yeah he has always been like that. That is why he moved her to the other side of the world (country.)  Shorty said she got so home sick when they landed in the bay area for the a hour layover.

So Shorty and I made a plan to meet in the middle. I said how about Colorado? Shorty said that was to far west and not in the middle, Shorty suggested Chicago, Why is it that people on the east coast think Chicago is in the middle? I am going to have to Google map what is the middle between my house and hers. I will call my foster sister because I know she will want to go with me!

I really miss Shorty. She haa been my friend since kindergarten. Every time we get together it is like no time has elapsed.

Pot Roast

So last night I have my dad over for dinner and to watch the Giants game and Survivor (my dad's favorite tv show.) I made a very simple pot roast in the crock pot. My dad, my gig a low and GG-GP all raved about my pot roast. Oh its so tender, it so tasty, this is the best pot roast ever .Go figure.


Lets Go Giants!  LETS GO!  That was a landslide! I had my black beard, panda hat and orange towel pom poms dancing in the street! I love the misfits!

Annual Stuffed Pumpkin Dinner

So tonight I made my annual stuffed pumpkin dinner. Every year I say this is the last year I am going to make it, every year I make it again.This IS the last year I am going to make it. By the time it is all said and done, it takes about 3 hours. I invited my dad over, I told GG-GP tonight we are having something special,  I joyfully told my gig a low we are having my annual stuffed pumpkin dinner tonight. 

I go to Safeway and fuss over getting just the right pumpkin, I bring it home with great anticipation. I am going to turn this average pumpkin into a masterpiece.

I clear the table so when I take the pumpkin out of the oven it will be the center piece. I take it out of the oven, but it on the table invite the guys into the kitchen to behold this yummy dinner I have prepared for them.

They all walk in and sit down. No one says anything.  UMMMM do you notice that beautiful cooked pumpkin sitting in the middle of the table. Oh yeah sure enough it's a  pumpkin.  Ok I have to admit I kinda lose it at this point. Do you realize I just spent 3 hours making this dinner? All you can say is "its a pumpkin" So my dad said it was "good" GG-GP said he "liked the walnuts" and my gig a low just picked at his dinner.

The guys agreed I should take a picture of it. What, I don't want a picture of the pumpkin. I want you to notice that I just spent 3 hours on this for YOU.

What I wanted you to say would be something like this, jeeze you worked really hard on providing us this stunning dinner, we really appreciate the time, effort and love you put into making this for us. This is absolutely the most tasty dinner you have made in your whole life. Not only that it is so seasonal. This was a perfect dinner for a cold rainy late October night.

I just want to let you all know that for Thanksgiving we are having Hungry Man frozen dinners with sliced turkey with mash potatoes and an over cooked brownie

I have been really busy

I have been really busy. So busy I can't keep up with my self. I seem to over commit my self. I think the professionals call it escapism. I like to be busy. To me house work is boring. 100 years from now who is going to care if I did not vacuum today? I always say if you want to come over to see my house give me a call, if you want to come over and see me, stop by anytime. I must of "cut" the day God was handing out domestic stuff.

I have to admit I love my vacuum. I love to look at it.  If I have to choose between going to the movie with my friends or staying home to clean the house, the friends always win.


I have a signs on my refrigerator that says that I am "domestically disabled" and "make your self at home, clean my kitchen." My mouse pad has an black and white photo with a woman who appears to be from the 50's. She has a scowl on her face and she is holding a feather duster. It says "does it look like I give a rats ass." It still makes me laugh and I have had it for years.


I always covet those women who love house work. Because no matter how "forward" thinking we have become, society still says it is a woman's job to clean the house.


When the kids where little I used to take out the trash and mow the lawn. The kids would tell me that I was not "suppose" to take out the trash and mow the lawn. I said to them "who says." They could never answer. It is what society told them even at their young age.


This morning would be a perfect day to do house work because it is raining, but I am completely out of laundry detergent. I guess I will have to go to Target.... and maybe stop by a few of those crafts shows that are starting to pop up. :)

The F's

I need to go to bed but I have not update you in a long time about the F's. Mr & Mrs. F have been married for 1 1/2 years. Mr. F recently got an honorable discharge from the military.  Mr. & Mrs. F's marriage has been rocky all along. Now it is really more like an avalanche. Their stuff is hitting the fan. He said, she said. It is ugly. I don't know if the marriage will stay in tact. I hope and pray they do not physically hurt each other in the process. I don't believe you can't get out of a marriage without being hurt in some way. Physically, emotionally or financially.

Mr. F decided to un-friend me on facebook. I really don't think that was such a bad thing. I think this is the second time I have been un-friended. I was not heart broken either time. Really who needs 200 or 2000 friends anyways?

More later.

After All This is a Quilting Blog

I went to the Pacific Cost Quilt show. Here are my favorite quilts of the day. I was inspired to start a new quilt in my spare time! I had so much fun!

I really like how this quilter did the tree shadow. 

 

First Place Winner. I can see why. This quilt is amazing.

 

The quilting on this one was spectator!

 

I love stars! WOW.

one, twice, three times

¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Who here has ever denied Jesus? Just like Peter,  Oh no I would never do that. That's what Peter thought. We might be surprised how we would react if people where hunting us down to slowly torture us to death. What if you just saw your best friend be crucified, or your friends getting thrown into the lions den. Would you still say yes, I follow the teaching of Jesus? Peter denied Christ 3 times. After the resurrection, Jesus told Peter he loved him 3 times. Peter went on to start the Christian Church. It seems that some Catholics believe that Peter was the Pope.

Oral tradition says Peter was crucified upside down under Nero's leadership.

So what is my point?

• Jesus who is omnipotent - could see the big piture and knew that Peter loved him. 
• Peter was persecuted because of his belief later on in life
• Peter now resides in the kingdom of heaven

Pure in heart

Blessed are the pure in heart  for they will see God.

Accroding the the blue letter bible "pure" is talking  ethically, with the significance free from corrupt desire, from guilt, (pure- word katharos)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 

Vines says it calls it "loving peacemakers." so that made me think what is a non loving peacemaker.? I suppose that if there is a war, and one group kills another group and then their is peace. That would not qualify for peacemaker. I think peace makers must of a little mercy in them to get themselves in trouble. Peacemakers and people with mercy must be a little co-dependent. Peacemakers and people with mercy make sure you have good boundaries.

S O A P

If you are wondering, I am leading a journal class. We are writing how we feel about parts of sermon on the Mt. SO I do my journaling on this blog. If you want, you can journal what these scriptures with me. Here is our method.


S cripture - write down the scripture


O bservation - what is the scripture saying to you?

Application - How can I apply what I read to my life?

P rayer - pray about it.


Here is the next one  

^{Matthew 5:7}

Blessed (happy) are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 

I really love this one. I think I have mercy. It has gotten me into trouble many times over the years. Getting involved with drunks, drug addicts, and the list goes on. I do have compassion for people and animals. I had to admit to at my bible study last night that I am a tree hugger. It is really not that popular of a thing in some Christian circles. The pastor said that our church recycles just for me. He was teasing me. But I am really happy our church is vigilant in recycling. Our church is showing a little mercy on the earth. Anyways the gift of mercy has help as well as hindered me over the years. I don't really have time to get into that now. But because I have shown mercy to people, I believe the Lord has shown mercy to me.

I don't understand when people these days brag about having no mercy. Why is that a good thing? In my ever so humble opinion Jesus was/is all about mercy. Helping the sick, widows and poor.


Thank you God for giving me this gift of mercy, and thank you for having mercy on me!

Righteous

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 

 So the first question I have is what is righteousness?  purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting

I know some pretty righteous people I am not one of them. I try to have "rightness" do you remember the big battle I had at walmart over the extra 20 dollars?  I did the right thing. 

As for the other two, it looks like I have my work cut out for me.

I used to have a boyfriend who would call me his "righteous" chick. He was very sweet, a drunk but very sweet.

Weak

Blessed( happy) are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 

"Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice." Blue Letter Bible

In the Greek meek does not mean weak. It means mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit. It  may surprise some of you but I have a very strong personality. A little mildness of disposition would not hurt. It does not say meek = doormat. 

Meek is hard for me. I have dyslexia. Do I except how my brain works. No. Do I get mad at God because I can't spell or do math. Yes. Do I want God to heal me and get rid of this thorn in my side called Dyslexia, yes. Do I dispute and resist my dyslexia every time I try to spell a word, do a math problem, think about getting a new job so on. Yes.  If I believe the bible to be true, God made me this way on purpose.

Some people may say I am wallowing in self pity. Those people have never walked a mile in my shoes. People tell me all the time, I have dyslexia, I can't spell. I am hear to tell most of you, you do not have dyslexia. Not only that if I was wallowing in self pity I would never had gotten this far, getting 2 AA's and a certificate of completion :p

I always think if I could read well, spell and do math my life would be so much easier. Maybe not, I don't know.

Has God put many people in my life to help me cope with Dyslexia? Yes. Thank you to those who love, accept and help me along the way. Thank you God for bringing these people in my life.

As far as gentleness of spirit I think of three people, My sweet friend, Malinda and MaMa Jane. They are not in anyway, shape or form rough around the edges. I am sure gentleness of spirit comes with its own set of problems.

Maybe if I except my dyslexia and convince myself it is great having your brain malfunction it will go away!

Good Mourning

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

(RQ translation - happy are those who mourn their spirituality, for they will be comforted. )

Questions to my self what does mournful look like? Am I being mournful about my relationship with God if it is not right? 

Well maybe a little.  If I am not where I am suppose to be spiritually speaking, I need to be mournful. Here is the worst part. Most of the time, I just go through the day, not even being mindful of where I am at spiritually speaking. The word lukewarm keeps coming to my mind. Being lukewarm spiritually is like a death.

Some Shi'ite men beat themselves with a zanjir (a whip with chains) on a day of mourning. That seems so extreme to us westerners. I have to say they don't forget to mourn. It is part of their culture. It's in your face.

Should I mourn my lack of spirituality I have? yes. How should I do that? With a zanjir, no. Maybe by prayer or crying out for help. 

Could I be mournful because I can see someone I know dieing spiritually or a complete spiritual death?Yes.

I am questioning my self. It is always a good thing to be self reflective.  

This scripture tells me that if I am mindful and mourn my lack of spirituality I will be comforted. The key is I need to be aware of my absence of who I am in Christ. When I become aware and be mournful about my lack of spirituality, God will give me comfort. 

The other kind of mourning, when someone dies physically will I be comforted? Knowing that I will see them again gives me great comfort. 
 

Even Budda says: However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them? That is so true. I need to act on my faith, not just read it or write about it. I need to be proactive. 

I am not sure if I am making any sense to you. At least I know what I am talking about. ;)

Poor in Spirit

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: Blessed (happy) are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

I can understand why Jesus would want to get away from the crowds.  It seems like my life is so busy. I am not complaining, I like it that way. Sometimes I have to stop, and get away, and it is even better if I can do that with some close friends. 

I love going to the mountains. I love looking out at night and seeing all the lights from the cities below flickering like candles. I love it when you wake up in the morning and your above the fog. The fog looks like a big white fluffy blanket.  I love the chill in the air.  

God never said this life was going to be easy or pain free. Where did people get the idea that Christians are perfect, they never cuss, drive to fast , yell at their kids or have a bad day at work. We have the same struggles as everyone else. This scripture is a promise to me that no matter how bad things now, better things are to come.

Fire in Tennessee

Did you hear about this fire in Tennessee ? To watch the story go to this link

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Firefighters-watch-as-home-burns-to-the-ground-104052668.html?ref=nf

It is very sad that the family lost everything. Could I just stand and watch someones house burn down, and listen to the family begging me to put it out if I was a firefighter? No, I do not think so.

Apparently, if you don't pay 75 dollars a year in this town you don't get fire protection. This family did not pay, the man thought if they had a fire, he could put it out with his garden hose. Oops, it did not reach.  So when their house caught on fire, they called 911 and no one responded. When the fire moved to the yard next door the fire fighters put out the yard fire because their neighbors payed the 75 bucks. All the while the firefighters watched the house next door burn to the ground. The family called 911 3 times and told the fire fighters they would pay what ever it takes to put the fire out. The mayor said to late, sorry Charlie, and told the firefighters not to do anything.

Of coarse I started thinking of heaven and hell. How many people will not pay up now, before they die? They think they have everything under control. When their judgment day happens, the King will say sorry Charley, this has been my policy for over 2000 years. You can almost hear the people begging saying they thought they could pay later. How sad.

I am no expert on God and Judgment. I know our God is a merciful God. I think I would rather pay up the "75 dollars" now, and if I am wrong what did I lose spiritually speaking? nothing. I guess I would call it fire insurance.

You do What?

So the other day I found myself amongst  a new group of friends. Everybody was mingling getting to know one another, we were talking about what do you do for work and other conversations where going on. I said to this woman, what do you do for work. She replied in a matter of a fact tone, I am an Oakland police officer. The room got dead silent. You could hear a pin drop. That is bad on so many levels. I will just leave it at that.

Green Death

So the other day my friend called me up. She has never married and she has no children. For some unknown reason she was worried about who would come to her funeral and bury her. I told her not to worry, if I am still alive at the time of her death, I would take care of her. It seems like a morbid subject, but really I believe like my grandma did. My grandma was a great pre-planner.

My grandma had everything taken care of at the time of her death, her plot, her casket, even what outfit she wanted to have on. By grandma taking care of that it was real easy for the family just to grieve. The only problem was the funeral home guy (he was not a preacher) kept calling her Elaine, when her name was Eileen. After about 10 minutes of this my sister yelled out EILEEN! It was very uncomfortable. My family believes in open caskets. I do not.

I remember when my mom died how shocked I was to see themed caskets. One would look like a boat, one for a princess, one a car. They also had cardboard boxes that you could draw on and write your final wishes. That was when Costco was just starting to sell caskets. So I thought I would go see what is new in the world of death on the internet.

The new trend in death is "green" burial and cremation. They are only a few "green" cemetery's in the country. One is just a few miles from here. Instead of being buried in a casket, you can be buried in a blanket, shroud, box or a wicker casket. Everything is biodegradable, including you. They do not embalm you. No preservatives. The green cemetery's have a special crematorium that is doubled sealed so their is no smoke or dust polluting the air.  The urns are also biodegradable and made out of recycled goods. The green cemetery gives you a global positioning number so you can find your loved one if you wish. There is no head stones, only flowers, trees and shrubs. They do not have funeral directors anymore, they have death "midwives" who are nurturing and take care of you after your dead.

I wonder if you can have your dogs buried with you at the green cemetery? I guess I will have to find out.

Orange

I am not a baseball fan, however I want to say GO GIANTS! I guess you could say I am a fair weather baseball fan. If the Giants or A's are winning I am on their side! I might even watch their next game!

Soup Of The Day

I hate grocery shopping, enless I am going to WinCo. I love WinCo. I have to drive for miles and go way out of my way to get there, but man is it worth it. Yesterday my sweet friend wanted to go with me. She had no idea of what a slow poke I can be.


WinCo is bigger then the biggest Costco you have ever been to. I like to go up and down every aisle methodically, looking at every product on each side. Usually, it takes me about 3 hours to get through WinCo. Each isle is like a city block long. Visually speaking it looking at all that stuff is kind of overwhelming. That is why I have to go slow. I would glance up and my sweet friend would be right next to me. The next thing I know she is clear at the other end of the aisle. I had not even had a chance to process everything I was looking at in that little section, let alone both sides. I was kind of getting stressed because I was feeling rushed. My sweet friend was feeling stressed because she was coming down with a cold and she shops like a hunter. Hunt down the item, put it in the basket and move on. I was holding her up. We both tried to compromise, she slowed down, I moved a little faster.  The truth is I think she slowed way down, I tried really hard to speed up, but I didn't want to miss anything.


I found this really cool tomato bouillon cube. I had never noticed it before. It was in the Mexican "block." It is called "Caldo de Tomate con sabor de pollo" So it is tomato bouillon with chicken flavor.
If I was going fast I would of never seen it. I think it might be good in soup. Me and my sweet friend are wishing that the weather would cool down enough for soup. We agree if I bought the bouillon maybe the weather would get a hint. I bought the bullion but it only cooled down to 75' today.


I like soup any time of year. I am sure you will agree hot soup is best on a very cold winter day served with some warm bread. I like cold soup in the summer. Maybe I will make some tomato soup with some fresh tomatoes and use my new tomato bouillon cube. Tomato soup and grilled cheese on Wonder-bread...That sounds like the perfect meal to me.

My Drug Dealer

Tonight was Steve's last night for his route. Steve is my drug dealer better know as the Schwan man.  Every other week he would bring me my drug of choice, triple lemon ice cream. Steve has to go take care of his father down in southern California. I was very sad to see him go. He was very personable. Clean cut Mormon like guy.


Steve brought along the new guy who is going to be taking over Steve's "turf." His name is Jed. Jed decided that it was a good idea to have a cigarette while Steve was putting my ice cream in a big Swhan bag. Steve and I joked that we hope the cops where not watching. Steve said here is your fix. Jed just stood their smoking.



It really bothered me. What made Jed think it was ok to smoke when the drug deal was going down? My heart was being broken, and Jed is having a cigarette. I thought how tacky. How unprofessional. There is no way Jed is going to be my drug dealer. Soon as they left I called and canceled the Schwan man.

Heels and a Dress

So the other day when I went to SL's party, I wore heels and a dress. I felt so very uncomfortable physically and emotionally. I got on BART, and I started to think, if I need to fight how do I do it in a dress and heels? (There where some unsavory people on board when I got on) Not only that, my dress was low cut and I felt like my boobs where sticking out. You know I am used to wearing a burqa . Not only that, no one wares nylons anymore (at least here in California)I felt exposed and vulnerable. Trying to walk up and down the stair in my cute black wedge heels at the BART station was another sight to behold.


From my early teen until I turned about 25, I was totally comfortable in a dress and stiletto heals. humm. I want to wear a dress and heels. Thankfully Dehlia is in my life, She is a fashion consultant by profession. She has clients coming in from all over the country and in the state of CA. Anyways she said I looked just fine and I was not walking like a linebacker.


I asked her if she would help me practice being comfortable in a dress and heels again. Dehlia said that would be fine. She suggested Happy Hour. I said I go to happy hour "all the time" I really don't see many people in dresses and heels. So she said maybe I could come to one of her cocktail parties!!!  Dehlia said she usually has cocktails parties around the holidays! OH now that sounds like fun. I have never been to a cocktail party. (probably because I don't drink.) Dehlia said she would have Ginger ale for me. That way I could get practice in a dress and heels.


I feel so happy when I think of how good all my friends are to. I am very thankful that God has put Dehlia, my sweet friend, Fuchsia, Jeremiah, Malinda, Karna, and many others in my life. They all bring different life styles and experiences to my life. They enrich me.