There’s been a lot in the news recently about the use of banned substances. I can sympathize with some of the athletes who’ve been disqualified from sporting events for their use because I too was once disqualified from an event for the use of banned substances. I know, this is a shock to many of you. It was back in the early 80′s. The banned substances were Cool Whip and Jell-o. The event was the Brownie Scout No-Bake Contest. It was rather humiliating and I don’t much like to talk about it, but I was afraid this info would be released in some Congressional report, and I figured I should come clean while I had the chance. I had a great recipe and I was really proud of it. The judges asked me the ingredients and I rattled them off perfectly, almost song-like. Little did I know that Cool Whip and Jell-o were the cream and the clear of the Brownie Scout No-Bake Contest. I guess it says something for reading the rules. I’ve since tried to redeem myself with legitimate no-bake recipes. (I like to bake as well.) A few years back I was all set to enter a peanut butter pie in a pie contest for church. I made two pies because I was so sure it would be a hit. The event got rained out and I was unable to claw my way back to dignity in the culinary contest arena. Tomorrow though, I am making all the desserts for the staff Christmas party. This is my time to shine! On the menu we have peanut butter pie, pecan cranberry pie, and hot fudge cake. Not on the menu: Cool Whip and Jell-o.
Archive for December, 2007
Banned substances
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007Christmas for the Righteous
Sunday, December 16th, 2007Thanks to my husband, I recently realized that Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus is also the genealogy of Joseph. I don’t believe I ever considered how important this would have been in Joseph’s upbringing. He was not a rich man, but he certainly was of royal lineage and I’m sure that was no secret. I can almost hear how his mom would have said, “Now Joseph, you’re a direct descendent of King David. If the throne were re-established, it could be yours!” Or maybe she never put it that way, but I bet she dreamed about it. Her son being king. I bet he dreamed about it too. Then the next thing you read in Matthew is how Joseph is met with the dilemma of a pregnant fiancee. The baby wasn’t his, but the shame was. Proud lineage intersects with shameful future. I imagine Joseph thought about how he didn’t do anything wrong. I bet he wrestled with the injustice of owning the shame of a bastard child. Why did it have to happen like this? He did everything right. Of course, from here, we see why it had to be that way for Joseph, but we don’t see it in our own lives. Every time injustice seeps into my life I cry and beat my fists in a temper tantrum deserving of a round on the timeout bench. I can’t even get cut off in traffic without raging at the injustice of it all. I know, save the drama for your mama. It’s good for me to think about Joseph. The injustice of his life led to his very own justification. The one who brought shame on his proud name is the Name Above All Names and knew the most acute of all shame 33 years later while dying on a cross. What kind of God chooses to be born and to die in a cloud of shame? The kind that has power over it. I am afraid of shame and I rage at injustice because I do not have the power in myself to overcome it. Not so with Jesus. Makes me look at Joseph differently. Makes me look at my life differently. Makes me look at Christmas … yeah, differently.
December 1, 68 degrees
Saturday, December 1st, 2007It’s also 9:45 at night. The high today was 83. In Paducah right now, it’s 55. In Lexington it’s 40. In Minneapolis it’s 25 and snowing, up from 18 earlier today. This is the time of year to live in Florida. We can open our windows up and let in the nice night air. Unfortunately, along with the nice night air comes the mosquitoes. I was just batting one away a second ago. I’m not sure how they find their way in so easily, but poor Levi is covered in bites. There is nothing like turning out your light to go to bed and hearing the whining buzz in your ear that prophecies your destiny as the next victim. I guess I’m not going to get much sympathy from our friends in Minnesota though.
Another perk of living in Florida is the ability to work on outdoor projects in the winter. Actually, we prefer to do outdoor projects in the winter. There’s nothing fun about being on your roof when it’s 95 degrees and 95% humidity. So this winter we’re taking on painting the house. Since our house is brick, it would seem that painting trim wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Well, it wouldn’t if some of the other Florida residents hadn’t also been “working” on our house. I’m talking about the termites. They say there are only two kinds of houses in Florida, those with termites and those that are about to have termites. We most definitely have the former. In places, it seems that the paint is the only thing the termites haven’t eaten, so scraping the paint is the same as dismantling our home. I speak as if I have been doing all this work, but you know it’s poor Adam who’s on the ladder making all these wonderful discoveries. He said he’d rather dig a ditch than have to scrape the house, and I guess I can see why.
On a more positive note, we have officially grown vegetables! (By we, I of course mean Adam.) There are carrots, squash and pole beans all in the garden. We’re not exactly self-sufficient, but it’s so much fun to watch a seed be planted and grow into something of value. It’s a great lesson for us and for our kids. I’ll stop now before I break into song.