I know the ability to bake a cake isn't all that big of a deal, but for some reason, I was darn proud of it. I guess it's just nice to conquer a personal challenge once in awhile!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Wonders Never Cease
Well, there's a good chance that Hell has frozen over, because my cake came out great! Here's a picture
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
A Disaster Waiting to Happen
Well, the Holiday Season is officially here. It seems like every year at this time, I get on a domestic kick. So alert the fire department – I’m cooking!
Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am seriously handicapped in the kitchen. I want to be a good cook, but I always seem to run out of patience or get distracted. I do dumb stuff like leaving the flour out of a cake or forgetting to take cover off the stove eye before I turn it on. If there’s a way to screw something up, I’ll find it.
Not surprisingly, no one ever asks me to bring anything significant for Thanksgiving. This year, I’m in charge of rolls and tea, which I was directed to pick up at Publix. However, I was also told to bring a dessert if I felt like it, and I’ve decided I do! I am making a pumpkin spice bundt cake with orange glaze. Impressive, right?
If you know me, you’re probably thinking there’s no way on God’s green earth I’m going to pull this off. And honestly, I’d have to agree. I mean come on – for me, making dessert usually involves dumping a bag of M&Ms into a nice bowl. And I’m pretty sure the fact that I didn’t even own a bundt pan until this morning is a seriously bad omen.
But regardless, I’m going to give it a try. Ben has agreed to help (double-check) me, so I’ve got that going in my favor. And hey – if it doesn’t work, I’ve still got the rolls, tea, and a bag of M&Ms.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am seriously handicapped in the kitchen. I want to be a good cook, but I always seem to run out of patience or get distracted. I do dumb stuff like leaving the flour out of a cake or forgetting to take cover off the stove eye before I turn it on. If there’s a way to screw something up, I’ll find it.
Not surprisingly, no one ever asks me to bring anything significant for Thanksgiving. This year, I’m in charge of rolls and tea, which I was directed to pick up at Publix. However, I was also told to bring a dessert if I felt like it, and I’ve decided I do! I am making a pumpkin spice bundt cake with orange glaze. Impressive, right?
If you know me, you’re probably thinking there’s no way on God’s green earth I’m going to pull this off. And honestly, I’d have to agree. I mean come on – for me, making dessert usually involves dumping a bag of M&Ms into a nice bowl. And I’m pretty sure the fact that I didn’t even own a bundt pan until this morning is a seriously bad omen.
But regardless, I’m going to give it a try. Ben has agreed to help (double-check) me, so I’ve got that going in my favor. And hey – if it doesn’t work, I’ve still got the rolls, tea, and a bag of M&Ms.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Purple Women Count
Today’s post is in honor of the Purple Women Count Campaign, a blogging-blitz aimed at getting BlogHer and other women-centric websites to add a category for Women Without Children. The campaign is the brainchild of Teri Tith, founder of Purple Women & Friends, who got tired of getting the brush-off from the folks at BlogHer who insist that there just aren’t enough people interested in childfree issues to warrant its own category. I think that viewpoint is a bit shortsighted.
The number of blogs focused specifically on being childfree is relatively small – a Google search only turns up about 15 or so. BUT, I wouldn’t even begin to try to estimate the number of childfree women who are out there blogging on a different topic.
Take me for example. I wouldn’t necessarily call End of The Tunnel a childfree blog, but everything I do write about is colored (or should I say purpled) by my decision not to have kids. Conversely, if I did have a child, I’m sure my writing would take on a different slant. Any parent will tell you that having a child affects every aspect of your life – it makes perfect sense that choosing not to have one would have quite an impact as well.
So, when I’m looking for new blogs to read, I tend to prefer those written by women who don’t have children. I just can’t relate to mothers very well, especially when the topic is religion, politics, education, career…ANYTHING! It’s not that I only want to read blogs about being chidfree, and I certainly don’t have anything against mothers who blog. Really I’m just like everyone else – I want to read a blog from someone who’s a little more like me.
And that’s where sites like BlogHer are supposed to come in. They have a large blogroll separated by topic, which should help you find likeminded writers. But when there is no category for women without children, where does that leave people like me? Invisible.
Anyway, that’s my take on the issue. I hope this campaign will make a difference, and if you are childfree, please take the time to visit Purple Women & Friends today and check out some of the other bloggers who have weighed in on this issue. And if you’re one of my readers who could care less about childfree stuff, thanks for making it to the end of this post. To reward you, I’ll tell you a funny story:
We were able to get excellent tickets for the Clemson vs. Boston College football game this weekend – 30 yard line, lower deck. However, the dog thought they looked tasty, so he ate them. Ben was able to wrench the tickets out of his mouth, but unfortunately the tear-away stubs came off, and the dog swallowed them. Ben is furious. If we can’t get into the game, a slightly naughty greyhound may be in need of a good home.
UPDATE: I took the mangled ticket remains down to Clemson, and they printed new ones for me. Apparently Bowman isn't the only dog for whom football tickets are a choice snack, because the lady who helped me said that mine were the second set of dog-chomped tickets she'd replaced this month. Anyway, Ben has made up with the dog and all is well. Go Tigers!
The number of blogs focused specifically on being childfree is relatively small – a Google search only turns up about 15 or so. BUT, I wouldn’t even begin to try to estimate the number of childfree women who are out there blogging on a different topic.
Take me for example. I wouldn’t necessarily call End of The Tunnel a childfree blog, but everything I do write about is colored (or should I say purpled) by my decision not to have kids. Conversely, if I did have a child, I’m sure my writing would take on a different slant. Any parent will tell you that having a child affects every aspect of your life – it makes perfect sense that choosing not to have one would have quite an impact as well.
So, when I’m looking for new blogs to read, I tend to prefer those written by women who don’t have children. I just can’t relate to mothers very well, especially when the topic is religion, politics, education, career…ANYTHING! It’s not that I only want to read blogs about being chidfree, and I certainly don’t have anything against mothers who blog. Really I’m just like everyone else – I want to read a blog from someone who’s a little more like me.
And that’s where sites like BlogHer are supposed to come in. They have a large blogroll separated by topic, which should help you find likeminded writers. But when there is no category for women without children, where does that leave people like me? Invisible.
Anyway, that’s my take on the issue. I hope this campaign will make a difference, and if you are childfree, please take the time to visit Purple Women & Friends today and check out some of the other bloggers who have weighed in on this issue. And if you’re one of my readers who could care less about childfree stuff, thanks for making it to the end of this post. To reward you, I’ll tell you a funny story:
We were able to get excellent tickets for the Clemson vs. Boston College football game this weekend – 30 yard line, lower deck. However, the dog thought they looked tasty, so he ate them. Ben was able to wrench the tickets out of his mouth, but unfortunately the tear-away stubs came off, and the dog swallowed them. Ben is furious. If we can’t get into the game, a slightly naughty greyhound may be in need of a good home.
UPDATE: I took the mangled ticket remains down to Clemson, and they printed new ones for me. Apparently Bowman isn't the only dog for whom football tickets are a choice snack, because the lady who helped me said that mine were the second set of dog-chomped tickets she'd replaced this month. Anyway, Ben has made up with the dog and all is well. Go Tigers!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Life Lessons from the Smurfs
Remember the Smurfs? Those little blue guys were a cultural phenomenon that helped bind my generation together. I think you would be hard pressed to find a person of my age whose childhood memories don’t involve watching the Smurfs on Saturday mornings.
One of the key Smurfs was named Jokey, and as the name suggests, he was constantly playing tricks on everyone. His favorite gag was to give the other Smurfs a “present,” which when opened would explode in their faces. The box was always the same – yellow with a big red ribbon.
As a child, I never understood why the Smurfs kept on accepting Jokey’s gifts. I mean come on – they ALWAYS exploded! Couldn’t the other Smurfs just learn their lesson and stop opening those things? But now as an adult I think maybe Jokey’s antics were the cartoon writers’ way of making a deeper statement.
How many people have you known who just keep going back to something that is harmful to them? I think about a girl I knew in high school who would sleep with a guy and feel horrible about herself afterwards. But then she’d go right back out and hook up with another guy, thinking it would somehow give her what she was looking on the next go-round. It invariably failed.
So why did my friend get caught in that loop, and why do we, even on a smaller day-to-day level, continue to do things that are bad for us? And more importantly, how do we get off the merry-go-round? I think Paul gives us the answer in Romans 7:18-25:
One of the key Smurfs was named Jokey, and as the name suggests, he was constantly playing tricks on everyone. His favorite gag was to give the other Smurfs a “present,” which when opened would explode in their faces. The box was always the same – yellow with a big red ribbon.
As a child, I never understood why the Smurfs kept on accepting Jokey’s gifts. I mean come on – they ALWAYS exploded! Couldn’t the other Smurfs just learn their lesson and stop opening those things? But now as an adult I think maybe Jokey’s antics were the cartoon writers’ way of making a deeper statement.
How many people have you known who just keep going back to something that is harmful to them? I think about a girl I knew in high school who would sleep with a guy and feel horrible about herself afterwards. But then she’d go right back out and hook up with another guy, thinking it would somehow give her what she was looking on the next go-round. It invariably failed.
So why did my friend get caught in that loop, and why do we, even on a smaller day-to-day level, continue to do things that are bad for us? And more importantly, how do we get off the merry-go-round? I think Paul gives us the answer in Romans 7:18-25:
“I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
