Playing Tag

I've been tagged by The Quixotic Pastor.




The rules for the meme are:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So here are the six non important things/habits/quirks:

1. I'm afraid of heights and as a result I have a standard way to get on downward bound escalator that is so engrained I didn't know I was doing it until Adventure Girl pointed it out one day.
2. I like cheerios dry, straight out of the box. I have stolen/borrowed/shared cheerios from Pseudo Grandbaby's diaper bag on more than one occasion.
3. I can't get to sleep at night if my feet are cold. So I wear socks but once my feet are warm the socks have to go. Sometimes at the end of the week, when we change the sheets there are three pairs of socks buried at the end of the bed.
4. I really like cottage cheese mixed with green salsa. It's a disgusting looking but tasty dip. Nobody else in my family likes it. That's okay! More for me!
5. It kind of bugs me that Barak Obama is younger than I am.
6. I have ignored hair balls on the floor knowing that the Bug Man will find them in a few minutes and clean them up. I am a bad, bad wife......

Whether they like it or not, I am tagging Cheesehead, the Lutheran Zephyr, Pink Shoes, Soda Chicky, Papa Joe and Hot Cup Lutheran.

Friday Five: The Water and The Word

In this Sunday's gospel Nicodemus asks Jesus, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Poor old Nicodemus! He was so confused about the whole "water and Spirit" business of baptism. Maybe he was just tired, all that wandering around looking for Jesus in the middle of the night!

For today's five, I asked everyone to tell us about their baptismal experiences.

1. When and where were you baptized? Do you remember it? Know any interesting tidbits? I was baptized as a baby on January 1, 1961 in the church my parents belonged to before my dad was drafted into the army. They came home over the holidays and had me baptized. My sisters and I were all baptized at St. John Lutheran Church- but they are three different churches. This has made it more difficult for my mother to be sure whose momentos are whose.


2. What's the most unexpected thing you've ever witnessed at a baptism? While baptizing my nephew, he spit up. I've done a lot of baptisms but that had never happened before. Not wanting to create a fuss and wanting him to put "his best face forward" I took the baptismal napkin which was damp from drying his head and made a quick swipe across his face. I have wondered if my sister washed the napkin later or if that's just a part of his baptismal memento.


3. Does your congregation have any special traditions surrounding baptisms? The church we belong to currently has a lovely font up in the front of the chancel. When there is a baptism, a gentleman in the parish creates a wreath of greens and flowers that fits around the top of the font. It's really quite sweet.


4. Are you a godparent or baptismal sponsor? Have a story to tell? I am the godmother of Little Sister #2's daughter. She was very good at her baptism, but I cried more than I might have. The service was at the Easter Vigil during my second year at sem. I was having a real crisis of faith and the baptismal service really put me in touch with my fears and questions.


5. Do you have a favorite baptismal song or hymn? Why do I ask questions that I don't know the answers to! I really like "O Blessed Spring" by Susan Cherwien and Bob Farlee.

O blessed spring, where Word and sign
embrace us into Christ the Vine:
here Christ enjoins each one to be
a branch of this life-giving Tree.

Through summer heat of youthful years,
uncertain faith, rebellious tears,
sustained by Christ’s infusing rain,
the boughs will shout for joy again.

When autumn cools and youth is cold,
when limbs their heavy harvest hold,
then through us, warm, the Christ will move
with gifts of beauty, wisdom, love.

As winter comes, as winters must,
we breathe our last, return to dust;
still held in Christ, our souls take wing
and trust the promise of the spring.

Christ, holy Vine, Christ, living Tree,
be praised for this blest mystery:
that Word and water thus revive
and join us to your Tree of Life.

Text: Susan Palo Cherwien, b. 1953
©1993 Susan Palo Cherwien, admin. Augsburg Fortress

Duplication in any form prohibited without permission or valid license from copyright administrator.

I wasn't really all that hungry!

Last Friday, Sweet Girl, Scarecrow, the Bug Man and I were scheduled to go out for dinner. It took us several weeks of negotiation before we found a time when Sweet Girl didn't have internship stuff happening; Scarecrow didn't have youth group stuff happening; Bug Man didn't have to get up early to kill bugs; and as for me.... my schedule was pretty open.

Scarecrow is a foodie! There is no other way to explain it. He loves to cook. He loves excellent food and he refuses to pay good money for a meal he could have made at home. For more than a week he googled, contemplated and debated the best place for us to have dinner. Then we needed to figure out what to do with the kids. Should Soda Chicky watch Pseudo Grandbaby? Could we find another sitter for PGB? Should we find a place where the Chicky and PGB would be welcome?

Last Friday the Scarecrow changed the restaurant four times. He called me several times and silly me! I only remembered the converation up to restaurant number three. At 6:15, the Bug Man and I were 45 minutes early for our reservation. We sat in the car listening to the radio until we thought that might be bad for the car. Boy were we right! The car ceased to start. Only made a "click click click" noise. We decided to go in the restaurant in the hopes that absence would lead the car into a cheerier state of being.

We gave the hostess Scarecrow's name and she seemed to think that there was a misprint in her list. Like many Philly dining spots, this was a BYOB. So we drank half a bottle of wine and ate the tasty bread while watching people and the various plates of food go by. At 7:15 we began to be concerned for our friends. I didn't have my cell phone or their phone numbers. But we called Sweet Girl's dad (they were babysitting). The two were "on their way, must be caught in traffic." We waited ten more minutes until our server explained that we didn't have a reservation and that they needed our table. Sigh....

Three phone calls later we knew that I had forgotten we were going to restaurant number four, not number three. Sweet Girl and the Scarecrow were miles away drinking their own bottle of wine. Our car still wouldn't start and the Bug Man was starting to do "the potty dance" on the sidewalk next to our car.

Thankfully, Sweet Girl's dad was only fifteen minutes away and came to our rescue. He had jumper cables so we got the car started. We drove towards home only stopping at the WaWa to get sandwiches and so Bug Man could use the bathroom. (We took turns sitting in the car with the engine running.)

Needless to say, I have been teased quite a bit about all of this. I had a roast beef sandwich for dinner. Bug Man had pastrami. Scarecrow had oysters on the half shell and duckling. Sweet Girl said the Snapper Soup was delicious. We hope to go out sometime before PGB enters kindergarten.

Friday Five - Lenten Reflections

This week on the Rev Gals it's questions about Lent.

1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How? Shrove Tuesday I made pancakes for Soda Chicky. It's a bit of a tradition. On Ash Wednesday I went to chapel with Scarecrow, Dorothy, the Tin Man and Pseudo Baby.


2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent? At a former parish we celebrated by having "The Mad Monks of Melody" play for a Mardi Gras dinner and worship. They're a Dixieland jazz band which is made up of musicians who met as Barbershoppers. A fun time was had by all. Nothing like marching around the sanctuary to "When the Saints Go Marching In".


3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it? Lent was always a part of our family. We went to church on Wednesday nights. Often there were special family devotions. No giving up of things. Not a Lutheran thing really.


4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between? As a kid, giving-up was "a Catholic thing." As an adult and pastor, I feel that giving things up only makes sense if the abstinence leads you to think about God. If it's just something to be unhappy and grouchy about- forget it.


5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year? Midweek worship at night or mid-day. Reading and having a four week preaching gig.

Not my kind of brownie pan!

For a mere $34 you can buy this pan so that all your brownies have edges. BUT I LIKE THE ONES IN THE MIDDLE! This was posted in an AOL piece on strange cooking gadgets. There was also a thing that is meant for cutting hotdogs so that they look like octopi. Sheesh! You can do that with a knife. But don't! I think it may actually make the dogs taste worse. At least that was my experience at "Under the Sea" nights at our kids' midweek program. Usually served with blue jello jigglers that had Swedish fish "swimming" around.

The 47 year old acolyte

One of the strange things about being clergy and not on the staff of the church where you worship is that you are a good emergency fill in. I've filled in at the last minute as the reader and the assisting minister, but today was a first. I was the acolyte.

I've trained dozens of acolytes but this was the first time I had performed the job and this church. Since it was all very last minute I got one of the worst fitting robes to wear. I forgot to light the Paschal Candle because I didn't know there was a baptism. I wasn't sure when to take the offering plates to the ushers. And my hubby critiqued the way I carried the processional cross.

The woman who trains and schedules the acolytes frequently fills in when the acolyte doesn't show. There were lots of acolytes at worship but they were all singing in the youth choir this morning. The last time Soda Chicky filled in to acolyte on the spot, the boss of the acolytes gave her the business. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to be doing this. You haven't been trained. You did it wrong."

This in front of witnesses. Soda Chicky was doing the pastors a favor. She'd been trained by her mother in her last parish. There hasn't been an acolyte training meeting for the last two years. AND she was talked to after she had lit the candles but before the service had even begun. As you may guess, I was glad that this woman was not at church today. I'm sure she would have given me the business!

All of this brings to mind that although there may be a "correct" or preferred ways to perform these tasks, what is important is that the tasks are performed with a sense of worship and devotion. Does it really matter which candle gets lit first? Does it really matter if the acolyte is wearing tennis shoes? Will God be offended if we don't always remember to reverence the altar at the prescribed times? I think not.

Friday Five: Read any good books lately?

Well, it's my week to write the Friday Five for the RevGalBlogPals, so here goes!



The website promoting this piece of art says, "For the first time, the worlds most influential religious texts are brought together and presented on the same level, their coexistence acknowledged and celebrated”. The shelf is made of reclaimed wood that contains seven religious books. The designers have put them – literally – on the same level.


Well, pish posh! I think that some books ARE better than others! How about you?

1. What book have you read in the last six months that has really stayed with you? Why? I just finished reading "Look Me in the Eye" by John Elder Robison. It tells about his life as someone with Asperger's Syndrome. Soda Chicky's friend Flying Monkey has Asperger's which is a mild form of autism. It is a fascinating book. The guy designed special effects for Kiss when he was a teenager, among other things. It was helpful in understanding what Flying Monkey deals with every day and it was also a very poignant read.

1. 2. What is one of your favorite childhood books? I've gone on and on about Madeleine L'Engle so her books are a given but before I got to her books I read every Beverly Cleary book I could get my hands on.

3. Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? Do tell! Why did I write this question??!! It's too hard to pick just one! Some favorite though are definitely Mark, Romans and I Corinthians.

4. What is one book you could read again and again? C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" come off the shelf once a year.

5. Is there a book you would suggest for Lenten reading? What is it and why? I strongly suggest getting a copy of "The Last Week" by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. You may not agree with everything they have to say but it's a tremendous book. And there is some great fodder for Lenten and Holy Week sermons.

And because we all love bonus questions, if you were going to publish a book what would it be? Who would you want to write the jacket cover blurb expounding on your talent? I'd love to write a children's novel for that tween age range. I also have an idea for a "How To" book for congregation councils. As for the blurb writer.... Madeleine L'Engle would have been my first choice. Hmmm.... not sure who to pick now....

St. Matthew's Prayer Rug

Earlier this week, Bug Man asked me if I had seen this letter we had gotten from some church. I shilly shallied for a while before opening it, but then curiousity got the best of me.

This "church" called St. Matthew's had sent me a prayer rug. The photo to the right is a copy someone else posted to the net.

“Look into Jesus’ Eyes you will see they are closed,” it instructed at the bottom. “But as you continue to look you will see His eyes opening and looking back into your eyes. Then go and be alone and kneel on this Rug of Faith or touch it to both knees. Then please check your needs on our letter to you. Please Return this Prayer Rug. Do not keep it.” On the back of the “rug,” it warned that it “must be mailed to a second home that needs a blessing after you use it.”

Strange stuff, indeed. Not the way I usually go about my daily prayers. A letter was included which said, “Would you like to have God’s blessings upon your home, your family and finances?” it asked. “Just put a (check) mark by your needs below, telling us that you want prayer.” There were boxes to check if you wanted health, a better job, to stop a bad habit, a new car, a money blessing, or “a home to call my own.” There was even a blank space to write in the amount of money you wanted God to bless you with. The letter was signed, “Your Brothers & Sisters in Christ, Saint Matthew’s Church.”

There was another sheet with testimonials to the power of this “prayer package.” Most of the
"proofs" were related to money. Y.G.” said she had only $50 to last until payday, but that after using the Prayer Rug, she was blessed with $46,888.20.

Yikes! This is some kind of powerful paper prayer rug! In looking into the matter further, it seems this outfit is only a little bit like church. They didn't have a building until a few years ago and apparently they only offer services in Spanish. English will be coming soon! The monies sent to this group go to some attorney/pr person and according to a legitimate news source there is little evidence to support the group's claim to be a church.

It is troublesome at best. Although they said they really needed my prayer rug back, I put it in the recycling with yesterday's newspapers.

Out of the loop

It has been a quiet period on this blog of late. We came back from a week with Mountain Mama and Papa Joe. The mountains were beautiful and the visit was great. Now that January has begun, it is a very busy time for me in my unorthodox pastor job. Lots of paperwork and details. I've come home and found myself less inclined to write. So to catch up, here are a few tidbits.

• SodaChicky has been sick of late. I took her to the doctor and they seem to think she might have enlarged adnoids which cause her to get really nasty sinus headaches. Clearly something is going on. Every time the barometric pressure changes she complains of pain and dizzinesss. Being one of the meanest moms on the planet, I sent her to school on Friday anyhow!
• Pseudo-baby has learned to sit up all by himself. This is good but he also falls over. Took a couple of good crashes last week. Nasty bump on his forehead. It's amazing though how quickly he forgets it all and moves on to the next discovery. Babies are an amazing bunch!
• Made a great "clean out the frig" stir fry tonight with shrimp, peppers, onions, cabbage and noodles with a curried peanut sauce. It was totally without a recipe but tasty. SodaChicky said in passing, "If I liked curry, I'm sure it would smell great." She had leftovers instead.
• Dorothy is off to Europe next week as a part of a Eastern Europe study program. We will miss her smiling face around the place. I asked her to bring home some good chocolate!
• Music Girl's son journied to Rome this week for a semester abroad studying architecture. Clearly I went to the wrong schools! ;-)
• I'm trying to quit smoking. I've cut my intake more than half but it is tough on the weekends. Sigh...

So those are my random thoughts for now. Blessings to one and all!

Clinton.... who knew!?!?

The Bug Man and I have been talking politics this weekend. He has always been a Republican. I've always been a Democrat. Who knows how we ended up together!

Bug Man has said repeatedly that perhaps he could vote for Obama but he could never vote for Hillary Clinton. Four years ago he voted for Bush even though a survey showed that he had more in common with John Kerry.

Tonight we took another survey. I agreed with Clinton 63%- more than any other candidate. But here's the fun one! The husband also agrees with Clinton more than any other candidate. His percentage was in the mid 40s but still- she scored a lot higher than a lot of his Republican buddies. However, he has said he will NEVER support her. When I tried to figure out why, it came down to a distaste for the candidate. He just doesn't like her. Why is likeability such an issue? Why is Obama getting a bump in the ratings because people just like him more? Why isn't it more of an issue of qualifications and experience?

I suspect that people will continue to struggle with the idea of voting for Hillary Clinton because they don't like her. She isn't warm and cuddly enough for them. But really- do you want a warm and cuddly president?

It's Almost Christmas Friday Five!

As I told the RevGals, I have debated with myself for weeks about today's Friday Five.

• Self 1: It should be deep and theological.
• Self 2: But it's almost Christmas, it should be fun and warm and sweet.
• Self 1: But your last Friday Five was sort of silly. You should show your more serious side.
• Self 2: You worry WAY too much!

So after consulting with Soda Chicky, I went playful, pals o' mine! I love stories, so I hope you'll tell some about your favorite Christmas memories.

1. What was one of your favorite childhood gifts that you gave? It wasn't really a childhood gift, more of a young adulthood gift. I made some water color note cards for my mom. I knew it was a good gift when she rationed them out for only very special notes.


2. What is one of your favorite Christmas recipes? Bonus points if you share the recipe with us. One of my favorite Christmas recipes is something Mountain Mama makes called, "Sandwich Cookies." I think it came from some really basic cookbook. You make dough the consistancy of pie crust with flour, butter and cream. After rolling the dough out, you cut little circles, flip them in granulated sugar and prick with a fork so they don't puff up too much. Mountain Mama uses an old teaball to cut out the circles. It works best. After baking the cookies you make sandwiches with great frosting: butter, powedered sugar, a little cream and a tiny drop of color. When they're all done, you find that they are best eaten in one bite. If you try to bite them they crumble all over your clothes. They are the best. Papa Joe once left them as a "tip" for the housekeeper when we were having Christmas on the road. They're that good.


3. What is a tradition that your family can't do without? (And by family, I mean family of origin, family of adulthood, or that bunch of cool people that just feel like family.) Many years ago, Mountain Mama got tired of writing "Love from Mom and Dad" on the gift tags of presents given to me and my sibs. (We didn't do Santa Clause at our house.) Instead she would put down the names of fairy tale characters, tv people, movie stars, book characters... Some times the names were clues: Miss Goody gave a pair of two shoes; Pele gave a soccer ball; Julie Andrews gave the soundtrack to "The Sound of Music." Sometimes the names were just silliness. The Chick is adament that the tradition continue. And really, I hope I get at least one gift from Billy the Brownie!
   
4. Pastors and other church folk often have very strange traditions dictated by the "work" of the holidays. What happens at your place? When we were still a parish pastor's family, the tradition was that all three of us went to church on Christmas morning. (It is still my favorite service.) Bug Man would always vacuum. Soda Chicky would help with ushering or acolyting. I found that this quieter, smaller service was the time when I could most tune in to the joy that really is Christmas.
   
5. If you could just ditch all the traditions and do something unexpected... what would it be? I think it would be truly glorious to go to another country and experience the week around Christmas. What's it like in Paris on Christmas Eve? Or Jerusalem on Christmas Day? Or London on Boxing Day?

Blog Pals, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

The Delinquent Blogger

So when your blogging friends ask where you've been... it's clearly time to get back on the keyboard! I have been busy with work stuff, home stuff, holiday stuff.... blah, blah, blah. No real excuse. Perhaps I've had nothing to say. This is also a possibility.

Next week I am going on an actual vacation. BugMan, Soda Chicky and I are flying to see Mountain Mama and Papa Joe. We leave on Christmas Eve Day and come back on the 30th. This is the first vacation I have taken since starting my latest gig. I have five weeks of vacation time due me and I will manage to eat up three days of it. This is silly! And the vacation is so overdue. I can feel myself yearning for the wonders of laziness. Days of it in a row! I have no need to see sights or be entertained. I just want to hang with the family and enjoy the thrill of NO WORK!

So, one more day of work and then a couple days off to do last minute shopping and packing. Hopefully we won't get trapped at Midway Airport on our way west. Papa Joe is sure we'll get trapped on the way back. But hey! It's all part of the holiday!

WinterSong: Book Talk for the Rev Gals

To participate in Monday's Book Talk or to learn more about the authors of these pieces, go to my post on RevGalBlogPals. We're discussing the book WinterSong by Madeleine L'Engle and Luci Shaw.

After Annunciation

This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There'd have been no room for the child.
- Madeleine L'Engle


Winter Nights

Your father, when he died,
left this thing behind, his head thing,
he called it - a square
of knitted wool, beige, blue,

to tuck around his head,
like a small rug. I finger it
now, (the stitches like
his body cells, like all

the intricate minutes of his life),
almost the way I fingered it
growing on the needles
knitting for him a meager defense

against those Illinois nights
in December when he'd wake
with a headache
from the cold. Afterwards

I slept with it hugged
to my chest like a stuffed
animal - a brief blanket for
my heart, a comfort. like him.
-Luci Shaw


That Tiny Flame

I think of James Clement (in The Love Letters and Certain Women) telling of the making of cider in the winter, when it is put outdoors to freeze. In the center of the frozen apple juice is a tiny core of pure flame that does not freeze. My faith (which I enjoy) is like that tiny flame. Even in the worst of moments it has been there, surrounded by ice, perhaps, but alive.
- Madeleine L'Engle

The Winter Concert

Tonight was Soda Chicky's high school Winter Concert. At 3:15 the Chick called to say that she needed to be at school at 5:45pm. I said, "I can't do that." I said, "Call your father." When contacted, the Bug Man said that he was in the Little State across the river and there was no possible way he would be done killing pests in time to get her to the school. So I adjusted.

I told the Chick that she and her friend Barnum had better be ready to go when I walked in the door. (Barnum's mother a lower GI thing going on and couldn't make the drive. Been there. Empathize deeply.) Aside from putting on earrings, they were ready and away we went.

The high school is a definite "Main Line" institution. (You drive through the campus of a hoity toity famous women's college to get there. You guess which one...) I usually feel under dressed and outclassed, but that's life.

The concert was the Jazz Band, Concert Band, Orchestra and four choirs. A long night... I enjoyed most of it but was fascinated by the selection of music. There was lots of Christmas music both sacred and secular. There was non-Christmas sacred music. There was a long piece from The Pirates of the Caribbean. But no Hanukkah music! There are a lot of families at the school celebrating Hanukkah this week, but no Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel! The choirs are doing a combined concert with the local middle school next week at one of the local synagogues. I asked the Chick if there would be Hanukkah music then. "Not from our choir." Hmmmm...

Waking up with Arthur

At 6:45am Soda Chicky leaves for school. She hollars that she's leaving, which really means, "Mom, if you don't wake up now you have nobody to blame but yourself." I turn off the alarm and look for caffeine. After watching the first half hour of the Today show, I turn to PBS and watch Arthur. The Chick hasn't watched Arthur for a few years, but I keep watching. Why? Oh why? There is no intelligent, adult reason, I just watch Arthur. It's a secret pleasure or at least it used to be. Anyone else out there still watching the shows their kids are now too sophisticated to view?

It's beginning to look a lot like the Friday Five!

This week's Friday Five comes from Wills Mama. She says, " I know, I know.... pretty grumpy for November but why not get it out of our systems now so we are free to enjoy the rest of the festivities."

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1. dessert/cookie/family food: This would have to be any cookie that looks good, but tastes bad. Stale is bad. Hidden coconut is bad. Candied fruit is really bad. But the worst is something that should be a chocolate treat but turns out to be yucky tasting!


2. beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...) Real eggnog is kind of nasty in my book. On the other hand, the store bought kind with a little something to warm it up- good. And if you can mix it up with some good vanilla ice cream and a little warming agent- real good.


3. tradition (church, family, other) Sunday School Christmas Pageants when the kids are paraded around just for the Kodak moments. Or when the rehearsals involve middle aged women yelling at little kids who are BORED.


4. decoration: Santa and the baby Jesus in the same venue. Santa does not belong in the manger scene. Jesus should stay out of the sleigh.


5. gift (received or given) How could you have a least favorite gift? I sometimes wish they hadn't invented gift cards. I know that Soda Chicky likes the shopping part, but it means that the gift giver doesn't have to use their imagination. I like the creative part of gift giving. I love when the gift I've received reflects thought and care.
   
6. BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it: I really think that Santa should stop running over the reindeer. Also, I want sacred music to stay away from commercial products.

Oops! Grandma got run over by a reindeer! Thanks for helping me see the error of my ways, Songbird. As you will read in the comment below, I have Santa issues.

So that's my list. That wasn't too grumpy, was it?

Blogging Buddies

So I got to meet Lutheran Flavor in the flesh today! This is the second time I've met a blogging friend. And on the same afternoon there was a piece on NPR talking about virtual friends and why "Seinfeld" was such a good show.

The premise of the essay was that "Seinfeld" although its characters could be fairly unlikeable, showed a group of four people who always stuck with each other. They were friends through thick and thin and even thinner. The writer suggested that this something we all long for, but that we can't find the same thing with our virtual friends.

He makes a good point. You can only have virtual coffee with your virtual friends. And yet, I have remembered Lutheran Flavor in my prayers. I have listened as she has discussed her calling and vocation. And I care about what happens to her next. Meeting her in person was a bonus!

Perhaps blogging friends and real time friends are similar in that, the depth of the relationship depends on how much you share. And how much you care. Granted, it's not the same kind of friendship, but blogging buddies- I am ever so thankful for you!

Friday Five: After the Tryptophan

The Friday Five is all about the day after Thanksgiving.

1. Did you go elsewhere for the day, or did you have visitors at your place instead? How was it? We spent the day at home. The Tin Man joined us for dinner after he spent the day working at Starbucks. Yikes! We had a great time and Soda Chicky was delighted that her "Pretend Brother" could join us for dinner.


2. Main course: If it was the turkey, the whole turkey, and nothing but the turkey, was it prepared in an unusual way? Or did you throw tradition to the winds and do something different? Since there were only four of us, we had a turkey breast. I had bought three legs because they DON'T SELL NECKS at our grocery store. What's that all about? So two of the legs went into making stock for the stuffing and gravy. The third leg was devoured by the Chick. ........................ My family of origin never had turkey. Papa Joe and Lil Sister 1 don't like it. As a result, we always had home made Cornish pasties. A meat pie made with potatoes, onion, rutabega and ground beef. Slathered with butter it is the best! Today I will make it in honor of MY Thanksgiving tradition. Yesterday was the Bug Man's day!


3. Other than the meal, do you have any Thanksgiving customs that you observe every year? No traditions in my family. My grandmother however, has a tradition of making chop suey the night before and then in days gone by, the grandkids who were present would make a Christmas ornament. We never lived nearby so I only made one ornament when I was about 19. It is still one of my favorites made out of popcycle sticks. It's a sled.


4. The day after Thanksgiving is considered a major Christmas shopping day by most US retailers. Do you go out bargain hunting and shop ‘till you drop, or do you stay indoors with the blinds closed? Or something in between? I have no desire to shop but the Chick and four of her friends are going to the local mall. I think I'll unload the dishwasher and take a nap.
   
5. Let the HOLIDAY SEASON commence! When will your Christmas decorations go up? I'm not really sure what we'll do. This year we are going to visit Mountain Mama and Papa Joe for Christmas. Plus, our tree is seven feet tall and our new living room is not that tall. (I'm 5'5" and I can put my hands flat on the ceiling.) We'll probably do a little decorating in the weeks to come. But no full fledged whoop-dee-do this year.

You've got to be kidding!

I was reading the latest Bed, Bath and Beyond flyer and I could hardly believe this was a real thing! It seriously made me laugh out loud.

MANGROOMER™ is the essential do-it-yourself electric back hair shaver for men. The unique design enables a man to remove unwanted back hair by himself in the privacy of his own home or while traveling. It's quick, easy and painless. The fully extendable and adjustable handle locks into place at various lengths to reach the most difficult portions of the middle and lower back. Its sleek, lightweight, compact design folds completely flat and opens to 135 degrees for instant use. The large 1 1/2" cutting edge blade enables extremely close and smooth results without the potential of ingrown hairs. Measures 9 1/4" L x 2" W x 1 1/2" H. Uses two AA batteries, not included.

I suppose it's better than getting a wax, but do men really worry about this? And why?

Is anyone surprised?

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Peace Patroller, also known as an anti-war liberal or neo-hippie. You believe in putting an end to American imperial conquest, stopping wars that have already been lost, and supporting our troops by bringing them home.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com