Provision – Heathens & Holiness

A couple of days before Easter 2012, one of the members of the auxiliary at my work recommended Grace Notes by Jim Stephens as one of those books that really helps you connect with God in a meaningful way. I bought the book and from time to time I’ve read that instead of my Mom’s Devotional Bible. It’s got dated pages with a reading & a theme and a prayer (similar to the Mom’s Devotional Bible)

Yesterday it was the perfect reminder & reassurance that saying “thanks, but no thanks; I’m staying put” was the right path for my feet. It sure blessed my socks off; I hope it blesses yours off, too!

 

 

June 3

 

Finished My Work

Reading: Proverbs 25-27; Romans 15

 

 

But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. (Romans 15:23)

 

It caught my attention that Paul said his work “in these regions” was finished. He refers to his ministry from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Northeast of Italy) and he said his work there was finished! This didn’t mean that everyone in the region was saved. It didn’t mean that all the churches were perfect or had the perfect leadership in place. It also didn’t mean that he was through with hard work, with facing challenges, with taking steps of faith. It simply meant that his specific assignment there was completed.

 

It’s so important to know and be committed to God’s specific assignment for our lives. It’s equally important to be aware of the seasons of our lives and of God’s assignment – to recognize when a season is finished and an assignment is completed.

 

I believe it’s healthy for us to have sincere and deeply held desires for our future. It’s healthy and good to be willing and ready to move toward fulfilling those desires when a current season and a present assignment is finished. But it’s foolish to expect that those desires will be fulfilled in just the way we determined and on the schedule we set.

 

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

 

Prayer:

Father, There’s so much for me to learn from the honest account of the adventures of Paul. Thanks for taking the time to teach me. Thanks for your patience with me when I’m slow to get it. This morning I’m thinking about the importance of knowing your specific assignment for me, and of recognizing the seasons of life and ministry. I’m learning to be honest with you about my deeply held desires. I’m learning about making plans, and about trustingly placing the outcome in your faithful and capable hands. Be it unto me according to your will and your word. Amen!.

For all the kids out there who live in fear, I hope there’s a spark of something somewhere in their lives that makes a difference.

Have you ever had one of those weird experiences where something beyond “us” is driving something to happen?

(note – it’s finals week right now  & I missed posting in Five Minute Friday last week also because of school … but this is important … child abuse is a very real thing in our nation and I think that more people need to take a stand about it, so I’m “linking back” this post from last night … and then getting back to school work)

DH had to get to the lumber yard by 5pm because our special order swamp-cooler pads had arrived & he asked if I would stop at (grocery store) to get some sweet red wine on my way home because he wanted to make a batch of sangria for the weekend.

ok, no biggie. I leave work carrying 3 huge bakery boxes w/ cake and muffins in them and get them piled in my car (planning to take to the nursing home when I visit my uncle so they’re not in my house) and started driving and realized it was too darn hot to leave whipped cream frosting sitting in the hot car while I ran into (grocery store) so I ran to (different store closer to work) even though stuff’s usually more expensive there. Found the sweet red wine and wandered around while I was waiting to hear from DH if M was home or at a friend’s house so I knew if I needed to pick her up. Got the text just as the folks at (different store closer to work) were asking “can we help you find something” because I was wandering aimlessly. Told ’em I was just waiting for that text and was good to go.

Paid.

Complimented the staff member’s shirt (it’s all fun & games til someone gets hurt & then it’s hilarious). Started walking to my car. from my left I hear someone cussing and a child crying – that high pitched scared cry – saying horrible things calling her child a dumbass and saying she was going to beat her f’ing a– again and this that and the other. She’s got a little girl by the shoulder of her shirt, a little African American girl about 5 or 6 years old – she had a hello kitty button w/ a ribbon on it, made me think it was a special day for her … some special day … but the poor kid’s wailing (honestly at first I thought it was the “I don’t feel well” cry) and I thought maybe the mom was just talking trash out of frustration, so I tried to ignore her mouth.

So I get to my car and I see her open up the side of her minivan and I think she’s just sitting her kids in it and they’re leaving. I’m putting on my seatbelt when I see that this psychopath is folding over a men’s leather belt … and then hear the sickening & unmistakable sound of a child being beaten with it … at first I started to leave that “it’s not my business that someone else raises their kids that way; they’re from out of state, it’s really REALLY not my problem” mentality having gotten ahold of me.

But dammit,  The mom was probably 300 – 325 pounds, I couldn’t have taken her in a fight even if I had to, gravity & momentum would’ve been on her side. Plus she was wearing stretch pants and a t-shirt … easily defeats button down oxford & khakis. And she was whaling on a little girl who couldn’t have weighed more than 50 pounds. Whatever that poor child did in Family Dollar (where she got dragged out of) it couldn’t have been bad enough to deserve a beating from someone 6x her size.

that little girl wasn’t carrying on like that because she’s coming down with something that little girl’s carrying on like that because she’s scared of her momma and she’s not old enough to do anything about it; all she can do is scream and cry and carry-on. I was nauseated. That momma had a belt IN THE CAR ready to go. This isn’t the first time she’s done this. Which made me realize that it might make her kids’ lives better if just ONE adult had taken 5 minutes to make a phone call and have someone in authority tell tell her that’s not an acceptable (or legal) way to raise a child.

So I texted myself the lady’s plate #, started up my vehicle & moved over to the other side of the parking lot and called the non-emergency # for the cops. Wow – it seemed like I was on the phone forever with dispatch but it was only 8 minutes and 31 seconds according to my call log from when I called them until the dispatched officers got there.

All I could do was tell them what I saw & heard.

Probably nothing will come of it. Maybe the cops can’t really do anything unless the poor kid really got hurt – and probably a well practiced belt whippin momma knows how to beat her kids so it don’t show. Maybe I did the wrong thing. Maybe the psycho is going to beat her kids harder because they got “caught” getting beat. IDK.

But for some reason God put me in those children’s path tonight and gave me the best birthday gift I’ve gotten in a long time: the opportunity to make a difference for some little kid that I’ve never met and will probably never see again … maybe I’m hopelessly naive, but I really hope that the little girl who got her butt whipped tonight finds a little spark of courage from knowing that someone stood up for her and that when she’s grown she doesn’t raise her hand to her kids in anger or violence and that she doesn’t end up in a relationship with a man or woman who physically, verbally, mentally or emotionally abuses her.

For all the kids out there who live in fear, I hope there’s a spark of something somewhere in their lives that makes a difference. And I’m kind of embarrassed that I complimented the lady’s shirt at (the store closer to work), it seems inappropriate given what I witnessed and the phonecall I made.

After – #FMF

This has been sitting on my screen for a while this morning … I wasn’t intentionally writing it for Five Minute Friday: After … and I’ve never blogged about anything this personal … but this morning I was talking with a friend and it occurred to me when I was done that it was really fitting for “AFTER” … because I’ve finally be graduated from Therapy long enough to reach out a hand to help another up … and maybe this will reach someone else who needed to hear it (God please don’t let my daughter be the next poster in #FMF, I really don’t want to go through that today … M, if you’re next, just ignore this, please, it is not permission for you to cuss in your blog) 

So anyway … the conversation I was having with my friend was time-stamped so here’s a 5 minute-ish chunk that, IMHO, fits today’s #FMF

It took me a long time to trust that sometimes shit really just does happen

 

not like abuse, but that shitty situations sometimes arise that aren’t our choosing/doing

 

and that it’s our choice to face & overcome or to sit down on the carpet like a beaten puppy and piss ourselves so that we just get beaten over and over and over again

 

i think that’s part of why it bugs me so much when people “blame” God for their problems

 

because I had to learn to forgive GOD for letting that happen to me

 

I had to learn to understand that maybe God didn’t change my circumstances (I prayed night & day for my abuser to get divorced) because He had some other idea in mind or whatever

 

I can’t pretend to know the will or plan of the Lord

 

but ultimately I got to a point where I could forgive myself for having been a helpless child-victim by finding the skills/power/passion through therapy and prayer and healing to break the cycle

 

in my generation for the first time in our family’s history, the mom isn’t an abusive alcoholic codependent psychopath

 

I’m a lot of negative things – fat, lazy, selfish, bitchy, rude, crude, condescending, judgmental, bitchy, slovenly, prone to fits of sloth and gluttony (yeah that’s my story and I’m sticking to it … LOL)

 

and I’m some positive things too

 

but at the end of the day – what I’m not is far far far more powerful than what I am …

 

I am NOT AN ABUSER

 

that is the victory speech right there

believe me I’m far far far far far from perfect as a parent

 

but at the end of the day, that to me is a huge success

 

and for a goodly part of my adult life THAT was my only success

I had to achieve that before I could achieve success in school or my career or my volunteer life

 

I pray that you find a day when you realize that all of a sudden, you’ve been given the gift/blessing/grace of self-forgiveness

 

that your cross is lifted off your back and it has been replaced with just a small scar (metaphorical, don’t cut yourself) to remind you not to perpetrate those acts of abuse which caused you so much pain and sorrow and suffering and dare I say madness and self loathing

 

a wise person once told me “we are closest to Christ when we suffer” – on one hand that sounds pretty damn wise …  it explains where Jesus was all those times when I was praying like I was possessed as a child …

 

Broken #FMF

Broken …

 

… if I were a good little Catholic girl I’d write something here about how we’re all broken and only through the Lord are we made anew in His Mercy, Love & Light.

But that’s kind of overkill given that it’s Good Friday and we all already KNOW that.

SO … as we wander through the desert during the Lenten Season we all experience some sort of growth; it’s different every year; we might not see the lessons at all until long after. Last lent was a brutally humbling experience here. In my attempts to grow in faith and health, I failed in my mothering and flopped in my academic work and I was made painfully aware of those shortcomings.

Between the mass of the last supper and good Friday 2012 I ended up in the emergency room with a destroyed foot and ankle. Massive injuries that I put off seeking treatment for because I had obligations to church. Not to my family. Not to my academic pursuits. To church. I spent 11 of 13 consecutive days doing church stuff. The day after good Friday, I served at the Easter vigil on crutches and with an ankle wrapped in ace wrap. The following week I saw a specialist. I’m probably lucky the specialist didn’t crucify me on the crutches … my foot/ankle were so badly injured that they’d have been better off if they WERE broken. I spent the next 4 months (16 weeks) in a walking cast from my toes to my knee. I could take it off to shower or swim. That was it.

This injury was the beginning of the undoing of the cotton candy edition of faith that I’d created … if I was so busy working on teaching at Sunday school, of reading the Word of God to the congregation at mass, of serving on the finance council, of attending classes and meetings and such, I was being faithful right? If I was there AT church I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, right?

 

WRONG.

 

God gave me responsibilities, duties, projects that are my mission. And I was ignoring them. I was letting someone (a human someone or someones) give me a to-do list and pretending that it was from God. It took a lot of soul searching and humbling realizations and prayers to come back to what God was asking em to do: to be myself, to do what He put before me, to serve those closest to me and those most in need.

It’s been a broken year in the perspective of those in my parish (when they look at me anyway) and even to several priests I know. But it’s been a healing year for me. Getting back to basics and reaffirming my mission to be what the Lord has called me to be.

May those who walk in holy darkness find their callings.

Amen.

 

Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started? Checkout the back story over here.

Want to join our favorite free writing exercise of the week? It’s easy and open to anyone.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt: “Broken” with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

OK, are you ready? Please give me your best five minutes on:::

Too far …

Edited to say: yes, I know about Monsanto. Yes, I have 9 graduate credits in or related to the health-care delivery system and/or environmental implications of garbage like that … I’m sorry if you didn’t know about the government being in bed with big business even if it was at the expense of the quality of your food. And um in the interest of full disclosure – the only Monsanto related product in my home is Pam cooking spray. If you didn’t know about Monsanto and you haven’t kicked them out of your kitchen, that’s your own doing. TYVM.

 

This week I really tried to walk the line – the one of not sticking my foot in my mouth or dredging up old nonsense. And I did ok, until this evening. After a 10 hour day of braining on 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I flicked on the Facebook app on my phone hoping to let my brain out before heading to Retail Hell and then home (one day w/out coffee lightener was 1 day too many).

What raised my hackles? Well, here’s me sitting in my vehicle listening to a play list shuffle of Josh Groban & Casting Crowns & John Michael Talbot and I start scrolling through my news feed and it’s just post after post of material from evangelical sites

The United States is *not* a theocracy. one of our basic rights as Americans is freedom of religion. When people lose sight of that, we all lose.

There’s a theocracy 1/2 way around the world if you’re looking for one to join – it’s called Saudi Arabia. It doesn’t matter that you’re American, when in Saudi Arabia, you do as The Saud does/says. Will you drown your daughter in your swimming pool because she committed a moral indiscretion?

There’s another theocracy you can look to: the Taliban – wider than just one nation. Do you recognize the name Bibi Aisha? Her photo is a haunting reminder that a legal/justice system based in fundamentalist theology is a BAD idea. Her photo is the lead-in to the article last year in Education Forum Moments of Startling Clarity by S.L. Anderson … what happened to Bibi Aisha? Her fundamentalist sociopathic religion-based culture. She left an abusive marriage (because all 15 year old girls should be forcibly married & kept with the livestock & beaten, obviously) and when her family found out they hunted her down like an animal and they hacked off her nose and her ears and left her to DIE. Because their interpretation of God‘s Word demands that level of obedience.

 

So you tell me – is that ok? If you’re Christian, you believe in ONE God. So whatever the psychos in the Taliban call God, it’s still THE SAME GOD. It’s blasphemy to say there’s a different God. If your daughter ends up in an abusive relationship because you’re not going to let her see healthy relationships modeled or let her experience the difference between real love and some nonsense you force her to believe – are you going to hunt her down and hack off body parts because she was bad & believed in a brighter future than that? I mean if her ears heard about something better and they caused her to “sin” then God’s Word says you’ve gotta hack ’em off, right? And if your hand isn’t stayed by a messenger of the Lord (a la Abraham & Isaac) then it’s God’s will that you hack away.

If that doesn’t sound ridiculous & barbaric to you, then you should probably be exploring the visa requirements to relocate to a theocracy.

Please remember the historical context for your Biblical definition of marriage: saving up a herd of chattel for a bride price for a son whom you’reexpecting to drop out of school at TEN and get married at 14 and have a life expectancy of 40 years.

Finding God in whatever form we find Him doesn’t mean we can use Him to hurt other people. Not individuals. Not groups. Not genders. Not lepers (even the smelly awkward adolescents with b.o. and pimples). God isn’t a sword and you’re not His holy warrior. Sorry to burst your bubble. God gave you faith AND critical thinking skills. Don’t blame Him. THINK FOR YOURSELF. ASK QUESTIONS. And if you’re in doubt … then PRAY about it. But for heaven’s sake at least be original.

Go ahead and raise your kids in faith. Teach them morals. But make sure that one of them is that we are not jihaadists. You are not a fundamentalist whack job. If you want to start minimizing the downgrade of moral fiber in today’s youth, start small: acts of kindness without expectation of reciprocity or accolades.

And congratulations – my faith in your basic goodness as a person is stronger than my abject loathing of attempts to transform a democracy into a theocracy and it’s that spark of hope that got me riled up enough to say something.

Right and wrong are clear concepts – make sure you’re focused on the appropriate issues to express a public viewpoint. It really is more important to teach your children to be good people than to teach them to regurgitate dogma.

Xoxoxo

3 1/2 …

3 1/2
That’s the # of hours of sleep I got last night.
And people STILL kvetch that I’m not getting enough done.
To them, I raise this morning’s Diet Pepsi and say *bite me*

To those who know that a mom putting in 18-20 hour days between work, family, school & everything else (aka fud, laundry, dishes, the occasional mental break) and those who were exceptionally supportive during yesterday’s omgwtfbbq lunch hour adventure (during which no lunch was eaten, but loves were loved) I say THANK YOU!

(not really kitchen) Witchin – Easter Editchin

First the disclaimers:

• if you’re offended that this is about Easter, take a hike. It’s my blog.
• if you’re going to chew on me because of my church attendance (11 out of 13 days last year during the 2 weeks before Easter; haven’t been since First Communion) find another chew toy … I’m not listening; if you want to change my frustrations, you should have stepped up a year ago when I was inches from the mental ledge and helped me then. it’s too late now. I walked away.
• if you’re looking forward to Easter as a day when you can add back whatever you gave up for Lent, don’t tell me about it … because I try to make Lent (regardless of my church attendance) a time of starting permanent changes. don’t tell me how much you’ll enjoy indulging in 40 days of whatever … no I’m not telling you what those changes are or have been or will be … the purpose of penance is to deepen your personal journey to whatever through self-improvement … and it’s specifically supposed to NOT involve being a show-off about it.
• no, I didn’t change my profile photo on any social network to the equality symbol today. do you really want to live in a world where people like me think that their friends/visitors/followers/etc are going to change their mind because of something I said or did? ha!
• Also, do you really want to live in a world where folks like me limit their action to social networking? because there’s a pretty good chance that I was volunteering at a scholarship fundraiser for women in engineering & geology the other day … and that I invest a pretty hefty chunk of time (the equivalent of a full time job on top of the paid full time job that I do type chunk) into various forms of volunteerism throughout the year … if you don’t like it FINE. do it yourself.
• if you’re offended by my language, don’t follow my blog, it’s that simple. it’s here for my self-expression.

OK? we good now? you’re still willing to keep reading? really? Alrighty then …

This started out to be a post about Easter food. Turns out the Easter food of my youth (and even my adulthood) isn’t out there to be found on Pinterest or AllRecipe or any of the usual haunts of Kitchen Witchin. So you’ll just have to take my word for it – Easter is a holiday. there is food. it’s delicious. no, I wouldn’t ask you to eat it.

And this year my family decided on lasagna. Fine with me. Lasagna it is. And I’m not spending 11 of 13 days so deeply enmeshed in church activities that I forestall seeking appropriate medical care for 12 hours from what turned out to be an injury that I’m still healing from a year later … that works for me this year.

Nobody ever really knows how strange their family is until they’re adults, right?

Right. That’s why we tell our daughter “we’ll pay for therapy OR college, not both” 🙂

Blessings & Balderdash …

The reason to wear Green here has nothing to do with 4 leaf clovers and is 100% a product of Michigan State Basketball #SpartanSports #MSU #MichiganState

It’s Tourney Time! The most wonderful time of the year 🙂 If I could pick a holiday and call it “ours” this time of year would be at the top of the list.

The weather is perfect(ly unpredictable!) it’s spring break the peach tree is blooming the apple tree is budding the tulips are trying and the first dark indigo hyacinth is blooming perfectly (funny, I know garden flowers more as a side effect of being a Harmony Kingdom geek at the (hands down!) best retail job I ever had at Pearl Grant Richmans)

But the annual wearing of the green is a good time to ruminate over blessings

• a baby born 3 1/2 weeks early yet healthy and hefty to a dear friend from long ago & far away tops the list. Miracles come in all shapes and sizes and I’m thankful that she got the one that she’s been so desperately longing for since the first one blessed her family 6 years ago. Gratz Ly & Jeb. You’ll probably never see this – but in case you do, there it is 🙂
• friends & family – especially the ones who will recommend good books 🙂
• snail mail – the good kind with handwritten envelopes and wonderful notes inside
• purple – in any aspect
• sleep
• coffee
• hot water
• shampoo – yeah. sorry, I admire the concept behind the No Shampoo Challenge, but hons really? If my Mane & Tail Shampoo  is the only thing you can find wrong with me, this must be your first visit to my blog 😉
• shower gel & lotion – because Sheer Freesia shower products that have been faves since the original freesia was discontinued
• Indiana Jones Monopoly (which I lost by 85 tonight)

and *drumroll*

there are (as of tomorrow!) only FOUR MONTHS left in my 1 year sentence to wear sneakers all the time … too bad the foot that landed me in that sentence in the first place is in its “neener neener nothing will help” phase of torment right now.

Heathens & Holiness … hmmmm

Before you read my rants and wanderings – here’s the important part (thank you AJ Jacobs for doing the research & crafting the words – for anyone who hasn’t, if you’re reading this then you should read The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs and you should also know that I’m using this academically here – I do not know Mr. Jacob’s personal views on Ye Olde White Smoke … nor would I pester him about it)

If for no other reason than Dogma, the new Pope (Francis I – the first Franciscan and the first from the Americas) is not going to suddenly whip out The Year of Living Biblically and turn to page 328 and tell people to stop persecuting “Cafeteria Style Catholics” because when you get right down to it, Biblically speaking “everyone practices cafeteria religion. It’s not just moderates. Fundamentalists do it too. They can’t heap everything on their plate .. There’s nothing wrong with choosing. Cafeterias aren’t bad per se . The key is choosing the right dishes. You need to pick the nurturing ones (compassion), the healthy ones (love thy neighbor), not the bitter ones. Religious leaders don’t know everything.” just in time to unify the world’s religions & people for Easter.

From The Chive

 

It’s fixed now (and was as of 5pm when I was showing someone how to access the church bulletins), but

 

The hyperlink that news.va has put out to every Catholic church’s website misspells Francis I as Fracis I.

I’m not kidding.

Click the link & the bold headline on News.VA (below the ad for The Pope App) says the same thing.

Imagine how different your dogma would be if Ns were removed? All those NOTs in the 10 commandments become OTs … thou shall ot …

Must be that dumbbunny in my Professional Ethics class back in the day who – every single time she wrote/typed ethics wrote ethnics and refused to change it even when corrected – now works at the Vatican. Err Vatica?

 

Before I went and looked at the News.VA at lunch break, these were my thoughts:

Is it just me or do you find yourself looking askance at people who are all ecstatic about the new pope hoping for change?

I just don’t get it .

people who aren’t even practicing Catholics are excited .

for WHAT?!?!? .

it’s still Catholicism .

it’s not like the conclave elected a Buddhist Monk .

or Barak H. Obama .

or a WOMAN

or someone from the LGTB community

or a cat

or an alien

or a TeleTubby for heaven’s sake .

From The Chive

he’s human, male, Catholic, celibate, ordained .

dogmatically speaking he has the ability to trans-substantiate water & wine and bread into the Blood & Body of Christ through the Consecration. and now he’s infallible. AWESOME.

 

He’s not going to magically change all the rules of Catholic dogma that make people roll their eyes about the papacy and/or dogma and/or infallibility.

 

The BIG rules are still going to stand .

 

priests have to be unmarried men, no sex outside of marriage, no artificial contraception, life begins at conception, marriage is between a man and a woman no exceptions, the sacraments have to be performed in the church building or they’re a sacrilege (wow 34 years of being Catholic (in various levels of piety or not) and I finally spelled that right … with the help of 3 dictionaries & Word spell-check) 

 Why? For the same reason I spelled desecrate incorrectly at the spelling bee of ’88 in the 518. Oh wait, that WHY isn’t about the spell check thing … 

Why won’t dogma change in light of a new Pope?
Because it’s not DOGMA if you can change it. Or as I was told growing up “you’re Catholic, this is what you believe; don’t ask questions” …

But here are the BIGGIES that might as well be set in stone a la Moses & The 10 (not the Charlton Heston version … gimme a break)

HUMANAE VITAE

as one erudite Episcopal Facebooker pointed out today, the process of choosing a Pope (theirs is democratically elected AND female AND praying for Francis I to be willing to open talks between the 2 religions)

If you’ve ever studied the history of his Holiness Pope Pius XI you’ll understand the importance of the “he who went before me remains infallible even unto death” line that successive Papacies toe.

 

From The Chive

 

Habemas Papum.

And don’t forget to get your Pope App …

 

 

Discoveries …

The past week has been interesting. Adding a 34 page proposal on top of the usual mix of work/school/mom/etc definitely pushed the limits of my sanity & ability to coexist peaceably with others by 5pm Friday.

But along the way I discovered the following –

First, The Perks of Being a Wallflower has become one of my all-time favorite movies and I’m so glad that I rented that instead of watching that awards show that every other blog on the face of the internet has been talking about since Sunday. Also, if you’re a mom and you try not to let the laundry steal your sanity, you will end up wearing the same black & white striped cami / black sweater / black dress slacks combo 3x in a Friday to Friday span … and it will be clean every time you wear it … indicating that it might be time to lighten up on the laundry a little LOL

Second, I got eaten alive by some kind of really itchy bugs last Saturday at Ren Faire …

Third – it’s possible to make a double batch of deliciousness during an hour-long sports practice … as evidenced at this site:

http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/ – where there were the most fabulous PB & J Blondies http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/09/peanut-butter-and-jelly-blondies.html

Fourth – my reputation as The Anti-Marketing Maven has stopped preceding me in battle … someone had the audacity to tell me I should “go pro” in marketing because I successfully green-washed Pampers with sufficient research … I’m sorry, the only BS in my life is in a frame stashed on a shelf in the closet next to my desk … I won’t be making a career of it anytime soon; but thanks for the A on the project, I did work my tail off for it.

Fifth – that split infinitives are easier to recognize than to describe in a conversation … to boldly go … stupid Star Trek … everyone knows Star Wars is superior

Sixth …

And the 300+ page Salt River Allotments Vegetative Management preliminary environmental impact study (which you can download at this site http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/79171_FSPLT2_376186.pdf  – public comments are welcome until early April, if you’re interested, speak up – email addresses etc below in the original blurbs I put together about this and other TNF news for an environmental communication project this week)

Seventh …

The music of Eliza Doolittle, Joss Stone, and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.

Eighth …

And really? I’m trying not to get really tired of being sequestered to sneakers all the time – which is definitely a more comfortable accommodation than the 16 weeks I spent last year in that damn boot/walking cast thing – but really? I’m looking at pretty spring dresses & realizing that I’m stuck in black dress pants until I can start wearing “real” shoes again in early August. 5 more months.

Good thing I’m reading AJ Jacob’s The Year of Living Biblically because it reminds me that there are more significant pita than the sneakers 😉

Ninth … I’m tired of Lent already … specifically: I wanted Gyros for lunch on Friday … and the cheese crisp I had instead sent me to the Tums 2x between 12pm and 5pm. At least gyros would’ve been worth the heart burn …

Tenth … I’m not in the least bit ready for the HFMA CHFP exam that is haunting me … I’ve got til 4/30 to sit for the exam. YIKES.

Eleventh  – putting this first because I have NO idea if it’s really going to work, but I ordered the yarn and will try it this week …

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/09/save-time-money-and-energy-make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls.html

Twelfth – watching movies with Kristin Stewart and Winona Ryder back to back is a BAD IDEA – bad acting is bad acting … (and I can’t decide, having seen it now, if the last Twilight movie was the worst of the movies or just doing the best they could with what was left of the story line … )

Thirteenth – I didn’t miss anything in the last season of AMC’s The Walking Dead … because I was asleep less than 10 minutes in to the 2nd episode …

 

What’s New In the National Forest?

Residents of our region enjoy the Tonto National Forest every day. Here’s what’s new:

Signal Peak’s Communication Permit up for Renewal in April

Signal Peak’s communication permit is up for renewal in April. Along with 26 other permits including those issued for communication sites on Humboldt Mountain, Carol Springs, Blackjack and Cooks Mesa, Signal Peak’s communication site permit is expired. The National Forest Service proposal is to reissue the permit for ongoing activity. If you’d like to learn more, visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=41164 or contact Rebecca Hoffman at rchoffman@fs.fed.us.

Land-Swap to Provide Camp Consolidation for Kids

Currently, the USFS is working to swap some lands in the Tonto National Forest (and 3 others) for land in the Pinetop region. The purpose of the Pinetop land would be to provide consolidated camps for children, rather than the existing isolated special use camps. The project is estimated to complete in December of this year. If you’d like to learn more, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=5004 or contact Randall Chavez at rchavez02@fs.fed.us.

Fossil Creek to Get River Management Plan

Building on the 2009 declaration of Fossil Creek as a “wild and scenic river” by Congress, and the Public Input received over the ensuing years, 2013 will bring a Comprehensive River Management Plan to Fossil Creek scheduled to be completed in July. To learn more visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=27457  or contact Elizabeth Dykstra at edykstra@fs.fed.us

Firefighters Needed in Arizona and New Mexico to Ensure the Ecosystem of the National Forests

The Southwestern Region (region 3) of the National Forest Service has 10 positions to fill this fire-season in Arizona and New Mexico.  Qualified candidates may view the Consolidated Outreach Statement here: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5411684.pdf. Applications are due by March 22, 2013.

Livestock Grazing Management Evaluation Pending

The time for public comments is now – February 22 through April 8. Public comments and ideas pertaining to the grazing and management of the plant life in the Tonto National Forest / Salt River Region to Comments-Southwestern-Tonto@fs.fed.us. This autumn, the US Forest Service will be reevaluating the Salt River Allotments Vegetative Management. To download the report visit: http://a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic.download.akamai.com/11558/www/nepa/79171_FSPLT2_376186.pdf