Here in the Valley of the Sun I talk about heated topics such as religion, politics and parenting, with a little food mixed in, while maintaining a sense of optimism.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Elastic Girl
And just to make sure the point was hammered home, I put on a jumpsuit outfit to take Reagan to school in and the jacket is at least one size too small given my current girth. This is what I felt like this morning...
Oh well. I guess it's time to start exercising.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday's Mixings
Anyways, today was not one of those days.
For dinner I started with left-over turkey, turkey stock, and pie crust. It should have been easy. It should have been delicious. It wasn't.
Anyways, I added cream of mushroom soup, mixed in green beans, green bell peppers, celery, topped with cheese and the pièce de résistance was french fried onions. It was not good. I'm really bummed. The idea was green bean cassarole in a pie crust. I'm of the opinion that everything is DELICIOUS in a pie crust.
It turned out as a soupy slop with a hint of pie crust. What a bummer. The green bell peppers were not cooked well, the celery didn't meld. Basically I was left with green beans swimming in cream of mushroom soup with a side of pie crust.
The meal wasn't a total waste. At least there was cheese and french fried onions. Yum-oh. But now I don't know what to do with the left-overs. Should I try to salvage them? Should I toss them? Keep in mind that I'm fairly frugal with food. I don't like to throw it away. If you have any ideas, please share them.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Man-Made Climate Change is a Hoax
And now I feel totally validated.
Here is an article that explains the current scandal regarding the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the data they've been collecting and what they're distributing. I think the article explains the complex science of observing climate change very well and then goes on to elaborate on the actual hoax. I highly recommend reading it, although it's heady.
Here's the clincher:
You see, this fraud is not about saving the environment. It's about controlling who succeeds and who does not. Who stays in poverty (the developing world) and who does not (the already wealthy).After all, the stakes are enormous: perhaps trillions of dollars and unquestionably every American’s personal liberties. Tomorrow, over 20,000 delegates from 193 nations will gather in Copenhagen to craft an agreement which would not only force American power consumption to levels equal to those of about 1910, but would also have us pay reparations for an imaginary “climate debt” we’ve accumulated by building the world’s greatest economy of all time. That debt is based on the amount of CO2 our financial growth has purportedly pumped into the atmosphere, which, according to the conclusions of the IPCC and based largely upon reports from the CRU, has selfishly imperiled the planet by inducing climate change.Of course, asking Americans to pay reparations based on the claim they’ve done harm to other nations by spoiling the climate is like asking me to pay damages to my neighbor based on his claim that he can’t sell his house because my great-grandmother’s ghost is haunting it.As many have known and as Climategate has proven, both situations are equally preposterous.
This web interview is excellent. It really picks up after minute 4. If you can skip to that part I would.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sleep Deprivation
I should have known something was wrong because the receptionist had a totally blank look on her face when I said, "Hi, I'm Jessica." She said, "Did you have an appointment?" Me, "Yes."
No, I didn't. At least not for today. For TOMORROW!
I rescheduled my appointment for a couple of weeks from today. And my gracious friend let me have a quiet hour to myself, which I spent in the parking lot of Reagan's school reading Voyager. (So Good!)
The kicker is that I did have the appointment in my palm pilot. I just had the days mixed up in my head! Oh man, the sleep deprivation is a killer!
And this is so not the first time this has happened recently. On Saturday I forgot what time a party started and had to call the hostess to find out. We were almost an hour late! And we were going to a wedding a couple of months ago and didn't even bring the invitation with the directions because I could have sworn that I knew where it was. I was wrong. We went to the wrong location. Thankfully we were super early and not late to the ceremony.
I can not wait to sleep more than 5 or 6 hours consistently.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Did Someone Say Self-Control?
All of this brought to mind Galatians 5:13-25.
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
I read through that list in verse 19 and I cringe. It's not an easy list to compare my life to. And if I'm honest, I have a hard time with most of those things daily! And then the kicker is what a Spirit-filled life does look like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. My days do not often showcase those characteristics, I'm sorry to say.
For myself, I read verses 19-25 and then I like to go back up to verses 13. Christ set us free from the law. We are free to love; not free to indulge sinful desires. I'm no where near good at this. But I wanted to share a honest thought with you. Among my other character deficiencies, it's difficult for me to admit shortcomings. I do this in hope that some may be encouraged.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Cooking Day
What came out was amazing! I'm so glad I made this soup. And the hot bread was perfect for it.
The soup came out a bit thicker than I thought it would, but I didn't puree all of the squash. Perhaps it would have been soupy-er if I had. I didn't have heavy cream so I omitted it entirely and I don't think it was missed. I did top with bacon and sour cream. The soup cooked very quickly, within 45 minutes.
Altogether a delicious lunch for a cold day!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Again with Baby Jesus!
You see, to me, Christmas decorations mean endlessly telling my children to stop touching Baby Jesus. And that the Christmas tree ornaments are not toys. And that no, we can not watch stupid Frosty again because we've already watched it 50 million times today.
Erik accused me of being Scrooge on Monday.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Found in Backyard
We find trash that floats in from other yards. We find nails which scare me since I let my girls run around all the time and frequently they end up outside without shoes.
But yesterday, as I was prepping dinner Reagan came in with a pregnancy stick. Totally without the cap. I kind of freaked out. And no, it wasn't mine. It came from one of our neighbors. And the finding of this particular device now lead to a whole discussion about what it is used for and Mati saying "When I grow up I will use that and a baby will be in my bell." Yikes. Way too early for me to be talking about this. And naturally I told the girls that it was disgusting. And they asked why. And I said because you pee on it. Oh man, what a conversation. And then when we were telling Erik about it at dinner Mati got up and went to try and find it in the garbage. Quite a night at the Wilhelmsens.
Which brings up another thing. The girl next door is troubled. I think she's about 15 or 16 and she hangs out with some questionable characters. And we find plastic chairs by the wall that separates our houses and the screen to what I assume is her bathroom looks like it's been pushed out and replaced. So, either she's sneaking out or someone's sneaking in.
All of this leads me to think that quite possibly the pregnancy test was hers. If so, should I say something to her? Should I mention that I found a pregnancy test in our yard (Which, who would throw it over the side of a wall! Hello? We have small children! Which you know about because you see them and we always say hello. Dude, not cool.) Anyways, Erik seems to think that I should keep my head down. But he's a guy. And from New York. You always keep your nose down over there. But this is my home. And I'm a Christian woman. I kind of want to mention it and ask her if she needs any help or someone to talk to. What do you think?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas Movies
I can not promise anything awesome. But I do so want to get into the habit of regular blog posting. It's so nice to have a place where I can vent or enlighten.
How do you feel about the animated Christmas movies? My husband is an ENORMOUS fan of the animated 60's Christmas movies. Like Rudolph the "Red Nosed Reindeer". However, now my children are sharing in the obsession. Every day it's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman". Do you know how annoying it is to sing "Frosty the Snowman" while trying to fall asleep at night? Cause that's what I have been doing every night for the past week. Now in all fairness, my least favorite of the animated seasonal films is "The Grinch". But Frosty should be melted eternally in my opinion. I am so in favor of global warming with Frosty. (This does not mean that I believe global warming actually exists, because I don't. Anyways, another post for another day.)
I do like most Christmas movies, though. Just not the animated ones. I like Mickey's Christmas Carol. So, there's one.
My favorite Christmas movie, which is not really a Christmas movie is "Meet Me in St. Louis" with Judy Garland. It's so good. I just love it. I love the songs. I love that the climax is on Christmas Eve. I love that Vincent Minnelli directed Judy Garland and because of that they married. (Well, he turned out to be gay, but anyways, it's a neat love story.) And because of that movie my favorite Christmas song is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
My second favorite Christmas movies are a tie between "White Christmas" and "It's a Wonderful Life". White Christmas because of the Sisters number. I love the part where Bing and that other guy danced and lip synched the Sister's song to provide an escape for the girls.
And "It's a Wonderful Life" always reminds me that life is not hopeless and when we feel small and insignificant God has a wonderful plan for us. We can not know the impact we have on people simply by being alive. I love that movie. Makes me cry just thinking about it.
What are your favorite Christmas movies?