Come Ye Thankful People, Come – it’s time for Santa!!

November 8, 2007 at 7:44 pm (personal, ponderings)

I realize this is seriously close to rant status, but it just really, really bugs me that Christmas is EVERYWHERE. Store displays were up before Halloween. Christmas music has hit the airwaves. Christmas commercials are all ready merrily enticing our children. And my own town, for Pete’s sake, has all the Christmas decorations up.
Have we forgotten we have an important holiday in November? A holiday that isn’t a boon to stores and marketers and CEO’s stretching out greedy hands to gather the windfall to be sure. But a holiday in which we count our blessings, give thanks for all we are and have; a holiday to share good food, good conversation and memories with family and friends. To relax and enjoy the moment, to slow down and unwind – well, until we rush out the door at 5:30 am on the day after Thanksgiving to grab and shove, selfishly forgetting love and kindness to take advantage of those wonderful “early” Christmas bargains…..

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The best laid plans

November 6, 2007 at 10:57 pm (family, personal)


So, tonight I came home from work with an hour to spare before I had to take Carissa to the airport. Yes, she had to go back to school…
Anyway, I came home to finish up a few things, make sure she was packed and just have a calm few minutes before we headed out. Jess’s mom came by to bring a few things for Carissa to take to Jess at Gordon, and Cairo, as usual, turned into a scaredy cat. Nothing new. Then for some reason he started tearing around – I think he was still scared, but wanted to play, and his adreneline must have been pretty high.
So much for relaxing. All hell broke loose, and amidst the melee we suddenly saw blood. MOM! How did Cairo get hurt? – So I look and he has a gash on his left leg. I mean a hole. Like a good 2 inches long and bleeding. We still don’t know what happened. Did he catch it on his crate? A drawer handle? My ring when I tried to catch him? So, now, we have to leave in fifteen minutes for the airport and Cairo is dripping blood and obviously needs stitches. Chris isn’t home and Kelsey has to go babysit. So Linda (Jess’s mom) and I bandage Cai up, Carissa quickly prints out her boarding pass, throws her suitcase in the car, I bundle up Cairo, and off we go. First stop, the vet. Yep. Stitches. “How in the world did he do that?” Yeah, I wanna know too…… so, after assuring me he is ok, and that he will be ready to pick up when I get back from the airport we jump in the car and off we go. Traffic is miserable. Just horrible. I finally get to Franklin Park so Kim can take Carissa to the airport and I can go back and get Cai. Phew. Kelsey calls, she doesn’t have the IPASS transponder and has to take the Tollway to Wendy’s. Just pretend like you have it. We’ll deal with it later. Traffic is worse, if that is possible. The guy in front of me can’t just drive slow and steady, no, he has to speed up and slam on the breaks. Twenty five times in a mile. Grrrrr.
Finally, I get back and pick up the pup. Several stitches. He was a good patient. Just a local anesthetic was all he needed. Shaved leg. It looks pretty gross. But he is comical in his Elizabethean Collar. Just call him reverse cone head. He doesn’t get that he can’t fit through small spaces now. He keeps running into things. It would be funnier if I didn’t feel so badly for him. And my wallet. $200.00 bucks later – which included said collar and antibiotics – we are on our way home. Carissa calls. Her flight has been delayed for an hour and a half. For this I fought traffic and drove like crazy to get her there???? She won’t get home now until 12:30. AM. Oh, shoot, I forgot my sheets are in the washer. The ones Cairo bled all over. No big deal I guess. I can’t go to work tomorrow, I have to babysit the dog…..

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BOS/ORD

November 5, 2007 at 3:03 pm (family, friends, fun)


Sorry, for the lack of blogging lately. I have a GOOD excuse. Really. Carissa came home for a visit on Thursday and she is here until tomorrow….It was fun to have her home, and to finally get caught up on life at Gordon. She got to spend time with her boyfriend, as well as several other friends over the weekend. We took Carissa and Andy out to dinner on Friday, and she got to surprise her Via Christus friends on Sunday. Plus she did get to stop by the high school and see rehearsal for the fall play since she won’t be home next weekend to see it. We managed to sneak in a little shopping – for long sleeved shirts and boots – on Saturday. So it has been fun, but busy and tiring. And I haven’t been reading, or thinking any deep thoughts….. so I have nothing to write about. She’s leaving tomorrow, and the house will be quiet again and back to normal – whatever that is….

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….it’s what’s for dinner

October 31, 2007 at 4:54 pm (ethics, ponderings, social justice)

 

First, let me say, I am NOT a vegetarian, nor am I a PETA member. However these pictures are appalling! If you want to research this any further pick up a copy of The Ethics of What we Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer.

Battery Cages where egg laying hens are kept. Note – not only can they not move, they are debeaked.

Debeaking – beaks are seared off with a red hot blade. One reason this is done is to prevent them from pecking their neighbor to death….

Another look at the caged hens…. and their waste.

And this is how the “Free Range” Boiler chickens are kept. Their only freedom is that they are not in individual cages….

The above two pictures are “Free Range” turkeys. Also debeaked. Like many “free-range” and “organic” animals, these young turkeys are crowded together in a filthy shed and will not see the sun or breathe fresh air until the day they’re taken to slaughter.

In today’s Turkey Farms, the turkeys are bred (and drugged) to grow quickly and maximize the “white meat.” Because of this they are often crippled under their own weight, and can not mate naturally.

These are the “Pig Factory” farms. Again – horribly crowded. Pigs are social animals and very intelligent. On these farms there is no mental stimulation, which often leads to insanity and compulsive chewing of the metal cages.

The gestinational pigs don’t fare much better, often kept in these confining cages for their entire life.

I was gonna show you the cows, but it was just too heartbreaking. Especially the veal calves. And the pictures of beef cattle walking in waste halfway up their legs. The feedlots are abominable. The confinement of beef and dairy cattle in shoulder to shoulder conditions is awful. The cows look at you with human-like eyes….

One other thing – the waste of these animals (way too many animals for the size of the area they are confined in) kept on these farms is destroying the air, water and soil around them. To say nothing of the waste and indigestion produced gases that contribute to global warming. I’m just saying…..

So, I will leave you there. I encourage everyone to become educated about the food you eat, so you can make wise choices. There are ethical farms and companies out there, it just takes some work to find them…..
A couple other good books are: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, 101 Reasons Why I’m A Vegetarian by Pamela Rice and a book I have just purchased, and hope is good – The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

Then, there’s corn……..


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Not in My Backyard…..

October 29, 2007 at 9:01 am (church, community, faith, ponderings, social justice)

So, yesterday in church we were talking about the Great Commission and what that means for us, today. Practicalities. What each of us as individuals can do to make the world a better place; how we can be Christ to others. And, the excuses for why we don’t.

After church I pretty much forgot about the discussion. Until this morning on the way to work. As I was driving down the street the school is on, the state of the neighborhood shocked me. I guess I have been driving down the street with blinders on all year. What really hit me was a house with a FOR RENT sign in the front yard. “WHO would want to rent that dump?” I thought……

Now, keep in mind it wasn’t all that long ago that I lived in this very neighborhood. For fifteen years. We had a modest house, a good-sized yard, and relatively good neighbors. And then, the neighborhood changed. Quite rapidly. We stuck it out for a couple more years. After all, the kids could walk to school; I could walk to the store and we had just finished our basement. But suddenly I became uncomfortable there. With the type of people the neighborhood was attracting. The fact that most were immigrants, many illegal, living two or three families to a house, the fact that they didn’t care what their house, or yard looked like. The fact that I didn’t understand them, or their culture, or their poverty. I didn’t get that they were just trying to get ahead and make life for their families better. Trying to scrounge up a piece of the American Dream. And truth be told, I looked at the bottom line – would I be able to sell my house and still make a profit? I mean we were rapidly losing value weren’t we?

We put the house on the market. I remember sitting on my porch one day, wrestling with the fact that I was doing that. That I was not content with my present circumstances. That my neighbors didn’t have that option. How I was one to talk about going to another country to work with the poor on a mission trip, when here the poor and needy were coming to MY NEIGHBORHOOD! I struggled with it. It nagged at me. Stay here and be hands and feet to those in need? Or move to where my kids felt safe, and not looked down on for were they resided. I weighed my feelings and my family against what could possible be an opportunity to love and minister to those around me. And my family won. Well, in one sense of the word. But they lost even more. There were great teaching opportunities there. A chance for my kids to see Jesus in action. A chance to teach them that life wasn’t all about them.

I look at people now that live in comfort and prosperity, who sell their homes, pick up their families and move to the inner city, or neighborhoods like the one I lived in. I missed the boat. We were already there. And I couldn’t wait to get out…..

Within a week our house sold and we packed up and moved to a more “acceptable” neighborhood. Hey – I was only looking out for my kids, right?

So – would I make the same choice today? Have I learned anything? I would like to think that I would do things differently, but honestly, I don’t know. This is part of my ongoing struggle to love. To be Jesus to a hurting world.

Just not in my backyard….. <sigh>



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Defense of the Dark Arts, er, I mean, Harry Potter

October 26, 2007 at 11:22 am (ponderings)

‘Harry Potter’ Author J.K.Rowling Opens Up About Books’ Christian Imagery

thanks for the link, Julie!

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Road Trip – Day 3

October 26, 2007 at 9:48 am (friends, personal, vacation)


Part three of our road trip is posted at Dana’s site.  (This includes the Makers Mark Distillery, and Wigwam Village #2.)
I’m so glad she did this! Thank you Dana. :)



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The Ties that Bind

October 24, 2007 at 10:03 am (church, ponderings)

When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, the cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. So the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice.

Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors


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My heart hurts……

October 23, 2007 at 8:46 am (Uncategorized)









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Hello world!

October 22, 2007 at 6:35 pm (personal)

I’m trying to decide if I wanna use WordPress for a while. I think maybe I’ll run it side by side with Blogger to see if there is more flexibility. Maybe not on “free” WordPress…. but I’d just kinda like to get a feel for it. So for now – excuse the playing. :)

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