A good movie . . .

There was so much press about this movie when it initially came out that I never felt an inclination to see it. A few weeks ago, I caught a bit of the movie on television and just had to borrow it from NetFlix and see it. The movie is Akeelah and the Bee. Although there was a bit of profanity, it was overall a great movie. It dealt with a poor student who had an amazing capacity for learning words. She attended a public school in Los Angeles so when this talent comes to light, she is the hope of the school to finally make it somewhere to some final and a name for the school. The whole event turns into so much more.

There were several levels to this movie as the various characters interacted with the spelling bee entrant and their own place in life. The ending is unexpected but totally satisfying. The movie ended but I keep thinking about how each person can make a difference in the lives of others.

Interesting thoughts . . .

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later."
-- Mitch Hedberg

"Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything."
-- Frank Dane

"Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it."
-- Russell Baker

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
-- Soren Kierkegaard

Thoughts on Memorial Day . . .

I was blessed to have visited Europe a few times and you really get the meaning of Memorial Day when you see one of the American cemeteries overseas. Sure, I'd seen pictures but the impact of all those white crosses going on for ever and ever, in person, brings home what our military does to defend our country.

We have even more than the souls of our soldiers to pray for today. Right now, our country is being led along a dismal track that doesn't bode well for the future. We are only as strong as our military and it seems that the current administration doesn't mind undermining it.

One of my favorite memories is when President Bush surprised our soldiers on Thanksgiving Day overseas. A long trip like that was certainly not a great way to spend the holiday but it brings a joyful tear to the eye when I think back on the roar of applause and shouts when he unexpectedly walked into their midst. Doesn't seem like I've heard that kind of unsolicited happiness during the last couple of years.

My husband says the one reason the US is limping along is we just might have more people praying. In Europe, the church attendance is sparse and Socialism is creeping in rather rapidly. I guess this Memorial Day is a mixture of prayers for our fallen soldiers and even more prayers for our future as the 'land of the free and the home of the brave."

Couldn't resist sharing these . . .

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle

"Why be a man when you can be a success?"
-- Bertolt Brecht

"If you cannot convince them, confuse them."
-- Harry S Truman

"After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, 'No hablo ingles.'"
-- Ronnie Shakes

Definite favorites . . .

"I'm going to memorize your name and throw my head away."
-- Oscar Levant

"I hate women because they always know where things are."
-- James Thurber

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."
-- Pancho Villa

The taste of summer . . .

I love the very, very initial onset of summer where the temperatures are still bearable yet we can almost leave off with sweaters and socks. I know that during some of the cold times, we longed for hot, hot, and more hot weather but this brief interlude is my favorite time of the year.

I think I equate the taste of summer with the first blackberries of the season from our garden. We didn't do anything to particularly earn this treat. Blackberries are a hardly bunch and with some water and sunshine, the are ready to brighten a day. I have a bowl of them here, right now, and it certainly brings summer to mind.

I know! In a few months, I will be complaining about the heat and our lack of air conditioning but I'm going to enjoy the NOW to the fullest.

Today's favorites . . .

"There are two ways to pass a hurdle: leaping over or plowing through... There needs to be a monster truck option."
-- Jeph Jacques

"Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left."
-- David M. Ogilvy

"Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so."
-- Gore Vidal

Shopping with flair . . .

Nothing like grocery shopping when the sales are all in your favor. You get the thrill of the kill when your receipt comes to under $100 and you saved paying $80 more because you outplayed the advertising lures. If I pay full price for anything, it had better be something really, really great or for a new recipe that can't wait for a sale. I imagine that once all the new taxes hit next year, the savings at the grocery store will take on an even more important meaning. Hey, better frugal when it is more fun than work to be prepared for the leaner times.

Found two, new quilt patterns and already have one cut out. It is called a jig saw pattern and it looks like a puzzle.

Try not to listen to TOO much of the news as there is nothing good to hear. Most of the time, one just wants to yell and scream at the reporters and journalists who would rather protect the government than the people who PAY for their publications. Very weird world, lately.

Free!

Nothing like getting a creative idea . . . for free! I've found a lot of great help and ideas from this site.

http://www.quiltinaday.com/eleanorandcompany/freepattern/

Save yourself a trip to the store!

We never seem to have tortillas on hand when we want them. I just found an easy recipe to insure that we never want for our south of the border fix again!

Homemade Tortillas

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
3 tablespoons oil (I prefer olive oil to insure tenderness)

Combine flour and salt. Stir in water and oil. On a floured surface, knead five or six times. Divide the dough into eight, even pieces. On a floured surface, roll each piece into an 7-inch circle.

In a large, nonstick frying pan coated well with cooking spray, cook tortillas over medium heat for one minute on each side until lightly browned. Stack them between sheets of paper towel and keep covered with a clean kitchen towel. The 'steaming' will keep them soft enough to fold or roll depending on what you are
using them for.

Cutting the fat . . .

I may have mentioned this before, but there is a way to cut the calories on a boxed cake mix. I prefer a totally, homemade cake but when time is short, I have been known to resort to this convenience. I've discovered that you can omit the eggs and oil on a boxedd mix and still come up with a good cake with half the calories! I just use a cup or so of applesauce or any pureed fruit (I've even used steamed and pureed carrots!), a bit of water, if needed, and bake as usual. The cake is moister but great with some low-fat ice cream. However, since you did cut the cake calories, I'd, personally, frost it with a nice butter icing!

What?

Hope this isn't true but it sure seems in line with the mind set of our current political administration. According to what I heard, included in the infamous obamacare bill is a bit about everyone being taxed on the cost of their health insurance. Seems rather sad that we could have our gross income upped $10,000 to $20,000 a year and taxed on money we will never see. In many cases, it is insurance because, Thanks be to God, a lot of us don't use it from year to year. More free money for the government.

It is twice as insidious, at least to me, because the increase on income taxes owing means many of us will have to pay towards the final, annual amount due quarterly. Of course, if we happen to overpay on the estimate, we will get a refund . . . if the government HAS the money come April 15th. Free enterprise is being smashed under a tax burden that won't quit.

Also, as we have read, our children and children as yet unborn are already in tax debt. One problem with the government's thinking on this: The liberals are very much in favor of 'choice' which means the birth rate is barely replacing the population. The fewer children, the deeper the debt for the few born.

Sharing a prayer . . .

This prayer was posted on my e-mail on October 2, 2001 after the 9/11 attack. Seems that more 'attacks' are coming from our politicians and government these days so thought I'd post it for everyone. It seems to apply to governmental 'domestic' terrorists as well as the foreign
ones.

Oh Jesus, Divine Redeemer, be merciful unto us and the whole world.
Amen.

O Powerful God! Oh Holy God! O Immortal God! Have pity on us and all that are in the whole world.
Amen.

Pardon and mercy, O my Jesus during these present dangers, pour on us Thy most Precious Blood.
Amen.

O Eternal Father! Be merciful to us; by the Blood of Jesus Christ, Thy only Son, be merciful to us, we beseech Thee.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

One to think about . . .

”It's true he was a sinner. But don't pass so final a judgment. Have pity in your heart and don't forget that he may yet be an Augustine, while you remain just another mediocrity.” -- St. Josémaria Escriva

Strange the ways of justification . . .

I find it very strange that when people break rules or even a law, they find a way to transfer the blame without proving their innocence. My husband works in the public sector and they have a rule about the use of the computers in the building. People can call in and reserve a time and ONE hour and they can also have one, more hour if a computer is available. Two women have been finding a way around the rule in order to get on a computer and stay on it for two hours in a row. They call in their reservation, say for five in the evening. They come in at their reserved time, get on the computer and CANCEL their reservation BUT they are now on the computer and can have their FREE hour. Before they get started on whatever they are doing on the computer, they reschedule their reserved time for six o'clock thus they can use the same computer for two hours without leaving. My husband's boss talked to them about having to take their reserved time, get off and wait in line with everyone else to take advantage of another free hour. They were cheating, they knew they were cheating so what was their response to the person in charge? They called him a racist because he was enforcing the rules but was of another ethnic persuasion than them so they pulled the race card. Yes, there are times when prejudice can come into play but it seems so petty to use a serious issue to cheat on allotted time on a public facility's computers. I wonder how the culprits would have felt if THEY were the ones losing out on computer time because another person was pulling the same scam?

How come?

Someone recently sent me pictures of students at a California high school who were flying the Mexican flag above the American flag and the American flag was disrespectfully flown upside down. There were pictures but there was no mention of any chastisement for showing such disregard for the flag of this country. I'm thinking that if students from this country went down to Mexico and did the same thing to the Mexican flag, there might be some recourse to severe justice by that country. Why is America allowed to be treated this way? Where are our elected officials when something like this occurs?

It has also been interesting to hear America being chastised by China for perceived human rights abuses. Lots of pots around lately, calling various kettle black. Strange world we live in these days. It sure makes us pay more attention to how devoutly we say our prayers!

Another season . . .

Summer is arriving as well as returning college students. I'm fetching one daughter from the airport this morning. It is kind of depressing, however, that our current economy doesn't insure there will be summer work for many students this year. Seems unfair that the government has already burdened our children's future with taxes but the economy is such they can't even find work easily now. I sure home the November elections bring in some politicians who have the interests of the people at heart and not their personal greeds and agendas.

Ahead of my supplies . . .

My favorite part of quilting is designing and piecing the top of the quilt. Right now, I have three quilt tops ready for quilting if ONLY I had remembered to purchase enough batting to fill my creations. Guess I will have to spend the day . . . designing another quilt top!

Mother's Day found me being treated to a trip to the fabric warehouse so I have a lot of new fabric and new ideas to work with.

I used to make quilts for the local pregnancy center but found out they are a bit prejudice towards Catholics in that they would not accept any quilts with Catholic motiffs,etc. Okay, I was fine with that but they also put out literature for their faith but do not allow any for Jewish or Catholic faiths. Seems to me that when a young girl is going through a crisis like this, the pregnancy center should have pastors/rabbis/ministers of ALL faiths to refer them to for counseling. This is not the time to get everyone born again.

Anyway, I've slowed down on making baby quilts for now but have the fun of storing all the BIGGER ones I make until Christmas and birthdays require a gift.

Just my opinion . . .

It seems to me that in an effort to bring parishioners closer to Jesus, our bishops are actually making Him less awesome and more matter of fact. Yes, Jesus is our Brother, God is our Father, etc. but shouldn't there be an element of great respect and piety involved with our dealings? We are talking about Divine Beings, Perfect Beings . . . which, we humans, definitely are not. Should be we bringing Them down to our level or should we be striving to come up to their goodness?

Our diocese greatly encourages ALL it's parishes to offer the Blessed Sacrament under both Species even at daily Mass. To me, offering the Blessed Sacrament as the Precious Blood is more likely to lead to disrespect and being common place.

Every morning, I cringe when we come to Communion as there is a flutter among the congregation and the presiding priest as they try to ascertain if there are enough Extraordinary Ministers to distribute the Precious Blood. The grace of the moment is lost as hand signals are exchanged, an EM waves her arms from the altar to get another one's attention, etc.

The EM's often giggle and smile as they offer the chalice calling the known recipient's by name. I actually heard one EM tell the next one in line, "Sorry, I don't have any more. The last person was a pig and drank it all." Did the EM realize that it wasn't just wine at this point? Where was the grace of the moment?

Then, we have the EM's who do not want to finish the chalice after Communion. One of them tends to wander and signal people around the church trying to find someone to complete her 'job'. Another one finishes off the chalice as she strolls back to the sacristy. Often, you can hear laughter as they put away the chalices.

EVERYONE tends to line up for the chalice. Young children are prone to wiping off their mouth across their sleeve. One Mass, an entire chalice of the Precious Blood was spilled all over the EM and the floor. The other EM just said, "Just wipe it up and don't worry." That seems proof to me that she just doesn't know what she is dealing with and has a definite lack in her Catholic education.

I was actually told by a parishioner that I wasn't receiving a 'full Communion' since I abstained from the chalice. Uh, does that mean there were no 'full Communions' for hundreds of years until our bishops decided to go the 'full route'?

It seems to me that there would be a lot more respect if distribution of the Precious Blood was reserved for special occasions. The first and last time I received under both Species was my wedding.

Democracy dying . . .?

The president gave a speech last week and actually said that there comes a point where one has earned enough money. Uh, that sounds very undemocratic and doesn't adhere to the capitalistic mind set of our country. So, what happens when you cross this 'line' of income and you make too much? Do we continue to work hard but hand out the 'surplus' to someone who is not working? If we are working to support a business venture, should we be allowed to only make so much and no more? Eventually, wouldn't that cut back on available jobs in your business if you couldn't expand at will?

It is also interesting to note that the ones who advocate redistribution of income are usually quite well off themselves and I have yet to see them handing over any 'extra' cash.

There are many countries with a history of putting caps on how much a person can make and what he can do with the money he earns and it hasn't been a successful history. Why would our government advocate the same for us?

Scary stuff . . .

It was shocking to watch the news and hear the hoards of illegal immigrants declaring that they deserve free everything and that they are owed this. The mind set of our world today is certainly self-centered. People seem to want the easy way out and if they don't like the work involved, they would just as soon skip that part and live off someone else's labor.

I see this in most every store clerk, these day. You can tell by their attitude that they want that paycheck and are pretty much putting in time in order to get it without undue effort.

It is so refreshing to deal with a store clerk who had decided to do their job to the best of their ability and be cheerful and helpful. You don't find too many these days! I was at Best Buy once and asked one of the clerks about a particular video game. He said he would check in the back. I watched this guy wander off and NOT go to the back and check on our request. He ended up standing a few aisles away. I walked up to him, AGAIN, and he smiled and asked if he could help me! He was so inept he couldn't even remember who he had not bothered to help already!

On the other hand, there is a cashier at the grocery store that not only remembers me but has a cheerful word, a joke, and a smile. There are times I go out of my way to shop there just because I get treated like a human being.

Seems to me that if everyone would look more to how they are appearing to the world rather than how the world should be for them, we might have a lot less problems.

Quilt, Quilt, Quilt . . .!

Dedicated my day to finally getting three quilts done down to the finishing, handsewing stage. Guess I know what I will be doing while I watch television this evening!

Sigh . . . Never, however, let myself get totally caught up with my sewing. I have two, more quilts pieced and ready for quilting! One is an 'out of this world' quilt meaning it has outerspace motiffs. The other one is another take on Our Lady of Guadaloupe. It is done in more orange/brown tones which is a switch from my usual leanings towards most anything blue.

Sunday evening and, hopefully, a quiet, peaceful one. All is NOT well with our world but we should try and enjoy our sanctuaries while we can!

Not understanding . . .

I was talking to two friends today and we suddenly realized that while I was only the daughter of an immigrant, they were both originally immigrants and now naturalized citizens. We came from three very different nationalities and remembered the time, effort, and fortitude it took to acquire Green Cards, wait for your 'number' to come up, going through the process, and, finally, being sworn in as a citizen of the United States. Not one of us felt that we deserved it automatically because we were in the country.

My concerns/thoughts on this hot topic is not so much the people already IN the country who want amnesty but what a slap in the face it would be to all the people who have been waiting in line for years to be sent to the end of the line so to speak.

I also resent the Catholic Church preaching 'social justice' to me when they, themselves, are not asking for social justice for everyone. How much do we hear about Asian people trying to get in and being sent back?

Tough topic because no one wants anyone to suffer but it seems the Church should encourage ALL immigrants to seek the proper channels for citizenship and learn to speak the language of our country.

Just my musings on a Saturday afternoon as I recall watching my mother file her Green Card every year and her late nights spent learning the history of our country for her test. I was there when she was interviewed and listened as her two, American sponsors vouched for her. I was at her swearing in and it was a beautiful event because she worked so hard for it.