Quote of the day

Quote of the day

"A friend is one to whom we may pour out the contents of our hearts, chaff and grain together, knowing that the greatest of hands will sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."

George Eliot

Thought of the day: phones

Today, I have been thinking about phones.  I have one, Michael has one....I think all God's children have one these days and that's probably an understatement.  I'm sure many people have several phones....one for personal use, one for work, one "safe" for their small children, etc.  It seems we, as a society, can no longer function without having that contraption in our hands.  People walk with them, staring at them and not looking at where they are going.  They drive with them, staring at them and not looking where they are going (I'm starting to see a pattern here lol).  Everything in our lives seems to revolve around what that little piece of machinery is going to tell us next.  Interesting, but scary at the same time.

My neighbor Lois and I went to lunch today.  But, before that we stopped at the store she does her phone business so that she could get something taken off of her bill that she did not request.  Easy enough.  While we were waiting, the lady working the counter was telling a customer in front of us that the cheapest phone they had was $39.95.  Sounds reasonable to me.  She was, apparently, getting a phone for her daughter.  She went with the $350 version.  It just amazed me.  Granted, I know people that have paid thousands for their phone because they just have to have the latest version.  But, geez, I think of how many bills I could pay or groceries I could pay for what some people pay for that phone that they just have to own.

Anyway, Lois and I got to talking about phones yesterday when she showed me her new phone.  Not the $350 one, by the way.  Before cell phones, in my day, you either had a wall phone or a console.  And it was rotary dial...not even push button yet.  We had a wall phone.  It was in our kitchen.  I can't honestly remember if it was avocado green or yellow but either way it matched our kitchen.  Yes, one of those green, yellow and orange kitchens from the 70's.  And you could also only walk about 6 feet from the base of the phone....something these latest generations will never understand.

There was also a phone in my parents' bedroom.  It was a console for as long as I remember.  We did get a cordless phone in the mid 80's.  That was high tech in those days.  And I still know the phone number.  Sometimes I want to call it and see who picks up LOL  Grandmother had 2 phones as well....one in her hall and one in her den by her chair.  Somewhere I have a silver telephone receiver cover that belonged to her.  Sometimes I think it'd be worth it to find a console phone just so I can use the cover!

But what I was thinking of yesterday was when Aunt Sara moved in with my Grandmother.  Sara was hard of hearing.  She had 2 hearing aids but you still had to talk pretty loudly to her.  Not yelling, just loud.  She couldn't hear the phone though.  If she was talking on the phone, she could hear you just fine, but she couldn't hear it ringing.  Anyway, I remember that my cousin Peter came and rigged up a light to the phone for her.  It was one of those old plastic candles that we'd put in the windows at Christmas.  You know, the ones with the "wax" dripping down them and the one light bulb.  He hooked it up to the phone so that the candle would light up and Aunt Sara would know that it was ringing.  That was pretty ingenious of him, I think.

Sometimes I believe my phone is  a burden.  That's because it is at times.  I no longer keep it on me when I'm at home.  I keep it plugged into the charger, usually in a different room than I am in.  I just don't need another appendage that I have to maintain 24 hours a day.  It's nice but not that important to my existence.  Ah, well.  Phones are nice to have but I have no desire to submit to mine like I see so many people do nowadays.  I'd much rather look around me and take in life instead of googling it.

That is all.

Sunday reflection: What do you do when church doesn't fit your schedule?

It's a hard place to be in when you want to go to church, need to go to church, and it just does not fit in with your schedule.  Growing up in the 80's, our church life was our schedule pretty much.  There were very few things that interfered with our weekly rituals of church.  Looking back on that, I realize that neither of my parents worked weekends.  Occasionally there might be a weekend conference one attended or something like that, but that was a rarity.  Sunday was for church.  Period.

As an adult, I am finding that is not always the case, at least in my world.  My work schedule varies so much right now that it is hard make social plans, including church.  And the fact of the matter is I have to work any opportunity I am given because I have to support myself.  God is wonderful but He doesn't pay my bills....directly, that is.  And He hasn't given me the secret to winning the lottery either, so I can't rely on that plan of action to make it to church.  Ah, well.

So, I wonder what do I need to do when I can't get to church?  Yes, there are radio sermons and podcasts and such, but it's not the same as being in a pew and feeling like I am contributing something.  Mainly contributing something to myself, to be honest.  I don't go to church to be seen by others...to show people my spirituality.  It is a time for me to reflect and search and ask and seek within myself.  Trying to do that at home is not quite the same and I am not sure what path I need to go down to find that when life prevents me from being at the service.

There are some people that say "if you really want it, you will find a way to make it happen".  Well, that's all good in theory but it is an unrealistic expectation.  I wish it were that simple.  I do know that God is aware of my situation and He follows me where ever I am.  I get that.  Sometimes I just do not feel that where I am is right for my relationship with the Lord.  My spirituality is very personal and I am not one to put it on display....but I am actually that way with most aspects of my life...quite shy and introverted in many ways. 

Life will sort itself out and I will find a way to make this constant in my life part of my routine.  I probably shouldn't worry about it as much as I do but that is the way the ball bounces sometimes.  Until then, God, You're just going to have to go with me along this path.  As for now, it's time to get ready for work.

Be blessed.

Thought of the day

I think I'm going to have to give up watching regular tv for awhile.  I made a post on Facebook last week complaining of political ads.  I absolutely hate them.  They don't tell me anything true about the candidates.  It's just money spent on BS, in my opinion.  And they ruin any show I'm watching lately.  I could, and have, just hit the mute button during the commercial breaks, but that gets tedious.  Especially when I don't realize that the program is back on and I forget to unmute the tv.  It really is frustrating...at least to me.

And then, the other night, we were watching tv during dinner.  Michael cooked that night, so I was really looking forward to being able to just relax with my food in front of the tube.  The news was on...first mistake.  It had not even been on for one minute before I had a physical reaction to it.  I could feel all of the blood draining from my face.  The pit of my stomach began churning.  I looked down and realized that my plate was shaking.  I thought I was going to throw up...truly.  Having to watch the state of our country was ruining my appetite.  We had to change the channel because I just couldn't take it.  And, sadly, when you only have very basic cable there aren't many choices left so we ended up watching a bad sitcom rerun. 

So I will be watching our Roku only for awhile.  I do enjoy finding vintage shows, especially game shows.  And I have a Broadway channel where I can see some fun theater.  We have some good channels and I have my shows that I subscribe to, so I can get by for awhile with no problem.  That is, at least, until the Roku channels start playing politics.  Then it'll be time to hook up the VCR.

That is all.

Recipe of the day - Swedish Meatballs

I do love some Swedish meatballs!  I wanted to try a "new to me" recipe and found one I liked from Taste of Home.  I used premade meatballs due to issues of time, but here's the full recipe:

Swedish Meatballs
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
3/4 tsp salt
2 pounds ground beef
Gravy:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1&1/2 cups 2% milk
2 cans (10.5 ounces each) condensed beef consomme, undiluted
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine first six ingredients.  Add beef; mix lightly but thoroughly.  Shape into 1.5 inch meatballs (about 36).  In a large skillet over medium heat, brown meatballs in batches.  Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels to drain, reserving drippings in pan.

For gravy, stir flour into drippings;  cook over medium-high heat until light brown (do not burn).  Gradually whisk in milk until smooth.  Stir in the consomme, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat;  cook and stir for 2 minutes until thickened. 

Reduce heat to medium-low;  return meatballs to pan.  Cook, uncovered, 15-20 minutes longer or until meatballs are cooked through, stirring occasionally.

Serve over noodles or rice.

*Now, when I used the premade meatballs, I obviously did not have any drippings left over to start the gravy.  I just used a half stick of butter and it worked out great.

Enjoy!

Thought for the day - the church music snob

I will be the first to admit that I am a church music snob.  I can't help it.  I like what I like.  When I actually make it to church service (which hasn't unfortunately happened in awhile, but that's an entirely different blog for another time) I will go the 11 a.m. service.  It is the traditional service, reminiscent of what I grew up with.  The early service is contemporary and not to my taste.  That's fine.  Those who go to the early service love it.  I am just not a fan of contemporary Christian music.  That's fine, too.

Anyway, if you knew me growing up, you will already know that our music program at church was a very vital part of my life.  I sang in the choir, played in 2 handbell choirs, performed piano duets and handbell solos in service.  I was pretty active and loved it all.  I felt, at the time, that it was the only way I could contribute to my church.  Again, that is also another blog for another day.  Music gave me an outlet to fit in to my church and that's what I needed at that time.  I still need that, even though I don't always admit it.

The church I attend now, College Park Baptist, has pretty good music.  We have a lot of musicians in our congregation and routinely contribute to the worship services.  The choirs are small, including the handbell choir, but they are consistent and put their all into the worship services.  Every now and then they will slip in something contemporary into the traditional service and I find myself biting my tongue.  Most of the time, it makes me giggle so I find myself stifling laughs.  Oh well.

This past Wednesday, a 3 part program about music in worship was started during the normal Bible Study hour.  I decided to attend because it seemed like obviously something I would enjoy and benefit from.  I could tell by looking over the material handed out before hand that there would be definite different styles of music than what I normally hear.  I am open to new and different styles of music being incorporated into worship.  But, for me, it has to be what I consider good music.  I don't think many contemporary songs are well written and, therefore, I tune them out when I can.  (I also feel this way about most contemporary pop music...it just sucks.  And don't even get me started on contemporary country music...grrrrrrrrrr)

Well, within the first 5 minutes of the program, I was pretty much done LOL  The speaker was very knowledgeable about music as she has served in music ministry for many, many years in several different denominations.  But one of the points she started with, at least what I took from her words, was "Baptist Hymnal" BAD.....tradition BAD.   People even started commenting on how they or others prefer going to the early service simply because the traditional music does nothing for them. I thought, well, I'm alienated.  I realize that our hymnal is almost 30 years old.  So?  It's not like the congregation can buy new ones every other year.  That stuff's expensive.  Anyway, that set the whole tone of the evening for me and I didn't enjoy it like I'd hoped. 

Music is an extremely important part of my spirituality.  And I won't back down from what I want in a music ministry.  It's what gets me through the doors and into the church.

Cheers.