Poetry Thursday

Today I found the poem I wanted to share with you and then I searched youtube. This means you get two poems today read by Langston Hughes. I hope you enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

The Dream Keeper

by Langston Hughes

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

Dreams
by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.     Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Birthday gifts

I have been thinking (it happens most when I am procrastinating. You know school work inspires epic avoidance) about my birthday. I am going to be 31 so what do I want for my birthday? I want to stop yelling at my children. So Starting April 1 I am not going to yell at the boys for the whole month of April. My heart is pounding already because instead of eating breakfast the boys are rolling on the ground dictating a war between the cat and a stuffed panda! Screams, meows, and squeals filled the room. I feel bad for our cat. She just cannot win at all.   I want to yell at them and tell them to stop and go finish breakfast. So I am only committing to one full month and then I will reevaluate the goal. This seems harder than say giving up T. V. for lent. Is this the most boring birthday gift you have ever heard of? Maybe it is my old age creeping up on me. I am scared, and nervous. No yelling for a month! Eek.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

My thoughts on Gay Marriage and sin

I want to start with a warning, this is a long post.

With the issue of Gay Marriage in the hands of the California Supreme court I have been seeing a barrage of people using the bible as a weapon of hate. So I just wanted to add my two cents to the conversation. First I want to talk about what sin as defined in the bible.

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

⁶ “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

⁷ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

¹² “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷ “You shall not murder.

¹⁸ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ “You shall not steal.

²⁰ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Here are the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on the mountain. Now I am going to tell you something I have broken all of them in my thoughts and or in my actions. I am going to go through and explain my sin. I am going to number them 1-10.

1. Before I met my husband I had no religious beliefs only an idea that I was already too sinful to be forgiven. My husband loved me and showed me what it means to love and to forgive. This is an example of putting someone else before God. Now I believe that God sent me my husband because he loves me, but that is a different matter.

2. Well this is a good time to mention that before I came to God I searched for God's love in all the wrong places. So yes, I have prayed to the God and Goddess for protection.

3. I get so upset sometimes I curse and I misuse God's name. I want to believe it is rare but I am guilty of this.

4. I am also guilty of not keeping the Sabbath day and I sometimes chose to stay home over going to mass.

5. My father died when I was an infant, and then my step father died when I was 9. I am angry with my mother for all of the hurt she has caused me. In the past the anger bordered on hate, not very honoring.

6. I am a meat eater; animals die so that I might live. I kill spiders for no good reason except for fear. I have even said I am so mad I could kill . . . If our thoughts are just as sinful as our actions then it counts, because even for a moment I believed I was better than that other person.

7. Rob was not my first love. All those times I chose lust over love was me cheating on my future husband.  Or even looking at an attractive actor and feeling lustful, yeah that counts too.

8. When I was young, still in elementary school I stole from a gas station that I had to walk past on my way to school. I waste time, which is stealing from myself, my family, and from others. Sometimes I hide in the bedroom closet to eat chocolate so that I do not have to share. Is that not stealing?

9. I can be judgmental and when I was younger I was a huge gossip. I took what I heard as fact and spread it around like jelly on toast. I learned a very hard lesson about how much that hurts people and I try not to be so destructive.  But gossip is sin folks, and I am guilty.

10. I see things that I want and I covet it. I feel envy and jealousy. Why can't I look like that, that is so cool I really want that too. How many times have you witnessed me coveting my friend's cow Bessie? More than once.

I am guilty of breaking all Ten Commandments. How about the seven deadly sins, let's see how I measure on that scale. Here is a great article that I am using here

Proverbs 6:16-19

¹⁶ There are six things the Lord hates—
no, seven things he detests:
¹⁷ haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
¹⁸ a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.

Here is a clearer list I found http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Seven_Deadly_Sins.pdf

The Seven Deadly Sins

Three Spiritual Sins

1. Pride (spiritual sin)

2. Envy (spiritual sin)

3. Wrath (spiritual sin affected by body)

Four Corporal Sins

4. Accidia or Sloth (corporal sin)

5. Avaricia/Cupiditas or Greed

(corporal sin)

6. Gluttony (corporal sin)

7. Lust (corporal sin)

1. Pride. I looked up a good example of what being prideful is when we lie, we are wanting to make ourselves look good, make excuses for our not doing the right thing. I do try to justify myself so I fail here to.

2. Envy. I covered this in the Ten Commandments.

3. Wrath. I mentioned that I get angry and that I am still angry at my mother above.

4. Sloth. I am lazy, say 75% of the time. I hope I am being generous.

5. Greed.  I guess hiding in the closet eating chocolate falls here to.

6. Gluttony. I over indulge on alcohol, chocolate, and crafty things.

7. Lust. Well I fail here too. Although I only want my husband I have been known to see attractive people and think "that's nice."

After looking at my own sinfulness based on the bible's definition of sin, it appears that I am not going to make it into heaven. I fail a lot. I am sinful. So what is the point? JESUS. I will get to that. First I want to examine the seven holy virtues

  1 Corinthians 13:1-13

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;^[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages^[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Seven Holy Virtues

Three Spiritual (or Theological) Virtues

1. Fides (Faith)

2. Spes (Hope)

3. Caritas (Charity)

The Four Cardinal (or Pagan) Virtues

4. Prudence

5. Temperance

6. Fortitude

7. Justice

 

1. Faith. I believe that we are made in God's image and that we are all made perfectly. I believe that God loves all of us so much that he sent Jesus to die for our sins. I have a lot of faith in God's greatness.

2. Hope. I am filled with Hope. Hope that I can be better. Hope that I will meet God in the afterlife.

3. Charity, which one does good deeds out of love for God alone. I try to do this.

4. Prudence, careful in providing for the future. We grow food and teach the children in the value of living in a way that protects the earth.

5. Temperance, moderation or self-restraint in action, statement. Well I am a work in progress.

6. Fortitude, mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously. I think I do a good job of this, at the very least I try hard.

7. Justice, the moral principle determining just conduct. I think I do okay on this one too, but again I try to do my best.

I know this is a crazy long post and if you made it this far. Thank you for sticking with it. Now I have gone over the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins. I have bared all my sins for you to witness. Homosexuality is not on either one of the lists that are in the bible. Even if it were how can I judge another person for their sins look at mine. I am dirty, flawed, and broken. I believe love is love. I also believe in equality.

I am a Christian; all that means is I follow the teachings of Christ. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). Love one another, it is just that easy. So let's stop using our bibles as weapons and start loving each other equally. Let's leave the judgments to God.

I am sorry for the long winded post today but I hope you understand why I wanted to share my views with you.

 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

 

Song of the day

Sometimes Pandora knocks my socks off and I fall in love with a whole new world of music. Today was one of those days so here is a new song for your enjoyment. Sombre Reptiles by Talkdemonic. Why do people have to chose such crazy names for their bands? They are from Portland Oregon, not that it matters but I do get excited when I like something from my home state. I can pretend I am there again, except not at all. This group is a little odd but I really enjoyed listening to them.

Sombre Reptiles

 

Mountiantops in Caves

 

Oh wait this song is stuck in my head. You are welcome!

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 27

27. Pair

Look I have a pair of puppies.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 26

26. Something you did

This year I am making the boys library bags for Easter Baskets. I am going to tell you a secret. Lean in close. I find the little cute Easter Basket a total waste of space and money. I mean what can you do with it after Easter? Nothing. So I like to give the boys practical storage for Easter. Also I think Easter Egg Hunts are dumb. I just don't understand what eggs have to do with Christ Rising on the third day.

This is a reversible bag with a cool alien pocket on the inside.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 25

25. In your drawer

This is a drawer next to my bed. I have journals, sweet letters from the boys, and tarot cards.

I find all things supernatural fascinating but these tarot cards are not supernatural.

I bought them at a mainstream bookstore.

They are inspirational for my novel though.

It helps to know what types of things come up when you spread out the cards.

It helps make me look like I know what I am talking about when a woman lays out cards and cries out sharply. There is love and death in the air.

Also I have a fan hanging out in there just in case.

This drawer is directly below the first drawer. Notebooks, pencils, a baby name book, a back massager thing, and hey I totally meant to use that jump rope.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe Tuesday.. Beets

My husband picked all of our beets this last weekend. There were about 40 of them ranging from super small to huge wonders. I love beets which is why we always plant so many. I wanted to pickle them but they never made it into jars. Instead I boiled them until they were tender ate 5 or 8 of the little beets. I could not stop eating the boiled beets they are wonderful. I also made a pickle beet salad. Which is the recipe for the day. I got this recipe from Simply recipes I linked the recipe to the original source. Side note I finally figured out how to use the link button!

My pot of beets before they were cooked.

Pickled Beets Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 bunch (4 or 5) beets
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sugar (I used honey instead if you are worried about sugar.)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• Salt and pepper

Method

1 Remove greens from beets. Cut beets to uniform sizes so they will cook evenly. Steam or boil around 30 minutes or until done. (Alternatively, you can roast them by wrapping them whole in foil and cooking them in a 350°F oven for about an hour.) A fork easily inserted into the beet will tell you if the beets are done or not.
2 Drain the beets, rinsing them in cold water. Use your fingers to slip the peels off of the beets. The peels should come off easily. Discard the peels. Slice the beets.
3 Make the vinaigrette by combining the cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Whisk ingredients together with a fork. The dry mustard will help to emulsify the vinaigrette. Adjust to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine beets and vinaigrette in a bowl and allow to marinate for a half hour at room temperature.

I added feta cheese to this lovely salad and you can serve it over your favorite salad greens. It will keep in the refrigerator for a few days if you don't eat it all in one sitting like I tried to do.

If you have never had fresh beets this is a great way to try them out. I bet you will fall in love. I bet that you could roast the beets instead of boiling them. Oh my gosh I can only imagine the wonders of pickled roasted beet salad. I am going to try it next time we harvest beets. Let me know if you try the recipe and if you liked it. I do hope you enjoy it.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends

22 March

22. About you

I found a new hobby. I for see some wonderful creations 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 24

24. Up

Looking up at my live oak tree.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 23

23. What you do for fun

This is what I do foe fun. I am writing a novel! Eek.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 21

21. Work

See this woman holding her little girl? That is my friend, the hardest working woman I have ever met. She inspires me. I have witnessed her work through tears and pain and she never complains. In this picture She is giving a tour to a group of homeschoolers, she is a rock star, steady and knowledgeable. She does not know how incredible she really is. You know what, I am proud to call her my friend.

For the record I am proud to call you my friend too, but for different reasons. You are special and unique and I would never try to change you because you are already perfect in your own way.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friend.

March 20

20. Clean

The first bloosoms of spring

Rose's are so clean in the spring.

This is my new red rose. Wow it is dark red.

 
Easy living Rose!

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 19

19. A sign.

This is the sign on our front door. It is made from our grape vines and a metal sign from hobby lobby.

 

While I was taking the picture a bird dove at me. When I peaked behind the sign this is what I found.

 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well friends.

Recipe Tuesday will return soon....

I have recently discovered that there are a lot of people who do not know how to make things that I consider everyday staples like pizza dough, bread, spaghetti sauce, cream of mushroom soup, chicken broth, cookies, jelly, and other things so I am going to post recipes for how to make these things and more. If there is anything you want to learn how to make please leave a comment. I am happy to post those for you too besides I need some ideas too. Also I am going to start making cheese, okay cream cheese but it counts. Recipe Tuesday is making a return in April I think I am starting with spaghetti sauce.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well friends.

Poetry Thursday

Today I wanted to surprise you with an original poem by me. Sorry no youtube video to accompany the poem. I am not that brave. Just a reminder the title is found after the poem.

I am a Sorrow filled song

Sung in low tones of brass

In a long held note of tears

Strings blend the sorrow

With the fears it feels alone

Then comes the harmony

Of a lone violin

It fills the space above

With Happiness

Shining brighter then the sun

Hope fills the air over

Mounting sorrow

Not forgotten still there

Simmering quietly waiting

For a sweet release

To cheer the air

 

The Sound of my Heart

 by Trisha Bartlett

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friend.

March 18

18. Shoes

Mucking Boots. These are farm shoes. I have the shoes where is my farm? Oh right, I have to wait ten years! My forty's are going to be fun!

Red Shoes. I love these shoes. I love looking down and seeing the bright red splash of color.

 

 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 17

17. Green

I tried to take a picture of this tomato with my phone but accidentally did a video. The birds sounded so lovely. So from my back yard to you Happy Saint Patrick's day.

A better picture of my first baby green tomato of the season.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 16

16. 9:00

Well I forgot to do this because I slept past nine and when nine pm came rolling around I was having a piece of cake and my first cup of french press coffee with a wonderful old friend who is in town for work.


She brought me this sweet little baby and for a little while I was in heaven. Then I had second cup at 11 pm which turned out to be a giant mistake because I am still awake!


I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 15

15. Explore

 We chose to explore the library. Don't worry it is a Vashta Nerada free zone.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Poetry Thursday

Today's poem is "If you Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda. I am not sure who is reading it. This is a simple love poem that has a big impact. I listened to it four times this morning. It is a poem that will stay with you.

If you forget me
I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

 

 

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friend.

March 13

13. Sound

This is the first song Pandora played for me today. The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks. Did you know it is hard to find a video for this on youtube? The second song Pandora played for me was Romeo And Juliet, Ballet in 4 Acts, Op.64 by Sergey Prokofiev. It's how I roll.

You can find Sergey Prokofiev on youtube. The whole ballet but since I gave up T.V. for lent I am sharing just the music today.

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 14

14 Tasty

Homemade Bicotti! Tasty

 

Well it would not be tasty with out a recipe!

 

Italian Biscotti

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chapped nuts

1/2 tsp orange extract or orange zest

 

Directions

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs (add one at a time and beat well). Add other ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts and flavoring. Turn mixture onto board and knead until smooth. Shape into rolls 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into slices. Return to oven, cut sides up, and brown another 10 minutes, or longer if you like it crunchy like me. Your call both ways are wonderful!

I know that maybe one or two of you may be vegan so if you follow this link http://www.biscottilovers.com/veganalmondbiscotti.html you'll find a vegan version.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 12

12. In the distance:

So I cheated a little here. Damian is 3, James is 7 months old, and Rob all looking out into the distance. I am looking at this picture now from a distance of time and space.

 It is one of my favorites.

It reminds me everything changes

The boys are growing

Far quicker than I ever imagined

It is good to remember

I should print this out on a canvas

Hang it on the wall

Maybe

Someday

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well friends.

March 11

11. Important

I was going to say that books are important but than this happened.

This is important to me, the well being of our family.

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 10

10.  I want. . .

A family milk cow.

(I love these cows! But sadly they are taken and we have no room in the yard.)

A wyandotte Chicken because I think they are pretty!

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Flibbertigibbet

Today I was going through the drafts of random posts that I wanted to do but never got around to. When I found this one I knew I needed to go with it. The word of the day is Flibbertigibbet.

flib·ber·ti·gib·bet

/ˈflɪbərtiˌdʒɪbɪt/ Show Spelled [flib-er-tee-jib-it]  noun

1. a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

2. Archaic. a gossip.

 

Now let's all use it randomly. Every time I say it I smile. I am a total flibbertigibbet!

 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

March 9

9. Faceless self-portrait:

Pieces of me

Floating on battered wings

Beating a broken rhythm

of the drums

Hymns played on strings

I am waiting

Listening for the song to change

I live here

in the harmony

Happiness in the melody

The Chorus repeats

repeats

Lyrics from the heart

I am the verse

Unfinished

before the rest

Floating on broken wings

The pieces of me

 

Undertones

By Trisha Bartlett

 

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter.

Grateful Friday

Grateful is defined by the dictionary as being warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful.

Why am I giving you the definition when I am sure you already know it, you ask? It is a reminder to myself to be more aware of the things I am grateful for than the things that I am not. You see lately I have been struggling, I feel like I am failing when I look at the missing details. It is a real bummer. So I want to just take a moment and be joyful for all of the people and things I am truly blessed with.

I am grateful that I get to stay home with my children.

I am grateful that I get to home school the boys.

I am grateful for my newish red shoes. They make me smile when I put them on.

I am grateful for my husband (yes more than the shoes), he makes our life possible.

I am grateful for online colleges. Who knows how much we would see the husband if he had to go a class for school. I would never have started on my degree if I had to leave my children.

I am grateful to the farmers who work so hard to provide good food to their customers.

I am grateful that I grateful that my children eat a healthy diet.

I am grateful for online reviews.

I am grateful for Netflix, and the ability to watch all of my favorite shows. (I said it. I miss watching my shows. Lent ends in three weeks. Then it is marathon time. Popcorn, Doctor Who Classics and the family. Go ahead judge me. I don't mind.)

I am grateful for good friends and conversations.

I am grateful that you come and visit me from time to time. Thank you, I think you are truly a wonder.

I am grateful. . .

I think making a list of things I am grateful for helps through the low times, and I can move forward knowing that I am truly blessed.

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.