The Power of No

I had to say "no" to someone today.  Well, not totally accurate, I choose to say "no" to someone today.  Then I called my husband who said he was glad I did so, because that was what I felt was right and that is "the power of no."  So now I feel guilty; but not so guilty I want to say yes.  I cannot recall the last time I said no when I was asked to participate in a ministry.  As a parent I said no and had no problem.  At work, I can say no.
A few weeks ago I came across a printable page of No's on Pinterest and printed it out for our parish secretary to use on her preteen and three year old sons.  (Of course I can't find it now to show you) 
Why is it hard to say no to others even when you have good reasons and it is the best thing for you?  I think I am old enough to learn that no is acceptable, especially when it brings me peace. 
Still, it is a bit more difficult than I thought.
I think I need some clarification on the power of no.

7 Quick Takes

Jennifer has lots more Quick Takes over here!

1.  It has been a week!  It is still Easter but feeling a bit more like Lent around here.  Why?  Well, accidents and sickness mainly.  On Easter Monday my husband was rear ended while at a STOP sign.  After e-rays and an MRI we know he has bulging and herniated discs.  He has good hours and bad hours.  He can't go to work but is able to do his school work which is good.  Last weekend was his last seminary weekend for this school year and he went.  I planned a fun girls' night.

2.  Fun girls' night to include a haircut and then wine. Didn't happen.  Instead, we had an "Almost 50 (years old) Girl's night out! When I got to my friend's house for the haircut, she was in her bed with severe intestinal pains.  Long story short, there was no haircut, no wine, just two friends taking one friend to the ER.  Now, I'm not sure if you will think this is pathetically sad or a testament to our friendship, but we had a good time and laughed and laughed. Especially once we realized she would be okay.

3.  My friend is okay and I got the haircut yesterday.

4.  Confirmation is this Sunday and rehearsal is tonight.  I hope all goes well and all the teens remember to say "And with your spirit" when the Bishop extends the sign of peace to them as part of the rite.  Also, let's hope there is no rain, since the hall where we will meet and put robes on is across the street from the church.  I can't let my new hairdo get wet, now can I?

5.  Two things about my life really surprise people.  1.  I don't have TV reception. We watch DVDs.  2.  I don't have a microwave.  Yesterday I had a close to 5 minute conversation with the other person sure I meant I didn't use a microwave but certainly had one.  The question then is how do you make popcorn?  With a hot air popper and a  talented husband.

6.  I realized that the lawn needs to be mowed and mentioned to my husband that either I would have to learn how to use the lawn mower or we'd have to get our teenage occasional yard helper to do it.  He is such a great guy that he said he would call the young man and have him mow.  Dodged that bullet!

7.  One of my dearest and oldest friends told me that if, in addition to cooking and sewing,  I took up gardening we'd have to cease being friends.  Apparently she considers the 3 together to be the perfect trifecta of skills.  I assured her that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Retreat

St. Peter Women's Retreat weekend scheduled for May 18, 19, 20.  Hear what people have said about the center and the retreats.  Let me know if you'd like to attend.  You don't have to be a St. Peter parishioner to attend.

Christ Is Risen - Matt Maher

7 Quick Takes

Hop over to Conversion Diary for more quick takes.

1.  Happy Easter!  That is our lamb cake smiling at you.  It is a tradition.  The cake pan was my grandmother's and she passed it on to me.  My daughter says it will be hers eventually.

2.  I had the calmest Holy Week ever last week.  So calm I almost feel like it didn't happen.  Palm Sunday I went to one Mass.  Holy Thursday was beautiful and simple at work.  We had a short procession which I led with some families from our First Communion class.  Good Friday we prayed the Stations and then spent the day very quietly at home.  Holy Saturday was the Egg Hunt at work which went very well and was lots of fun.  Then we attended the Easter Vigil where a friend of ours came into the Church.  It was strange just sitting there participating, after years of either orchestrating and/or working behind the scenes to keep everything moving along.  But the strangest was Sunday morning.  We had breakfast, drank Bellinis, and did nothing else until we went to our friend's house for Easter dinner.  I suppose the weekend was typical of most people.  It's just been so long that I was 'most people' that it felt strange.  At the same time, I reminded myself to enjoy it, since John will be taking part in the liturgies as a Lector, Acolyte and then, eventually, Deacon.  So, having him next to me was one of the nicest parts of Holy Week.

3.  My parents went back to New York this week.  They stayed here over three months.  And, no, they don't stay with me.  We had a good time with them and we spent New Year's and Easter together.  Instead of my children, I had my parents for the holidays. 

4.  I prefer Google Chrome to Internet Explorer.  My husband though is against google.  Can't remember why.  So, on the laptop we sorta share it's IE and it drives me a bit bonkers.

5.  Speaking of my husband---he asked me to show him how to use Pinterest.  Now, it already "uses" my Facebook page, following the rule that if he posts he must identify himself as the poster.  But on Pinterest, you can't do that so I'm waiting to see what happens.  Of course, the big questions is, "Why does he want to go on Pinterest?"

6.  Tomorrow we have our First Communion retreat. It's three hours in the morning with just the second graders.  We'll have the Last Supper, go to Church, practice receiving communion, and learn the songs for First Communion Mass. We'll also read, The Weight of a Mass, one of my favorite books.   

7.  This is my husband's last seminary weekend for this year.  It all just flies by without warning.

Dump Starbucks - Why dump Starbucks?

Dump Starbucks - Why dump Starbucks?
This may not be PC, but really, we need to stand up for what we believe and bring some sense of morality back to the public.

The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson

THE HOUND OF HEAVEN

Francis Thompson

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;    I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways    Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter.              Up vistaed hopes I sped;              And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,    From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.              But with unhurrying chase,              And unperturbèd pace,      Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,              They beat—and a Voice beat              More instant than the Feet—      'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'.             I pleaded, outlaw-wise, By many a hearted casement, curtained red,    Trellised with intertwining charities; (For, though I knew His love Who followed,              Yet was I sore adread Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.) But, if one little casement parted wide,    The gust of His approach would clash it to:    Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue. Across the margent of the world I fled,    And troubled the gold gateway of the stars,    Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;              Fretted to dulcet jars And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon. I said to Dawn: Be sudden—to Eve: Be soon;    With thy young skiey blossom heap me over              From this tremendous Lover— Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!    I tempted all His servitors, but to find My own betrayal in their constancy, In faith to Him their fickleness to me,    Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit. To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;    Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.           But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,      The long savannahs of the blue;             Or, whether, Thunder-driven,           They clanged his chariot 'thwart a heaven, Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet:—    Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.              Still with unhurrying chase,              And unperturbed pace,       Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,              Came on the following Feet,              And a Voice above their beat— 'Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.' I sought no more after that which I strayed           In face of man or maid; But still within the little children's eyes           Seems something, something that replies, They at least are for me, surely for me! I turned me to them very wistfully; But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair          With dawning answers there, Their angel plucked them from me by the hair. Come then, ye other children, Nature's—share With me’ (said I) 'your delicate fellowship;           Let me greet you lip to lip,           Let me twine with you caresses,               Wantoning           With our Lady-Mother's vagrant tresses,              Banqueting           With her in her wind-walled palace,           Underneath her azured dais,           Quaffing, as your taintless way is,              From a chalice Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring.’              So it was done: I in their delicate fellowship was one— Drew the bolt of Nature's secrecies.           I knew all the swift importings           On the wilful face of skies;            I knew how the clouds arise           Spumèd of the wild sea-snortings;              All that's born or dies           Rose and drooped with; made them shapers Of mine own moods, or wailful divine;           With them joyed and was bereaven.           I was heavy with the even,           When she lit her glimmering tapers           Round the day's dead sanctities.           I laughed in the morning's eyes. I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,           Heaven and I wept together, And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine: Against the red throb of its sunset-heart           I laid my own to beat,           And share commingling heat; But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart. In vain my tears were wet on Heaven's grey cheek. For ah! we know not what each other says,           These things and I; in sound I speak— Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences. Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;           Let her, if she would owe me, Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me           The breasts o’ her tenderness: Never did any milk of hers once bless              My thirsting mouth.              Nigh and nigh draws the chase,              With unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;              And past those noisèd Feet              A voice comes yet more fleet—           'Lo! naught contents thee, who content'st not Me.' Naked I wait Thy love's uplifted stroke! My harness piece by piece Thou has hewn from me,              And smitten me to my knee;           I am defenceless utterly.           I slept, methinks, and woke, And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep. In the rash lustihead of my young powers,           I shook the pillaring hours And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears, I stand amidst the dust o' the mounded years—My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap. My days have crackled and gone up in smoke, Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.           Yea, faileth now even dream The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist; Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist, Are yielding; cords of all too weak account For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.           Ah! is Thy love indeed A weed, albeit an amarinthine weed, Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?           Ah! must—           Designer infinite!—Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it? My freshness spent its wavering shower i' the dust; And now my heart is as a broken fount, Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down ever           From the dank thoughts that shiver Upon the sighful branches of my mind.           Such is; what is to be? The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind? I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds; Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds From the hid battlements of Eternity; Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then Round the half-glimpsed turrets slowly wash again.           But not ere him who summoneth           I first have seen, enwound With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned; His name I know and what his trumpet saith. Whether man's heart or life it be which yields           Thee harvest, must Thy harvest-fields           Be dunged with rotten death?              Now of that long pursuit              Comes on at hand the bruit;           That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:           'And is thy earth so marred,           Shattered in shard on shard?           Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!           'Strange, piteous, futile thing! Wherefore should any set thee love apart? Seeing none but I makes much of naught' (He said), 'And human love needs human meriting:           How hast thou merited—Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot?           Alack, thou knowest not How little worthy of any love thou art! Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,           Save Me, save only Me? All which I took from thee I did but take,           Not for thy harms, But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.           All which thy child's mistake Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:           Rise, clasp My hand, and come!'    Halts by me that footfall:    Is my gloom, after all, Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?    'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,    I am He Whom thou seekest! Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.'    reprinted from EWTN

michael W Smith - Above All

Cooking Blogs

I mainly read three types of blogs; faith, food and craft/sewing types.  When I read cooking blogs I realize that my recipes are sometimes way to general for people who need  rely on recipes when they cook.  Case in point, my Oatmeal with Peanut Butter was a few sentences.  Here is Nutella Oatmeal with Sliced Bananas from a food blog.  Note to self:  bananas would be good to add to the oatmeal.

I feel the same way about craft/sewing blogs. I like showing off the finished product, but to explain how I got from 3 yards of fabric to the dress overwhelms me to even think about.
I guess I am more the, "come over, I'll show you" then we can eat the results together or wear our new dresses to dinner.

I am mighty glad though, that people share directions on their blogs.

Sausage, soup and eggplant recipes

This past weekend I was barely productive.  I did however, manage to cook a few things, which I will share with you, in case you are hungry.
1.  Sausage and Sweet Potatoes:  cube the sweet potatoes, cut sausage into 2 in pieces, put in a roasting pan and cook at 350 for about 50 minutes.
2.  Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup, which is here.  We added cheese tortellini to it for a change.
3.  Stuffed Eggplant:  A bit involved, but worth it.(serves two)
1 large eggplant
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
tomato sauce
Parmesan cheese
Slice eggplant in 1/2 lengthwise, salt it and bake in the oven about 30 minutes or so (do this while the sausage and potatoes are cooking) until soft.  Let cool.  Dice onions and garlic, brown and then add ground beef.
When the eggplant is cool, take out the flesh, leaving some around the skin.  Scrape off the seeds and then cut up the eggplant,  Drain beef when cooked, return to pan, add eggplant and then tomato sauce, enough to make it moist and sort of hold together, but not soupy.  Put this back into the eggplant skins, sprinkle with cheese and bake until heated through.
You will probably have more filling than can fit in the eggplant skins.  I plan on serving it with brown rice at another meal.

It was good, I cooked for about an hour and a half and got 4 meals.

Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) BY SELAH