"Sameness"

So I know I'm a bit behind, but I'm finally reading "The Giver" by Louis Lowry. I have to admit, the more I get into the book the more disturbed I am by it. I'm a little more than halfway through, so maybe this post should have been put off to when I've actually finished the book, however I felt it was worth delving into a bit early.

This ideal community, that is the setting for the book, is based on the idea of sameness. No one makes their own decisions, not on the job they will have, not on the spouse they will spend their life with. These decisions are left up to a committee to make, a committee that studies each individual and makes the "best" decision for that person, the "correct" decision. The main character, Jonas, makes the comment of how "scary" it would be if people were able to make their own decisions, if people had the possibility of making the "wrong" decision. Imagine a world of only "right" decisions, one where everyone avoids all conflict and things that are "uncomfortable". Pretty hard to do in today's society. I will admit that there are days when I would love a world without decisions, one without uncomfortable moments, however, would that really be living? Would I really appreciate the gifts that God has given me, that of free will to make my own decisions, right or wrong? The gifts of the spirit, wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe, right judgement, knowledge, courage, reverence, would these even mean anything?

The book also talks about everything being adjusted for the sake of sameness, for efficiency. "Climate Control" was used to avoid troublesome things like snow and rain. Colors caused too much conflict, too many decision had to be made as a result therefore colors became no more. The more I find out about this fictional community the more aspects of today's world are visible. I feel that there continues to be repercussions for those that are "different" that too many are trying to conform to what they feel is the "norm" what the media is portraying as the norm. It's the idea of being programmed to think and act a certain way and that is what truly scares me. It makes me want to research, want to learn all I can. To gather information from as many sources as possible in order to get the truth, the facts. That's one of the reasons I love the Catholic church, if I'm seeking answers there are always places to look, revelations and facts to back it up. There is solid reasoning.

Image from here

So to conclude for the moment, go out and be yourself. Be proud of your differences, of the person God has made you and the person you are becoming. Be confident. Be-you-tiful!

A Lovely Bit of Baking

So Valentine's Day is coming up and I've been doing a bit of baking, imagine that :) I do love holidays and despite all the Hallmark-hype I still love Valentine's Day. Looking back I realized this will be the first year that I haven't been single for this "couples holiday" but I've never been "bitter and single" either. Maybe it's because I always think of my Dad on Valentine's day, he'd always have chocolates and a great card at our place at the table in the morning so we always felt loved and special, it's a great way to start the day. So anyways, last year I made these fabulous red velvet whoopie pies for Valentine's Day. They were great. This year I tried a few new recipes. The cute little things above are brownie bites (check out the simple instructions here). They are pretty fabulous, but word to the wise, DO NOT USE CUPCAKE PAPER. They stick, badly and it's just not pretty.

 

The other lovely recipe I stumbled across were these fabulous beauties. They're chocolate and cinnamon and well, they're pretty great :) I hope you are all enjoying your February and the week leading up to Valentine's Day!

Food :) Oh How I Love Thee! Oh, and a Bit of Hockey

So I'm back, at leas for a bit. I did some cooking over the weekend and made an absolutely amazing recipe that you all need to try.

Baked Crispy Coconut Chicken from Six Sisters' Stuff

Oh my goodness were they fabulous. Great spices, nice juicy chicken strips with a crispy crust and a lovely simple apricot dipping sauce to go along with it. Definitely something I'll be making again.

I didn't so much do the photography thing this weekend (hence me taking picture from the lovely sites I got the recipes from). I ran out of salsa last week. It was a sad day, but it did mean I got to whip up this recipe again (because seriously, why by salsa when you can make your own just the way you like it?). The recipe is so simple! My adapted recipe includes, a can of tomatoes, a big can of Rotel (I used a 28oz. can), half a lime, 2 cloves of garlic, a small chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cumin and about 1/4 cup fresh cilantro. Stick it in the blender and you're set :)

Photo adapted from here.

Saturday I went to the UW Women's Hockey game with some friends. It was pretty darn fun. Every year they try to "fill the bowl" and charge $1 for a ticket (students are free) as well as encourage people to bring a nonperishable food item to donate in addition, one of the law offices in town donated $1 for every person who attended. There were 12,402 people in attendance, it was great :) Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

Christmas Break Wrap-up and Happy Epiphany!

I like this picture. It does a pretty good job of summing up my family. We're a very happy crew for the most part (see the genuine smile on my dad's face :) with a lot of fun thrown in (see my brother's face, not quite sure what emotion I'd put with it, but he tends to make this face a lot).

Christmas was wonderful. The week following Christmas was wonderful. New Year's Day and Eve were wonderful. So all in all, well it was a wonderful break and holiday :)

We like our traditions at my parent's house, but we are always up for new adventures. Chestnuts (as you can see above) was one of this year's exciting new adventures. Did you know it's quite the complicated process to actually "roast chestnuts"? Head over to The Art of Manliness (I know, it cracks me up too) to see how it's done. There are knives, fire and whole lot of shakin' going on :) At my house we didn't really have the patience to hold the campfire popcorn shaker over the fire for 25 minutes, so we cheated a bit and stuck them in a rotating popcorn maker on the counter instead. Maybe there's a secret recipe that makes chestnuts amazingly delicious, if so, we didn't have it. They were alright, very interesting, glad I've done it, don't really feel the desire to do it again.

We all (me, my parents, my 2 brothers, my sister and my brother-in-law) made the road trip out to see my sister in Lincoln, Nebraska on New Year's Day. She's a School Sister of Christ the King and they had a lovely Mass to start out the day and then all of the families of the School Sisters spend the day eating and playing games and catching up. It's such a joyous occasion and they are all such beautiful witnesses of Christ's love and joy.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's. Happy Epiphany! I do love epiphany, by the way. We had a lovely tradition when I was growing up where we'd each get to be "king" for about 10 minutes. We had 10 minutes of ordering people around, being fanned, having people bring us food, whatever we wanted. My brothers tended to make us all play Nintendo, I suppose whatever makes you happy. Enjoy the celebration, and the weekend!



A Merry Thankful Thursday

Christmas is almost here! There's snow on the ground, there's an air of excitement everywhere, there's Christmas music on every station, cookies and candies fill every counter and we all wait in joyful anticipation for the birthday of the King.

I'm taking an extended holiday this year which begins the 23rd and won't bring me back to the office until the 3rd of January. It would be just a bit of an understatement to say that I'm excited about the time off, the time with family, Christmas in general. It should be a good week.

picture circa 2007

See this lovely crew? Well we all look a bit different now, but we'll all be together for the holidays :) Yep, we'll all end up in Nebraska over New Year's to enjoy the always amazing Family Weekend with the School Sisters of Christ the King. We'll get to spend some quality sibling time with our sister sister. It'll be a great week.

Alright, since it is Thursday and there is just so much to be thankful for without further adieu here's my Thankful Thursday list.

At this moment I am thankful for...

(1) The beauty of the Christmas. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is to see the churches decorated for the Lord's birth (see first picture). It's just beautiful and the focus is always where it should be, on Christ.

(2) Friends far and near. It's alway fun to get updates/pictures on faraway friends during this holiday season. It makes me aware of how blessed I truly am to have such wonderful people in my life.

(3) Family. We're a close crew and I'm eternally thankful for that. I'm thankful for my extended family as well, I am truly blessed to be loved by so many.

(4) The inspiration of others. There are so many amazingly talented and creative people out there and I love that I can go to craftgawker or pinterest or any number of other websites and share in their creative fun.

(5) A sweet boyfriend. I don't talk a lot about my boy on here, but he definitely makes the list this week. I'm thankful that I've been blessed with a good man who's made me part of his family, who listens to what I say, shares my faith and loves me. It's pretty sweet ;)

(6) The upcoming break. I'm looking forward to not having a lot planned, which mean lots of downtime, lots of games, good conversation and good ol' family time.

(7) Corny Holiday Movies. I love happy endings, in fact I tend to avoid movies that don't have happy endings, that's one of the many reasons that I love all the holiday movies on this time of year. They are all oh so predictable, but they're light, fun and always end, well, happily.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!



Christmas Wishes

source

 

 

I saw this quote and absolutely love it. It sums up the season's essence. Happy 10 days 'til Christmas!

 

"What is Christmas?  It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.  It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace."

~Agnes M. Pahro

Blessings on a Thankful Thursday

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception! I always love Marian days, for some reason I always feel like you receive extra graces on days that celebrate Mary. It's like she's spoiling her children :)

I had the pleasure of meeting this adorable little man last weekend. He's a friend of some good friends from college and he is just the sweetest little thing (it did of course help that he slept the whole time I was there, but I'm sure he's just angel when he's awake as well...).

He's my friends' first child, so it's always fun to share in their excitement and watch them maneuver the new territory of being parents.

I'm still plugging away on Christmas cards/letter/gifts/packages which helps to remind me of how blessed I truly am, so since it is Thursday I'll take up no more of your precious time and go right into my Thankful Thursday list.

At this moment I am thankful for...

(1) Friends and Family. It's such a wonderful time of year to remember all those far in near that have blessed me over the past year.

(2) Christmas Candy/Cookies. I love going through recipes to find the perfect food to bake for the holidays, and of course I'm always thankful for all the cookies and candies that I have the pleasure of tasting from friends and family.

(3) Religious Freedom. Everyday I am thankful that I live in a nation where I can go to Mass during my lunch hour without the fear of being shot or imprisoned.

(4) Music.

(5) That I'm Catholic and get to celebrate awesome feast days like today :) 

(6) Good Books. I have a stack of books I'm reading through and a list of recommendations. I'm so thankful that I am able to read, have at least some free time to read and live in a country where I can go to my lovely local library and get all the books I could ever want, for free :)

(7) I know this will change, and I'm sure I'll be thankful when it does, but I'm thankful that at the moment I have no one that relies on me. That, as selfish as it may seem, I can go home and curl up on the couch watch a movie, drink some cocoa and not have to provide for anything else. I pray that someday I'll be blessed with children to interupt my me-time and a husband to worry about and put his needs before mine, but for the moment I'll take my single bedroom apt. with no roommate.