The Modesty Issue . . .

Although young ladies (and some older ones, too!) should have enough respect for themselves to dress modestly, they might consider that even if they feel comfortable in revealing clothing, shouldn't they respect the people who might be viewing their display of bare skin? Most people don't dress to become near occasions of sins but if they stopped to really look at themselves in the mirror, would they truly go out in public with scanty attire? What is even sadder are the women who don't really have the figure for tight, revealing outfits yet follow the trend and look more frumpy than alluring.

My mother taught me to wear underwear and the fact that underwear should not be showing. Who started the 'fashion' where spaghetti straps not covering the bra straps was okay?

A priest told me once that if women truly understood what kind of message bare shoulders, legs, and worse send out to the male population, they would be shocked. What many women feel is their right to 'be free' is telling men that they might be too free!

Mothers have the responsibility to educate their daughters yet many of the mothers almost dress more scantily that their children. Some outfits belong in specific venues. You wouldn't wear a wedding dress to the mall so why is something akin to a swimsuit okay to wear in public? If you were going to a formal affair, would you wear the shorts and tee shirts?

When a woman chastises a male for 'looking', it is she that should be rebuked for sending out the mixed message and turning herself into a near occasion of sin.

You would think that dads, too, would be extra vigilant about how their daughters dress but this doesn't seem to be the case. They, of all people, should recall their own youth and what they thought of girls who dressed to distract.

Our pastor gave a sermon wherein he said we should, besides being modestly dressed, always come to Church dressed to be in the presence of Jesus. And, since God is everywhere, shouldn't that apply to wherever we go and whatever we do?

Stopping to Smell the Roses . . . ?

The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.

- Unknown

Sort of Thanksgiving in September . . .

I try and keep close tabs on the contents of our freezer for purposes of maintaining the budget and still providing adequate meals for the family. You can imagine my distress when I went out into the garage to greet my husband when he returned from work and found the last person who had been in the freezer had neglected to shut it properly. Just what my husband wanted to help with after a long day at work . . . sorting through the rapidly defrosting freezer to determine what could be saved! In case anyone is curious - it wasn't me or my husband who forgot to close the freezer! :-)

Anyway, one of the 'victims' of the freezer fiasco was a small turkey I had gotten on sale. It wasn't much bigger than a stewing chicken. Because it has partially thawed, I didn't want to refreeze it so we had turkey in anticipating of the real feast come November!

Although it wasn't up to the holiday standards, I did have stuffing, cranberries, yams, and mashed potatoes. My husband teasingly complained about dessert being homemade peach pie as that 'certainly wasn't Thanksgiving fare'.

As always, things could have been worse. Yes, we lost some food in the disaster but we had an enjoyable outcome finding the turkey and enjoying a minor version of a holiday meal before the actual event. Now, I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving and having our friends over and enjoying the meal together.