Too, Too Much

I must start this post with a fair warning – writing from a prompt can definitely take on a life of its own when you set hands to keyboard. My first thought today was I was going to write a shorter post than last Tuesday. It’s about the same. Also, I don’t often write about my religious views, although I’d imagine you can probably figure them out from my writing. I think religion is personal and everyone should practice their beliefs in the way that satisfies their own spiritual needs.


I don’t mean to offend, but if you are easily offended in discussions about religion, I won’t be offended if you don’t read my post.

Today's prompt:

What is there too much of in the world???

There is too much hate disguised as holy.

Let me tell a story from school. I went to Catholic school for the first 4 years of grade school. I had a lovely woman who I adored for my first grade teacher and I’d decided that I wanted to be a nun when I grew up because I wanted to be as wonderful a person as Sister Ann. After making that decision before first grade was over, I decided at only 6 years old that there was no better time than the present to start studying what I needed to know to be a good nun.

That summer is where I took off the blindfold that I really needed to keep on for my chosen vocation. But I was almost seven. What did I know about career planning?

Since I was learning all about the way Catholics worship in school, I wanted to know more about other religions. If I was going to be a kind and gentle nun, I had to understand and respect everyone’s religion. I went to Summer Bible School at the Baptist church around the corner from home and at the Lutheran church with my Aunt Judy, where she taught my age group. I found out that the lessons about Jesus and loving people were pretty much the same as I learned in school. They sang more at the Baptist church and they did more crafts at the Lutheran church. Maybe that was because my Aunt is a crafter and she was teaching my class, but I remembered that I did more crafts at Bible School at the Lutheran church. Still the messages were the same and the Bible the same and the love shared was the same. In fact, the only thing I really knew as different in other religions is that they said the prayer we said a little later as the last line of “Our Father.”

And so, I went to Summer Bible school every summer in between school years at Catholic School. I was still planning to be a nun and was enjoying the friends I’d made at Bible School, getting more involved with the youth group’s “Terrific Tuesdays” field trips with the Baptist Church. I still remember the hymns and songs we sang on the bus and hayrides. I was having fun, but I knew I was also learning important things to make me a good nun.

Well, my awakening was in fourth grade religion class. I was 9 years old now and planning more than ever to answer God’s calling for me. One day, in about the middle of the school year, we were discussing line by line what one of the prayers we say in church means. We got to a line that Sister Mary Ann told us meant that ”there is only one church, the Catholic church.” I remember, so clear in my mind what I said, what she answered and my reply. I remember being mad.

I raised my hand and asked, “What about the people at other churches, like Baptist?”

“God will forgive them.”

“For-give-them-for-WHAT?”


I kinda realized that day that I had a better chance of hoisting the Stanley Cup as the first woman in the NHL, my backup plan if the nun thing didn’t work out, than I did of being a good Catholic nun. My Mom tried to explain that Sister was mistaken, that catholic with a small c, like it is in the prayer, mean all Christians, not just Catholic Christians. Well, then I asked about the friend on my bowling team who was Jewish. She did her best to try to answer my questions in a way that wouldn’t lead to more questions and an angrier child.

As an adult, I consider myself a Unitarian Universalist with a Christian belief foundation. I’ve studied many religions and have a reference selection of many holy books, although the white padded-cover book with the gold lined pages that I keep in the bedroom is a Bible.

I believe in tolerance as my first religious conviction because I refuse to believe, even for a moment, that God is so limited that he only shares himself with any particular one group of people and everyone else is wrong. It’s that Bible that says with God all things are possible, He is all things to all people. Am I really qualified to add “except” to the text?

But a lot of “leaders” do just that. I’m not talking about extremists who use religion when they apparently don’t believe it to get people to bomb buildings with the promise of “virgins in the afterlife” for killing Americans or “a place in Heaven” for killing doctors at a clinic that does abortions, although that’s extreme hate thinly disguised as holy. I’m talking about religious prejudice. The belief that one religion is more right than another to the point of considering the other religions wrong. Whether you believe that you need to “stay away” from someone because they believe differently or just that they’ll “be forgiven” for not being you, isn’t that prejudice? Just like we hear about “gateway drugs,” prejudice a gateway belief for hate and too many times that prejudice starts in a church.

It's Tuesday, Must be Barn Charm!

 

Since I had photographed and sought so many of the Ohio Bicentennial barns, I just had to get a shot of this on when we were on vacation last summer. Niagara County New York is not quite as old as the State of Ohio, but it’s still a nicely painted barn!

Enjoy more special barns, they’re all special, in Tricia’s Barn Charm at Buff Area Daily!

Monday Mug Shot

Uncle John’s Pancake House

Toledo, Ohio

This week’s mug shot is not a nostalgic trip down memory lane, at least not yet, someday it will be. This is my newest mug!

Yesterday David and I went out to breakfast, which we do on occasion, even when we’re at home. He had a couple of coupons for a free breakfast, with the purchase of a drink, at Uncle John’s pancake House, so we decided to give it a try. It was a little farther a drive than we usually go for breakfast, but not really any farther than we do when we are j the mood for IHOP and with coupons for 2 free breakfasts, the price was nice!

It was fantastic! The restaurant was pretty full, but we were still seated quickly (although there was a wait by the time we left) Our waitress was at our table pretty soon after seating, but not at all too quick, we didn't feel rushed to sit down. I was impressed with the coffee service. There is a color code to differentiate between regular and decaf so the staff with coffee for refills, which seem to be everywhere and constant, can know without asking which to refill. And your coffee cup only goes empty if you insist.

I had a Greek omelet with pancakes as the side instead of toast or hash browns. Two things were at play there for me. First, how can you go to a pancake house for the first time and not at least try the pancakes? Second, and this is the important part, I couldn’t decide between an omelet and pancakes when we left home and seeing the menu didn’t make it any easier! The Greek omelet, which I had made with Egg Beaters was super fluffy with asparagus and feta and I t was SO good. I’m going to try that at home, but I’m not sure what the secret is to making it that fluffy! I was planning on having one pancake and taking the other two home, but David was hankering for a little more and… well, we didn’t take any pancakes home. The pancakes are light, fluffy and everything a pancake house pancake should be. YUM!

After finishing breakfast, David went to pay the coffee bill and get change for a tip. When he came back to the table he had a bag. I asked what was in the bag and he told me he wasn’t telling. I asked, a little surprised, if it was a half-birthday present. I never expect gifts for birthdays and especially not half birthdays, but he told me I could think of it as that. When we were leaving, we passed a display case full of coffee mugs. I didn’t even mention wanting one because I kinda figured out what was in the bag!

A great sign of love is to acknowledge someone’s passions, no matter how trivial the trinket seems. It was a wonderful morning.

Oh Noooo!

Busy…Busy…Bus—STOP!

I was truly in crisis mode. As it turned out I couldn’t even move the box with the bookshelf, much less assemble it. It got heavier in the five years it sat in storage! So, David took over the assembly today after breakfast. He got the support base or one side done and was ready to attach the other side when *SNAP* *BOOM* The side he was assembling slid and cracked two of the base levels on the other side and one of the shelves. I jumped, as much as I can jump. Nothing fell on him, it just fell on itself.

He released some expletives at it in his boomy voice. Scrap wood. That’s what he called it. He wants no more assemble-it-yourself stuff.

“But it’s more expensive,” I protested.

“And better quality,” he countered.

I couldn’t deny that. I remembered the comparison between the black lacquer entertainment center and the assemble-it-yourself bookcase I bought and put together in my old living room. The entertainment center was FURNITURE. The bookshelves were someplace to put books. So I looked at the selections online for a local store of a chain furniture stores.

Wowsers! I selected and added up the cost of all of the items I was planning to get from IKEA, minus the kitchen cart, which I may get getting from Amazon. The total is THREE TIMES the total at IKEA with the kitchen cart!

Then was crisis time. The gloom was setting in. I was looking at my major project and my dream for an organized and accessible home stop dead in its tracks. There is no way I can even dream of affording all good furniture and it’s not necessary to have “good” furniture. I don’t care about “House Beautiful,” I just want “Home Comfortable.” The price assembly obstacles meant that the “woman cave,” or craft room if you prefer, would be towers of cardboard boxes and I’d still need new cardboard boxes.

Oh gloom. Oh despair.

Then the phone rings, Pop’s ring. Pop asked how things were and I told him “great except we had a bookshelf collapse in assembly and it’s broken.”

You see, David and I are both professional people by trade and training. Pop is the former king of his construction empire. I didn’t think he’d have time to help with all that assembly and honestly, it’s so far beneath his skills and now the first part was broken.

I explained what happened; he said he could probably fix it. He’s going to give me a call this week when he gets his work schedule for next week and come down to fix and put together the bookcase on his day off. He also said he’ll come down and help assemble the other furniture when we get it. We’re going to “leave it to the retired professionals.”

I told Pop that when he comes over to fix the bookcase, I’ll pull out a container of my minestrone from the freezer and we can have it for lunch so he can try my minestrone. I could hear the smile in his voice. Smile from me too. I want an honest critique of it! I’ll go to Panera the day before and get a baguette to go with it. We don’t live together anymore and I’m a married lady now, but my Pop is still looking out for his Little Princess!

In the mean time, annex stops for a week and a half and I start the boxes in the eventual woman cave tomorrow!


Breakfast at Uncle John’s Pancake House was wonderful this morning! I’ll tell more about it tomorrow because, YAY, I got a new mug!

Now, after a late lunch, it’s scrapping time, then comes a late dinner. Ah, weekends!

Booking Flight

Contributed by Milford Woods

My in-laws are coming to visit us in March. For some reason, they are extremely bad about booking their flights. They just don’t understand exactly how to search different websites and find an inexpensive flight. They usually just call their favorite airline over the phone and try to book a trip. It usually ends up costing them way too much money. I told them this time, that I was going to help them book a flight. My mother in law insisted that they had it, they found flights for seven hundred dollars a piece. I logged onto kayak.com using my clear wireless internet Covington connection and searched for flights. I ended up finding them first class tickets that were non-stop for five hundred dollars a piece. That saved them four hundred dollars and they are getting to fly first class! I am going to have to teach them how to do this when they get out here in March. They shouldn’t be wasting that much money! There are a lot of things you could be doing with four hundred dollars!