Making Noises

Jolene over at Graceful Agony http://gracefulagony.wordpress.com/ just gave my blog its’ first award.  Wow was that ever sweet of her!  Jolene copes with chronic pain every day and, as the name of her blog says, does it gracefully and is very supportive of the rest of us that struggle with chronic pain on a daily basis.

 

Here’s the deal in accepting this award.  I need to pay it forward and pay it back:

• Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

• Pass the award to other blogs that you’ve newly discovered and let these bloggers know you have chosen them.

I pass this award on to:

Cherry Blossom at Beauty in All Things who writes eloquently, finds gratitude in everything, and takes marvelous pictures:  http://beautyinallthings.wordpress.com/

Katie at Overflowing Brain http://overflowingbrain.com/, who has coped with migraine-like headaches for the past 8 months while attending university full time.  I do not know how she does it. She’s also going through a bit of a rough time with negative comments on her blog and twitter accounts. Her writing is beautiful, insightful and downright funny at times.

Jenny at Cranky Fibro Girl – http://www.jennyryan.com/ Check out her post  You know You’ve Got Fibro If:  http://www.jennyryan.com/?page_id=3673

Julie at Dinner With Julie because of her awesome recipes and her giving spirit:  http://dinnerwithjulie.com/.

Whiskey in My Sippy Cup – http://www.whiskeyinmysippycup.com/ Good, funny writing.  In particular, the post entitled “We’re short a girl, but we’ve got the cup” will make the ladies think twice about ever trying a “Diva Cup!” http://www.whiskeyinmysippycup.com/2010/03/08/diva-cup/

 

 

 

Dear Punkin, please note that giving me a “wet willy” with your tongue at 4:00 a.m. will no longer be tolerated and may result in the loss of one of your 9 lives.

At that moment, you were not very cute.

Sincerely, your owner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the new form of torture; a few bars of this song and I’d be ready to confess anything, just to make it stop.

Click on the below link to access 60 minutes video on the traumatic conditions in Haiti.

 

 

 

 

A couple of ways you can help:

Center Street Church in Calgary will be hosting a benefit concert to raise funds for the earthquake in Haiti. This coming Wednesday (January 20th) at 7:00 pm to Center Street’s main campus in Calgary, to hear artists Carolyn Arends, Steve Bell, Jon Bauer, Corey Doak, Kelsey Plowman and more! A freewill offering will be taken. All proceeds will go to Samaritan’s Purse to aid the relief for Haiti.

Furthermore, my friend Julie has just launched Blog Aid, http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2010/01/14/blog-aid/ and is reaching out to her friends in the food blogging community, to put together a cookbook,  with all proceeds going to Haiti.  Items of art are also being donated.

She has a website  http://blogaidforhaiti.blogspot.com where you will soon be able to order cookbooks and purchase food-related art items.  I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be part of a team of editors to help with this cookbook.

Blu’s Womens Wear is having a 50% off sale now until November 22, 2009.

Canada Day celebrations:

Locations: Prince’s Island Park, Fort Calgary, Olympic Plaza

Free Canada Day BBQ at Prairie Winds Park – starts at 11:00 a.m.

Calgary Stampede:

Sneak-a-peek Thursday July 2, 2009 – only $7 to get into the grounds for ages 7 and up

Petro Canada Family Day – July 5^th – free admission to the park from 6 – 9 a.m. and a free breakfast to the first 20,000 guests.

Western Heritage Day – July 7^th, free admission to seniors

Free Stampede Breakfasts – various locations throughout the city – www.stampedecaravan.com

Olympic Plaza turns into “Rope Square” for the duration of the Stampede and offers free Stampede Breakfasts and entertainment

Concerts:

Free concerts every Wednesday at noon at Olympic Plaza from June 17 – August 26, 2009.  As well, enjoy evening concerts at Olympic Plaza from 7 – 10 pm on Saturdays – July 4th and August 15^th.

Indie Music Fridays – Every Friday from 8pm to 1am, showcasing Calgary’s indie music scene. Located at Lynnwood Station, 7025 Ogden Road SE.

Jazz and Blues at the BLVD Lounge – every Thursday night – admission is free, what you spend once you’re in there is up to you!

Fiestaval – Calgary’s Latin Fest.  Admission is free to this three day event featuring live Latin bands, free dance lessons and dance demos, Latin food, beer gardens, and more.  July 17, 18 and 19 at Olympic Plaza.

Plays

Attend free productions of Rent at Olympic Plaza in August [free if you are sitting on the grass, $12 if you want a chair and proceeds go to scholarships]

Shakespeare in the Park is at Prince’s Island Park from July 3 – August 22, 2009. Being performed this year are Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the special noon-hour only production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).

The Arts

Art Central is a collection of 50 individual art spaces and two cafes, open to the public.  The first Thursday of every month from 5 – 9 pm, partake of exhibition openings, live music and special events, all free.

Kids and Families

Global Fest – August 14 – 29^th, 2009. Tickets are $10.00 if purchased before July 4^th . Fireworks competitions, cultural pavilions and more.

Bass Pro Shops, 112-261055 Cross Iron Blvd, Rocky View , AB

Free Family Summer Camp May 30, 2009 – July 5, 2009

Fromhttp://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPage?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=1&appID=94&template=listallevents.cfm&storeID=75#43158

Beginning Saturday, May 30th and continuing through Sunday, July 5th, FREE Family Summer Camp events will be held at Bass Pro Shops.

Every Saturday and Sunday stores will be offering FREE craft activities for the kids including decorating a fishing bobber, making key chains, designing their own birdhouse, creating plaster animal tracks and painting a souvenir wooden lure for Dad.

The whole family will enjoy FREE outdoor workshops about hiking, camping and fishing basics. Other workshops include bird watching, archery, animal identification, plants & insects, and even how to make campfire S’mores. Kids will earn a FREE collectable pin for every workshop completed.

Next up is Josos Calgary’s newest daycare and play land for kids under six.

Toonie Tuesdays – Unlimited Play for $2.00

Arts and Crafts Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Story Time Fridays – at 2 pm

Village Square Leisure Center has several reduced admission and free events:

Safari Family Night – 30% off regular family admission – Wednesdays from 6 – 8 pm

Youth Friday Nights (Ages 12 – 17 yrs. exclusive)

Fridays from 8 pm to 11 pm

Pool party, drop in gym and hip hop

Community Mobile Skate Parks June 27 – July 12^th 1 – 8 pm [Sundays, 1 – 6 pm].

Skate Park has a combination of roll-ins, fun-boxes with rails, pyramids with rails, grind- boxes, quarter- pipes, wall rides and half pipes. Waivers and helmets required.

Get Out

Calgary’s numerous parks (Fish Creek, Nosehill, Edworthy) offer unlimited opportunities to get outside and enjoy our short summer.  Bike, hike, walk, rollerblade – all free and all good for you [Ice cream cone optional].

Hopefully with a line up like this [and more], you’ll never hear (or say) the words “I’m bored” this summer.

This fellow seems to believe God expects perfection for us to approach Him, apparently.  Hmmm.  News to me.

Seems pointless to attempt to discuss this, but try I did: *sigh*

It was like swimming upstream against a very strong current.

Our “conversation” is reproduced below:

Him: 

Striving for mere excellence in approaching God is inadequate, our only hope is obedience.

Me:

“Obedience? What about just resting in His finished work in us?  Why do we need excellence to approach God–He is our Daddy!  I am confused.”

Him: In Response: 

“Excellence is like striving for 95%, allowing ourselves still to fail. But we need to strive for perfection, for 100%. Only obedience to God can take us to that level. Mere excellence isn’t good enough.”

[Emphasis added by me.]

Me in response to above: 

“Yeah but aren’t we just setting ourselves up for failure, disappointment, guilt feelings, etc. by this ‘striving?’ Not to mention doing it in our own strength which is impossible?”

  Me, a few minutes later:

“I suppose this isn’t really the place for this type of discussion.”

His last reply:

“It’s much better to strive for God’s standard and fail, than to not strive for God’s standard at all.”

(In other words, I guess,

“it’s much better to beat myself up on a daily basis for falling short of God’s standard, try to do it all on my own without the Holy Spirit,  and feel constantly guilty and ashamed for messing up.  That’s better, yep, than to rest in His finished work, embrace His love and mercy, and accept our brokenness and that it REALLY IS FINISHED.”)

Yep, grace seems to have left the building there….well if it even lived there in the first place.  These belief systems seem to be so inter-generational, so ingrained, passed down, and re-inforced by some pastors in some churches, it is almost impossible to “break” them.  Like a great big “to-do” list of rules and regulations- if I do this, if I do that, maybe then Jesus will really, really love me and accept me if I become perfect.  Almost like earning our salvation.  Pharisees, anyone?

Contrast that with the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30 (the Message):

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Yes I am tired.  I am worn out.  I am burned out by “religion” and I so want to learn the “unforced rhythms of grace.”  Teach me Jesus.  And teach me how not to be legalistic in my grace.  Such legalism makes me no better than the original legalists.

Easy Gr♦een Smoothie Recipes

[adapted from eatsprouts.com]

Tips:

• Always blend the fruit first
• Frozen fruit helps thicken the smoothie as well as some crushed ice.
• Optional additions include: plain yogurt, ground flax seed, or one or two scoops of protein powder of your choice.
• You may need to add ½ -1 c. of water [or milk, or juice] to keep it from getting too thick.
• A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down – adding 1-2 T. of liquid honey will help with any bitterness that may creep into your smoothie from the greens.
• Snap peas are not recommended.
• These make fairly large recipes probably serving at least four.
• Avoid mint if you have problems with heartburn or GERD.
• Good for selective eaters.
• Helpful for those recovering from oral surgery or who need to be on a soft foods diet for other reasons.

Some smoothie ideas and combinations:

2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates

1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water

Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water

Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale

1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water

4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water

2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water

1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water

1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water

1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger

1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon

3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana

1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water

1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya

Is church merely a gathering of believers doing life together?

What is worship?  Praising God together? Or is it, as our friend Cal puts it,  “to come with open hands as a needy child looking for sustenance from his/her father. It is not praise. ”

Has “grace” become synonymous with “tolerance”? Or “a synonym for letting the miraculousness of the Gospel be trivialized into the bondage of the old Covenant?”–Cal Henze

If you are a bricks-and-mortar-building/organized religion church attender, are you expected to conform to a “code” and are subjected to a “penalty” if you don’t do so? See

I Want to Be A Clone–Steve Taylor

watch?v=il7w7wXbsyI