Amazing Grace, Politics and other Ramblings

On Thanksgiving Day, I watched the movie, Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce and his fight in the British Parliament to abolish the slave trade. Excellent movie, and I would highly recommend it, but one phrase kept coming back to mind as it relates to current events in Minot:

Mr. Wilberforce, we understand you're having problems choosing whether to do the work of God, or the work of a political activist.

We humbly suggest that you can do both.

Recently, on Main Street here in Minot, a strip club opened with the name of Sin: take a break from being good. Ironically, it was the name change that brought a huge community uproar...most people had no idea it had gone from being just a bar, to a "gentleman's club". So I am getting involved in the fight to move the clubs (there is another as well) to the industrial area of town, out of the sight of the families that patronize the downtown area. (Just a note: yes, I'd love to see them abolished altogether, but I believe that is the work of prayer and revival, rather than legislation).

Obviously, this is a big subject for me...for the obvious moral reasons...not to mention that I live on Main Street.

So here goes my first foray into political activism.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Psalm 75:1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.

Psalm 136:26 Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

All I Want For Christmas...

...is a kitty cat.

It's probably not going to happen, and yes, I am pouting as I type... How did you know?

Here are my favorites of my dad's two precious, spoiled babies. They are sweet kitties.

This is Brandy...she is such a piggy that when she lays on her back all her fat spreads out around her. Boy, if that doesn't keep me on my diet, I don't know what will! (Note to LLK and KM...please don't mention the M and M's on Saturday night.)

And this is Lady. She is aptly named and is the queen of the world. She was very annoyed that I wouldn't let her enjoy her nap in the sunshine...but she was in my guitar case, so I figured she owed me a bit.

Oh, No!

I never used to really understand Dilbert. Now I do...and it scares me. This was in yesterday's paper, and I laughed uproariously until reality set in and I realized..."Hey, that's me bogged down in the trivial!"

I Love My Job

...I really do.

Have you ever worked for a boss that works so hard himself that you can see smoke rising off the top of his head? It's tough, since you can't really complain to the hardest worker around. So...he has decided that since he and I have similar personalities (and capacity for pain), that I can handle not only my regular job, but also the job of the FCC compliance clerk for the radio network. No sweat. Because he could do it, standing on his head, blindfolded, with one arm tied behind his back.

I saw a poll a while ago that 67% of people think they are smarter than their boss. I freely admit that I am not one of those 67%.

Here's what's really the kicker. I love my job, and will work my tail off to get the stuff done that I need to...and he knows it...and loves me for it (I think!).

Now, I am done with my 15 minute lunch and must get back to work while the office is quiet.

And I must try to remember the verse about doing everything without murmuring or complaining. I have never liked that verse, Lord!

Morning Musings

• First snowfall of the year! It's sticking a bit now, and it is lovely... Remind me that I felt this way toward the end of January...when the blues set in.
• Have you ever noticed that with your weight, the same number at which you were mortified on the way up, you rejoice at on the way down?
• And today is my Prodigal Son's 16th birthday. Please pray for him. He is still my little monkey boy.

Remedial Canning

For years, my friends have asked me to teach them to can. This will not be that lesson. What happened earlier this week is perhaps a better lesson in "how not to can".

We were blessed to have been given a large quantity of apples. Sweet, small, apples. I have run out of my world-famous and extremely convenient homemade canned apple pie filling, so what could be better? I'll just throw on my apron and whip up a batch after work! This fits in perfectly with my "Miss Mary Homemaker" persona and my budding frugality. Uh-huh.

I have always said that the keys to canning anything are organization, cleanliness, and preparedness. Fortunately, the kitchen was clean. Hey, one out of three is good...right?

Wrong. Turns out, for canning, you need things. Things like jars. Jars that I sold when we left Omaha. The recipe makes 6 quarts. Oh, for goodness sake, I had 3 empties in the cupboard. What follows is frantic scrambling through the apartment and emptying of my cute button collection. Crisis averted.

Next, I assembled the ingredients. Blessedly, I had everything on hand. So I began cooking the syrup. Mmmm. Syrup.

Then, I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples. Now, I would like to point out that I will never ever can apples without this device. It's the best invention ever. It does all the work. But it does spatter sticky stuff all over the counter (and the wall if you are too close). Don't can if you can't handle stickiness.

What follows is my "I-will-never-be-Martha" confession. In my wild discarding of all non-essential items before the move to Minot. I purged the screw on caps for my canning jars. Don't ask me why. Of course, by the time I realized this, the jars were full and waiting to be capped. Brilliant. The only caps I could find were some nasty, rusty ones that Martha Stewart would never have in her home. I am ashamed to own them.

But...through all the crises and hair-pulling and maniacal laughter (thank goodness I was home alone!)...I remember how much I enjoy the process of canning.

And the beauty of enjoying the fruits of my labors.

One Thing I Have Learned So Far This Week...

...is that the first rule of FCC legal compliance is that everything needed to be done last week, or yesterday at the very latest.

Pray for me!