Happy Valentine's Day: A Tall Order

The flower shop van just slid into the space in front of our store and hurriedly the deliverer hopped out, trudged across the slippery road and somewhat steep icy banks, to drop a modest yet lovely (from my nosy view here) red and white bouquet to the H&R lady across the street.

Ah, love blossoms....

This morning, before school, we madly iced cookies with pinks and reds (and the odd orange gummy tarantula - because doesn't a spider just scream "love"?) .  (Cruelly tempting me, of course, as we briskly squashed creamy homemade icing and sprinkles on to the not-so-homemade sugar cookies.)  The kids ingested wayyyy too many red-dye-filled marshmallow hearts and hot lips and so I imagine them, with a flurry, making their way through the day of class parties and made-in-China glossy valentines.

Is that all it has become?  Do flowers really say "I love you" as much as regularly taking the garbage out without having been asked, or as deeply as getting up mid-sleep to assist some puking, ill child, and letting the other parent flop back into somewhat-fitful sleep?  Does a giant, mushy card that costs over $4 really mean more than the fact that your partner comes home to you every single evening, come hell or high, whiny attitudes?  (Yes, that is from me who actually caved to Harlequin-ish expectations and purchased one of those overpriced cards yesterday when I was in buying a wedding gift.)

^{1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
4} Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

We've likely all heard this a gazillion times, encapsulated in wedding performances and procedures.  But do we REALLY get it?  Can we as sinful humans escape the self-seeking bit and hurdle that part about anger?  Can I really ignore all those wrongs without compiling a list (and ignoring, of course, all of my own wrongs)?  Am I kind and patient and always honouring my partner?

That's a tall order.

Much taller than simply yanking out the credit card to purchase some brilliant floral design.  Much more difficult than composing some sweet ditty in a valentine's card (that will likely end up in the trash within the week).

Geesh.  A tall order.  A very tall order indeed.

Happy Valentine's Day!  May you fulfill that tall order...(or atleast get closer that I seem to be getting!?)

Boring...as in Dull rather than Drilling a Hole Into Something

Here's the thing: I never, ever wanted to, and made a vow in my early 20s not to, become boring.

And I think I have.


Dictionary.com defines it as...

bore

² /bɔr, boʊr/ Show Spelled [bawr, bohr] Show IPA verb, bored, bor·ing, noun

verb (used with object)

1. to weary by dullness, tedious repetition, unwelcome attentions, etc.: The long speech bored me. 

noun

2. a dull, tiresome, or uncongenial person.

3. a cause of ennui or petty annoyance: repetitious tasks that are a bore to do. 

 Origin:
1760–70; of uncertain origin

 Synonyms 1. fatigue, tire, annoy.

Antonyms 1. amuse; thrill, enrapture.

 

Dull.  The opposite of dull is sharp and I certainly must allow for the fact that my mind is not so much in the "sharp" department anymore.  Sadly.  So my mind is dull.

 

Tiresome.  Tired, yes.  That proves a constant.  But tiresome?  Would others willingly concede to me being a tiresome person with whom to be around?

 

Uncongenial.  Hmmm...

Why am I sharing this?  To get some sort of recognition that I am still a good person?  Nah.  Because I'm too boring to have anything else about which to talk?  Probably.

 

Fatigue.  Tire.  Annoy.

Geesh, I think I feel like a nap now...

What do YOU think makes a person NON-boring????

Munchy Mondays: What's Going In?

Please join me every Monday for discussions on/about food...

"'If you want to lose weight, go to the kitchen...if you want to get fit, go to the gym,'" offered one of my friends who had heard the quote somewhere.

When this Lifestyle Challenge journey began, one of the first things I did was to study, and start to follow, the Canada's Food Guide.  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php  Shocking was the fact that as a 19-50 year old female I am supposed to eat 6-7 grains every day.  Don't get me wrong, I love my breads and carbs (and wonder if I should've born European from whence originate all those dark, crusty loaves that are so darn delicious...), but 6-7 grains a day?  I tried...granola, seedy bread, oats, quinoa...there's only so much with which you can stuff yourself.  If you were relying on only hearty, nutty, grainy  bread as your grain, you would have to eat 6-7 slices a day!?!



And 7-8 veggies...that's 7-8 cups of veggies!  Again, I tried...fortunately I love veggies, all veggies, raw or cooked, in salad form or heaped on my plate.  And yet I couldn't get 7-8 cups a day in...

Then, when chatting with the same friend who told me of the above quote, the subject arose and she commented, "My problem with the Canada Food Guide is that it is so MUCH - I can never eat all that in one day!"  The light bulb went on...ping!  Perhaps I don't need to eat ALL that amount...just watch the ratios...don't binge on meat...eat grains but eat more veggies...don't stuff my face just to say I have eaten it when I really don't want it and can't fathom another teeny bunch of cauliflower sliding down my throat, covered in cheese or not....

Sounds like a strange "awakening" and yet it was a freeing surrender.

What DO we shove into our faces in the kitchen that takes so long to remove from our hips and butts?

Salt...sodium...or whatever you choose to name this heart-hardening "spice"...
Food in boxes or bags or anything other than their own natural packaging (i.e peel for a banana)...
A lot of things we shouldn't...

Fortunately the meals at our home haven't changed that much...although I sure spend a lot less on those blue and white boxes from work that used to constitute our "protein"!?  :)

So, making changes in the kitchen...