Preparing for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is less than a week away and the questions are in full swing, "So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" The question is really two-fold...do you have plans for the long weekend, and with whom are you gathering for the feast on Thursday? As a matter of fact, we do have plans for the weekend. ON Friday, we're meeting my family in Orlando (after most of them have spent 5 days on a cruise ship). It'll be a day of story-telling...most true...and catching up on each other. I can't wait. OF course, Elaine, has once again spear-headed this by securing restaurant reservations and hotel reservations for Friday night...all near the airport for the Saturday flights home. I can't wait for Friday. The only downside is that not everyone can stay after the cruise for lots of socializing, as a few have Friday flights home. Alas, we all have our own lives and obligations away from our extended family.
As to our Thanksgiving Dinner? Well, Thanksgiving is a 'weird' holiday in our home. We've rarely had anyone other than the 4 of us, and my children don't like turkey. Two years ago we were actually painting the outside of our house on Thanksgiving. The last few years the Imp has been invited to spend Thanksgiving day with a friend of hers. (Her friend is the only teenager in her extended family and having a friend helps the friend and the friend's parents). The Imp is invited because she's the only one who doesn't have 'family' plans of her own that day.
I'd inviting my little brother and his family for Thursday dinner on their way to Orlando, but their kids want downtown Disney, instead. I totally understand that. In fact, it will take pressure off me for dinner on Thursday. The Imp is asking for steak, the Singer wants shrimp. Hubby and I just want a day to relax and give thanks. I'm sure we'll play some family games...Mario Cart on Gamecube as well as some board games. I sometimes wonder if having so few traditions on Thanksgiving has deprived my girls of something. I don't think so. And we more than make up for it with our overabundance of Christmas traditions. I figure, whoever marries my girls will be able to dictate how Thanksgiving is celebrated, as my girls won't care. Getting them to cook a traditional turkey will be difficult, so I see them going to the in-laws.

Before Thanksgiving, we've got to get through this weekend. Tonight is our Marriage Ministry group meeting. And we go straight from there to presenting at an Engaged Encounter weekend. We've not presented at a weekend in over a year. It's always invigorating to 'do' a weekend, but I think this is our swan song. We're called to minister to married couples now, and as there is only so much of us to go around, something's gotta give. We'll miss it, and we value what EE has done for our own relationship. As is so often the case, ministering to others has actually been a ministry to ourselves. We spent months preparing our talks, under the guidance of another couple. We learned a great deal about ourselves. Every time we present our talks, we're reminded of our love for each other and how we've managed through hard times. We always feel closer to each other after a weekend.

The Imp is off on a homeless retreat this weekend. Her youth group goes to the homeless center and starts by feeding dinner to the homeless and then they themselves 'dine' on the same food. Then they 'camp out' on the enclosed grounds for the night. They're allowed to bring 3 items with them. Then in the morning they get up and prepare and serve breakfast to the homeless. This year the kids are lucky as the weather is unseasonably warm and they won't get real cold during the night, but it will still be colder than they are use to. It is always an eye-opening experience. The are so surprised to hear stories of the homeless, many who once lived nice suburbia lives.

Wednesday night we met with Sr. MaryAnn, who's taking the group to World Youth Day in 2011. I'm so excited for my girls. The best thing she said was that this is not a vacation or sightseeing tour but a spiritual pilgrimage. The girls will be meeting with the group once a month and completing spiritual exercises. So when they take off for Spain, even though they don't all know each other now, they will be a cohesive group that already has shared experiences. And better yet, both girls seemed excited at the prospect, too.

Why Go to Church?

I'm reading a great book by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, "Why Go to Church?" Many, many thought provoking ideas. Not an "easy read" in the sense you can not skim through it and the ideas presented can be 'heady'. But his style is very conversational and the vocabulary not too elevated. I know this is a book I'll reread as there is no way I can begin to absorb all he says. I'm already look at Mass in a new light. It's pretty exciting. What's more invigorating, is that he presents ideas similar to Albert Haase' in his book, "Coming Home to Your True Self: Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions" which I am also reading.


Then to see both their ideas dovetailing nicely into my Bible Study classes. And the best part, is that they're not preachy or too theological but very practical...how to live as a Christian in today's world, not a monastery. So I've been mulling on lots of these ideas about church, God, and living right and I open my email to find this:

Why go to Church?
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If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this! If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it. If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

"When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, could you get that for me?

I like it.



Had fresh salad from my garden of green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers and lettuce last night. The Imp said the lettuce is so good she doesn't even need any salad dressing, and she likes the fact that it's all green. She's not sure why people like the white stuff on iceberg lettuce. Since the Imp is not drawn to healthy eating (understatement) it makes me feel good to give her something I know is chemical free and healthy that she likes. She doesn't like cucumbers much or my peppers, but she eats the lettuce. Gotta celebrate the small victories.





The Imp is busy with crew. She had a regatta last weekend. The boys and girls use the same boats, so the girls wait at the finish line to get in the boat as the boys finish to row to the starting line as a warm-up. Well, the boys-8 tipped their boat so the girls-8 event had to be postponed while they got the boat upright and got as much water out as they could. When the girls finished their race they went to lift the boat out of the river, but couldn't. It took a slew of men to lift the boat. They turned it upside down to drain the water...well over 100 lbs of water fell out. The Imp said no wonder it felt like they were pulling dead-weight....they were! She's off to a huge regatta in Georgia next weekend. She's not too thrilled. She's been slated as stroke in a 4 person boat and she feels she's not qualified. As I know absolutely nothing about crew, I can offer no advice or opinion, other than "hang in there." I think it's great she's doing something she does not easily excel at. She seems to enjoy the overall experience and as of now plans to continue in the spring.

Cake Wrecks

I was perusing the Internet highway to find some inspiration for the Imp's birthday cake. I know her birthday is 7 weeks away, but it falls 3 short days before Christmas and I need to know how much time I will need to devote to this cake to make sure it gets done. (That I'm a little obsessive about planning has nothing to do with it). The Imp turns 16 this year and wants a castle cake...but NOT a princess castle (I've made 2 of those already for the Singer). As I was hopping from site to site, I came across Cake Wrecks. I haven't laughed that hard in YEARS. As I was home alone, I had to laugh by myself. As it's always more fun to laugh with others, I had to share the site with Hubby when he got home. I laughed even harder, leaving me breathless. When the Imp came home I made her look at it as well. Again, I found myself laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. You've got to read the commentary as well as look at the cakes. Some are obviously funnier than others. Look at more than one page if you want the full 'laugh' benefit. The site highlights goofs by professional cake decorators. So what you see are cakes actually made for costumers. It doesn't say if the costumer had to pay for it. Here's a teaser.
The order was for Allie who was going away to school at CNU.
This is what was made:



That Jen Yates' commentary said

You know you're asking for a Wreck when...
...your college has the initials "CNU" and the family member who orders has a strong southern accent:

Jen has a book out: Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong

Save the Cake Wrecks site. Pull it up on days you need a chuckle or even a full belly-laugh.

Choices

This little story was sent to me in my email. I've heard variations of it before, but that "John" was used as the guy's name made me think of my brother John. This story his of him. Exchange "Super-Duper" for every "If I felt any better I'd be twins." and it's pretty much my John to a 'T'.

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'
He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time How do you do it?'
He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood
I choose to be in a good mood.'
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.
'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.'

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins..Wanna see my scars?'
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.'
'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked
He continued, '..the paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.'
'What did you do?' I asked.
'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''
Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything .

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

I'm scrapping again today. But I know today will be harder than others because I'm working on May-August 2007. John's death and funeral will be included in there. With the World Series going on, I keep looking for the commentary by John on each team and their respective play.

Who's In Control?

Get a cup of coffee and sit back and listen.



Have a God-filled day.
As hard as it is, I'm gonna let God chisel at me today.

"Only Losers Get All A's"

Something happened the other day that has me thinking. After dinner, the Imp brought Hubby a certificate she'd gotten at school that day for earning Principal's Honors. But as she gave Hubby the paper, she was downplaying the whole thing verbally (I'm really to old to care much about certificates, I do what I do, and so on) while begging for affirmation by the mere act of mentioning it at all. While she said she didn't care, Hubby (and I from the other room) her heard screaming "TELL ME I DID GOOD!" Kind of interesting. Of course, Hubby being the great guy he is, told her he was proud of her hard work, etc, etc. Then the Imp came to find me and went through the same spiel. And as she's telling me she really didn't like the honors assembly and being called out in front of everyone for grades, I wondered why intelligence and hard work are scoffed at by teens. The Imp shared with me that as they were passing out awards, (starting with honors and moving up)the Imp's friend stated that only real losers get straight A's. (Not realizing that the Imp was one of those "losers.") Yes, there is some jealousy in the statement, but there is also a truth that teens tend to view their high achieving, well-behaved peers with a sort of contempt. I guess the underlying idea is that if you're achieving and not getting into trouble you are some how 'selling out to the establishment' or some such nonsense. The Imp is far removed from the stereo-typical goody-too-shoes. First and foremost because she is simply not a "yes man" kind of person. She follows rules and works hard because she's calculated the cost/benefits of such. Hubby and I work to tip the scales in favor of hard work and good behavior, but I can see her calculating how much work is required to achieve the desired result and she has decided on more that one occasion that doing what she wants now is worth it, even knowing there are negative consequences she'll have to endure. The comment by her friend really hurt her. And while I don't think it will change her behavior, the memory will weigh in when she's assessing the cost/benefit of future decisions.

Hubby has been on a Men's Retreat all weekend. So Friday night I had some girl friends come over to scrap. We scrapped until midnight. It was so much fun. The camaraderie was a real mood booster and we had chocolate in many forms, which is always a plus.

The Singer, wanting to leave a relationship drama developing between two of her friends and a boy, came home for the weekend. The Imp is enjoying having time with her sister. I've enjoyed some alone time, but am looking forward to Hubby coming home this afternoon.

Massage Therapy

Spent yesterday "spring cleaning" my bedroom. I always get a burst of energy when it cools down. I love when the high temps are in the high 70s or low 80s. Not to mention the air has been very dry. To go outside and breathe in the crisp air, puts a in my step. So yesterday, after transplanting the last set of my onions to my garden, I wiped down the walls of my room, vacuumed the curtains, cleaned off the ceiling fan, and just gave my room a good once-over. I also dealt with that stack of "stuff" that had accumulated in the corner. So last night going back to my room felt good. That Hubby noticed my efforts, made it all the better.

I attribute my energy-burst to the weather, but the fact that I had my first-ever, professional massage on Tuesday, probably didn't hurt. It feels decadent to get a professional massage.


But my neck and shoulders have been tight and painful for some time. Hubby will rub out the knots when it gets so bad I have a hard time turning my head all the way. In the past his rubs would get me feeling A-one. Recently, however, it seems I was simply 'holding on' between back rubs. So when I got a coupon for a lower cost first visit to a massage place, I finally decided to go. The masseuse kept asking, during my 50 minute massage, if she were rubbing too hard or too deep? NO! It felt wonderful, in the same way stretching out a tight muscle feels good. It hurt, but it felt therapeutic. Yesterday morning I woke up to a very sore back. It felt as if my back were bruised. But I much prefer that feeling to the tightness. I signed up for once a month massage sessions for a year. By purchasing them this way, I save about 25% per session. It's a luxury, for sure. But I think I'll be getting great bang for my buck.