Cafeteria Catholics who pick and choose church teaching and scriptures which they find comfortable while dismissing what's unpleasant are missing the things which make us grow in Christ.

I've started going back to the YMCA to exercise since my kids have have returned to school and I saw my friend Stacie who was working at the front desk.  I said to her, "HI Stacie, how are you honey!?" "I haven't seen you for a while!" Her personality is always very serious and she never cracks a smile - which  makes me laugh. She said  "I'm good,"  but then she became excited and said very quickly in her usual monotone, "I've lost 18 pounds!" I said, "That's terrific, good job, how did you do it?" She said, "I exercised." I said, "Well, point to the machine you used, that's the one for me!" "It's not here, she said, I go to "Curves."

Alrighty then.

My  friend George attends the parish across town and he always likes to tell me about whats going with the Knights of Columbus. He's a proud member of the K of C and he gets particularly excited when it's Lent as he goes on to describe how he participates in their annual fish fry. George is my grocery sacker, and we chat at least once a week and have done so for many years.

Last week I bought two carts of groceries and George said he would help me to   load them into my car. I said, "It's okay, I know you have other things to do, I can do it," but he insisted, and because I was feeling my age, I relented. I parked my car in the drive-thru lane and he began to move my things but as I got out to help him, he insisted, very sweetly, "You get back in the car, I will do it, besides your going to have to put it all away."  Yeah, your right George, and I should bring you home with me, your very helpful.

Ah, thanks George, your the best!

Then when I was leaving another store, a group of special needs people began to exit their bus. Their leader was a very handsome young man who was making playful walking gestures with his hands and trying to engage the older teens and young adults with his humor. I glanced at him and shot him a smile of approval as he laughed with embarrassment when he noticed that I had been watching him act silly.  Naturally I considered him to be very saintly and felt love at first sight for this man who was apparently as gorgeous on the inside as he was on the outside.

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* "An estimated 92 percent of all women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancies, according to research reviewed by Dr.Brian Skotko, a pediatric geneticist at Children's Hospital Boston."

*Source- ABC news -Susan Donaldson James

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92 percent of these women don't know what they're missing and the world is worse off without these people.

The things I thought about while I was at work yesterday.

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"I'm what cha call one of those cougars" said my  election official co-worker, they call me that  because my husband is ten years younger than I am.

As I thought, um.....  lucky boy, then I must be what cha call one of those kittens ; ) hahahaha

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The first half of the entire morning she complained about not being able to take a break and go out to her car or maybe run to the store to buy a salad or something. As I'm thinking, "Duh, That's why they call it work, and workers generally have to be at work to be considered working."

 I thought, "Why are you complaining? We're  in a climate controlled building and the most taxing thing you have to do is to sit and ask people for their names and addresses. Who complains about a job  like that?  For me it was like a paid vacation from my housework and  laundry.  I was looking forward to getting away from  the immature whining and complaining from  children for the day but apparently I was wrong.

She asked me how many children I had and after I told her she said something rude and crude which  I purposefully ignored but how could she have said something so mean to me after I had just given her quiche for breakfast?

As I listened to  her  I remembered that people are mean to others to build themselves up.  It helps them to feel better about who they are.

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While watching her I decided that I  need to stop putting myself down  because I'm a nice person and I love people and even though I struggle with my temper  - I really am trying and if I ever had  to choose between me and you - I would choose you.

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If gay women don't like men then why do they dress like men?  I thought they weren't attracted to men.

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I don't appreciate it when an occasional voter stands in my personal space and leans in towards me to return his voter card. It's rude.

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 Co- worker Bob is a such a sweet man. He talks to his wife on the phone a couple of times a day and she packs pudding for him in his lunch but I tease him because she never remembers to send enough for the rest of us. I like chocolate pudding too Bob!
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I'm told that if your wearing red, white and blue while working an election then you're automatically considered a Republican. - Who knew?

‎"Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you." (John 6:54)

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The interpretation of this scripture is to be taken literally and not as a figurative sort of idea or act . What Christ had said, is what Christ had meant and partaking of his flesh and blood isn't to be enjoyed as a symbolic representation of a once great man, nor as an act of celebration in remembrance for the nice work that he had accomplished on our behalf,  but as Christ - our God clearly pointed out - his flesh - his actual body was and is given up for you and I and we are expected to partake. This is the very same flesh which the foundation of our church and her beliefs rest upon and if you don't believe this then your not really Catholic.

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 After we come to understand the reality of Christ in the Eucharist, then the next questions we have to ask ourselves are, "Am I worthy to partake and if not, then how do I  make myself  fit to receive?"

 
The answer is confession and our eternal salvation depends upon it.

Ana's boyfriend, Nate, spent a few days with us for his birthday and so Ana decided to make him a cake.  Nate loves to fish so we took a baked pan of brownies and molded them into the shape of a fish, then we cut pieces of fondant to cover the brownie form which we then painted with food coloring. (We left off the fin along the top of the fish off so that the cake would fit nicely into our freezer.)

We used peanut M&M's for the eyeballs and Ana painted them to tone down the orange.

Ana doesn't know how to cook but her little sister Rose does, so Rose talked Ana through  the process of baking a chocolate cake from scratch.

We double dog dared Rose to eat the candy fondant bug in the fishes mouth which she happily had done.

 Naturally, Joseph loved the part with the fire and Sarah took a cut piece of the  "fish head"  to work with her  and  she put it on her bosses desk. What do you suppose that was all about?

Okay, FINE if your suffering from escortosis - an auto immune related illness, our Pope says's you can use condoms but for the rest of us - it's still a no go.

With some escort cars exceeding speeds over 170 miles per hour my car "Christine" simply blushes.

While my son ate his breakfast I discovered that he threw one of his sweaters into the trash so I asked him, "Why on earth did you throw this away!?" He said indigently, "Because our neighbor wore it when she got cold and I don't wear things that other people have worn before. I said, "Look mister we don't throw clothing away and everything you have ever worn or owned has been worn by somebody else before you got it and if you threw everything of yours away that has been  pre-worn you'd be sitting there eating breakfast and going to school in your underwear.

He sat there stunned and in silence for about 15 minutes.

 Sometimes it takes a few moments to come to terms with the reality of your life. 

 Hey, and it's only just begun!

You can scratch off matches, it's not going to happen.

An artistic rendition of self deception.

Just because you've molded and shaped the God of your mind and imagination into a God who agrees with your line of thinking and beliefs doesn't really make him God at all but an extension of yourself, someone who you've created in your own image, but sadly while your playing mind games, the real God sits and waits, and he waits for you alone.. 

The D.C. sniper confessed to William Shatner.

hahahahaha.... stop I can't breath, hahahahaha William Shatner.. hahahaha

This video is for adults only but to be fair I probably shouldn't have watched it either.

The language is pretty bad but I think it's a perfect example of how people feel about each other as we refuse to "die to self" in even the smallest ways.  We seem to be unwilling to give up anything for our fellow man especially ourselves.

 I've often wondered what would happen to us in the case of a real  emergency,  like say.... an electromagnetic pulse bomb or a nuke or the old fashioned flu where the food is stripped from the grocery shelves. People are gonna lose their minds, if they haven't already. I think we should consider preparing ourselves mentally and spiritually for a more austere life. I think God is going to make us take a good hard look at ourselves and afterwards he will expect some changes and as in all things in life it can be done the easy way or the hard way but either way change is going to happen.

*When I wrote this I had forgotten  about Katrina.

I was at the Salvation army (The Salvanians) thrift store looking for some cake plates and a dress that screams, "I'm from the 1960's" when I ran across a lid that I thought might work for one of my crock pots so as I picked up the lid an older woman said, "Don't do it, it may not fit properly and you will have wasted your money."  I said, "Yeah, I know but it's only $1.49 and I'm pretty sure it will fit." I began to measure  the lid against the length of my arm and she corrected me and said, "That wont work, that's not how you do it." As she started sifting through her purse she pulled out a tape measure and  measured the lid and said,  "It's 11 -1/4" (Geese, I use to always carry a tape measure with me , I've become such a slacker.) I said to her, "Thank you so much that was sweet of you. Thanks for your advice , your terrific and I was sincere." Then she said, "I ain't nothing." I said, "Well God doesn't feel that way." Then she said, "I ain't nobody" and again I said, "No that's now true,  Jesus doesn't feel that way at all , he loves you more than you could imagine", then I walked away sad.

What I don't understand is that if there are so many Christians in America how is it that any person in this day and age wouldn't know at the very least that Jesus loves them? Where I live, preachers are on 4 television  channels 24 hours a day 7 days a week and they're preaching about the easy stuff. Nothing too complicated or taxing, so how can people still not know? I thought the Jesus campaign was pretty thorough.

You may be a little person in Gods big plan but you matter - in fact your his favorite.

Matthew chapter 10: verse 29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Sexuality is a gift that God has entrusted to you , consider for a moment how you've used this gift. Being responsible for your sexuality means much more than just putting on a condom.
Many people are rightly concerned about transmitting diseases, but our sexual responsibility goes much further than that. We are to be concerned for the emotional , spiritual and physical well being of our partner (spouse) and we are to have a respect for the dignity of the whole person and if your unwilling to do these things then your not in any position to be having sex.

Unless your in a holy sanctioned marriage where you've committed yourself to the total well being of that other person then I would say that you know very little about the true meaning of sex and you know nothing about real love. Mind you, I'm not saying anything bad about sex , I'm saying that there's a problem with you.
You might say , "well, so what", "we are all consenting adults" , but adults who consent to pornographic acts are adults who conspire to engage in "sinful pacts" with one another and what you do isn't as hidden as you might think and some of you haven't even had enough self respect to keep your sins hidden at all from other people.
Consider your legacy, will your children remember you fondly and with pride, and what will they tell their children about you? Children know about parents who view porn and who participate in sexual sins and they have little to no respect for them, and neither do your spouses , besides how can a spouse compete with porn models who've been airbrushed and photo shopped and who haven't had your children? Porn destroys marriages and families and it hurts children even if you think that they don't know - they do, I promise children always know.

Keep in mind that all that you have said and done is known by God and you have to ask yourself one question, is God a joke? I ask you to consider the love, peace and forgiveness that Jesus Christ longs to extend to you. I ask that you consider seeking redemption and a change of heart while your heart is still beating and before Christ withdraws his hand of forgiveness and redemption. No sin is to great for Jesus to forgive . He still wants you and he waits for you. We have all been sinners in some way or another and we are all running out of time. Christ sends no one to hell , but unrepentant we send ourselves to hell and then sadly Christ is heartbroken because you really are irreplaceable to him. I invite you to turn your back on your lives of sin as we have done and come and follow Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

*I'm fed up with porn finding me on my computer and on my television. There's so much of it produced that it's getting nearly impossible to avoid it and I hate it.

You happen to be Satans staple food.

It's time to wake the children. They love it when I play the Mulan song loud enough to make the cats vibrate.

Gosh, we worked really hard to beat back communism back in the day now didn't we?

It's shocking to see how easily it appears to be making a fashionable comeback.

Aparently freedom is like a garment and some people think you can put it on or take it off at whim

but that's not how it works, with some things in life it's all or nothing.

Kayak - You're a bunch of idiots!
You wouldn't even think about producing this kind of visual discrimination about the Muslims, gays, or blacks.

Ticking the public off is a stupid marketing idea.

Stop over and say "Hi" to Mr.Hafner who's company has clearly crossed the line.

You , no.

Reagan , yes.

It's so cool when God answers a prayer way better than you could have imagined, way better than you could have hoped for and totally outta your league of expectations.

Amazingly , Elin Nordegren added me as one of her friends over on YouTube and this is one of her favorite songs. Let's take a listen. ;)

I also found a song in Mr.Woods "favorites" selection. Geese Tiger, did you think this through?Have you considered how much alimony could cost you?

I hope that you both can pull yourselves together, because you have two beautiful children who are depending upon it.

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* You country boys are wearing as much "bling" as Mister "T" only your not as funny.