Sunday Sermon and Some Other Stuff

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” –Bruce Lee

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A beautiful Sunday morning. I had enough time to walk a couple of miles, feed the neighbor’s cats, and get a quick shower before 11 o’clock Mass on TV.

Today’s Gospel was the story of the master who forgave the very large debt of his servant when he pleaded for forgiveness. The servant, in turn, did not forgive the small debt of a fellow servant when asked.

Then the master sent for the man and said to him, “You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me.

33 Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?”

34 And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt.

35 And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

My take on it… time and time again we are told to forgive everyone, but I’m still confused. Some people say it is a must to forgive even when the offender does not ask for forgiveness nor shows contrition. In the Gospel story, the Master forgave his servant when he pleaded. His servant did not show contrition by forgiving in return. Forgive your brother and forgive from your heart. BUT… here’s my opinion… your brother should ask for forgiveness and be contrite, otherwise he’s going to keep borrowing, hurting, abusing, and taking advantage of you and everyone else, just like that wicked servant. That may not sound very Christian to some, but it makes sense to me. My heavenly Father will take care of the rest.

Now, here’s a cool sunset. Happy Sunday, my friends.

Friday Photos:) From My Walk, Following My Heart ❤️

“Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have somone click the shutter.”

~Amstel Adams

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I love my daily walks, and even though I pass the same streets, houses, trees, and waive to neighbors and strangers, every day is a new adventure. I like to think of it as following my heart. Hearts always cross my path, too.

Sunset is my favorite time of day, and “Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have somone click the shutter.”

Well, it’s Friday again…. Happy Black Russian Friday, my friends.

Quarantined Karaoke Thursday:( Somewhere Out There

“With time we learn that the things we’re better off without have the ability to lead us somewhere better than we were before.”

― Andrew Kendall

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Another Quarantined Karaoke Thursday. When will we be free to go back to public places to annoy friends and strangers with our off key singing? 😔🎤

This evening, I was treated to another awesome sunset. A fun and fabulous Thursday.

Lots of steps today. Yep, a good day.

Wednesday:) What Wonders I See On My Walks

“All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.”

~ Marie Curie

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I’m going to start with tonight’s breathtaking sunset. The big storm threatened with rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. No rain, nothing, nada, zilcho. I was hoping for rain. (Sad face 😔) But, the clouds added to the amazing sunset.

On my walk this morning, I found some cute sidewalk chalk art and had to take a picture.

I walked about 3 miles all through the neighborhood. Some very pretty flowers brightened my route.

When I dropped off a little gift at a neighbor’s front porch, a striped lucky feather lay in wait for me. I am a lucky gal.

Every day is a wondrous adventure.

Saturday:) Seven Sunset Surprise

“Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they will be pleasantly surprised.”

― Marty Rubin

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Every time I get a chance to walk at sunset, I’m always pleasantly surprised at the brilliant glowing sun, the tangerine skies, the reflective water, and the miracle of the sky before the sultry orb slithers below the horizon.

I have such a collection of sunsets on my phone that I can’t bear to part with, so I’ll share seven of the most recent in my collection. I could share a dozen or a hundred, but then there wouldn’t be that alliteration with the word Sunday, would there?

I didn’t push my walking too much today. You’re supposed to rest on the Sabbath, right? I’m not Jewish, but I’ll take what ever excuse I can get. Just kidding. I walked a bit in the morning and a little in the evening and several short ones with the dog during the course of the day. I was pretty pleased by the end of the day.

Happy Saturday, my friends.

Wednesday:) What’s Cookin’ Miss Toni? PB&J Cookies

“If you have a good recipe, use it often. If you want a great recipe, tweek it, play with it, be creative, and make it awesome.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

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You may have seen my Better than Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe last week, where I doctored it up with chopped up Snicker bars, Kraft caramel bits, and sprinkled with kosher salt. Well, if you didn’t… you missed out. It was awesome. A handful of neighbors and friends got to taste a few. Am I right or what?

Well, today I took the peanut butter cookie dough that I made at the same time last week, with the same recipe, minus the chocolate chips, adding peanut butter. I decided to experiment with Peanut Butter and Jelly cookies. You heard me right. PB&J cookies. I also made a few with cut up Reese’s peanut butter cups.

In case you don’t believe me, I made a video. (Wasn’t easy- I had to figure out how to record it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAtKNkYa9vc

The cookies were awesome and would make a perfect after school or virtual-school snack with a glass of milk or virtual milk… just kidding. I drink almond milk.

When you bite the cookie and find the surprise Jelly inside… WOW!

If you missed the basic recipe before creativity set in…

Now, the making of this film was not as simple as it looks. I had to figure out a way to set up my iPad to overlook the kitchen island for the demonstration. I tried propping it up on the garbage can on top of a chair. Nope! It fell down with a thud. iPad safe. Then, I tried a step stool, nope, then the step stool upside down on top of the chair, then turned that around, then used a huge rubber band to suspend it at an angle. Phew! About half an hour later, Voila! I’d like to change the old saying to …”Motherhood is the necessity of inventions.”

I took a picture for next time. Like the song says, “‘Cause I’ll never have that recipe again…”

Well, the cookies were awesome. So now, I’m two for two. Who knows what’s next? After the last batch came out of the oven, I went out for an evening walk to catch the sunset. It was 90°, but a little breeze. Between my morning walk and evening walk, I think I may have burned off that one huge cookie that I was forced to taste test for quality control. Maybe not.

Another great sunset. Life is good and the cookies and sunsets are gooder. (Literary license.)

Wednesday:) What’s With These Dumb Digital Store Coupons?

“The digital innovation that set out to connect people, has slowly started to tear those people apart both from within and without.”

― Abhijit Naskar

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OK, time for my frustrated rant of the day. Is it just me, or does anyone else have trouble with these so called great grocery store digital coupons? If you download the individual store app and you click on the digital coupon for each item, and you sync up the items in some vast dark corner of your phone, and after they scan your personal secret account bar code or type in your phone number, by some miracle, your total savings will miraculously appear at the end of your receipt when you check out… or maybe NOT. Most likely NOT.

I pride my self on savvy shopping, but when my instrument of technology has conspired with the grocery store to deceive and confuse me, that’s where I draw the line. I did all the right things, and clicked how many items I had and put them in my virtual cart, and I even scanned the bar code on each item.

I purchased a bunch of cereal, juice, snacks, and things to donate to Holy Family School, and I even showed the cashier the sale add and receipt and said, “This rang up at $2.29 and it’s supposed to be $1.29 if you buy five items. I bought five items.” He said, “Yes, I know. Your savings will be listed at the bottom of your receipt.” There were several people behind me in line, so I said OK.

I got home and guess what? Yep, there was NO SAVINGS at the end of my receipt. I purchased 33 items, and the only thing that rang up correctly were the 5 pizzas that I picked up for my neighbor, Mr. Mike, that were on regular sale, not digital coupon sale. WHY CAN’T THEY JUST HAVE A DAMN REGULAR SALE FOR EVERYONE? I have older friends who don’t do store apps on their phones, so they don’t get to take advantage of digital coupons. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter because I don’t either. Do they do that on purpose, hoping you won’t notice?

I’m sick and tired of having to check every item and every sale and every coupon EVERY TIME I go to the grocery store. Can’t they just have a regular sale like the olden days? So guess what? Tomorrow, I’m going back to Kroger and return EVERY SINGLE ITEM, except for Mr. Mike’s pizzas that are already in his freezer, if not eaten already, and get my money back.

Yesterday, I went to Aldi’s. I usually don’t go there because it’s not that close to home. But, I had to run to the bank and it was right next door. I filled up my shopping cart with snacks, juice, cereal, etc., and guess what? Every item was priced comparable to the so called great sale prices at the other store, and there were NO secret super-duper digital coupons for tech savvy only patrons. I may have to change my shopping habits and locations.

OK! I’m done ranting. I need a glass of wine. Oh, I feel better now. OK, here’s another beautiful sunset from my evening walk tonight. Thank goodness for the amazingly awesome things in life.

Sunday Sermon and Some Other Stuff

“There is magic in the old and magic in the new; the trick is to successfully combine the two.”

― A.D. Posey

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Another Sunday watching Mass on TV in my pajamas. Quite a few more people are attending services in church, but I’m not quite ready for that yet. Or, maybe they aren’t ready for me to show up to church in my pajamas. Either way, I’m still playing it safe at home.

Today’s Gospel was the three parables about life on earth and heaven…

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45″Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47″Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; 48when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. 49So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, 50and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. 51″Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

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My take on it… Our time here on earth is limited, and although we may have earthly possessions and riches, we should be able to give up everything for what really is of value. Heaven is compared to the net thrown out to sea that gathers all fish, and the good will be sorted from the bad. The true treasure is a combination of the old and the new.

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Now, for a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday:) What Wonders I See On My Walk

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

― W.B. Yeats

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Every day is filled with wonders. I like how Yeats said the world is full of magic things. It certainly is, and we need only open our eyes.

I generally walk the same well worn path pretty much every day, and have for nearly six years, and I never get tired of the sights and sounds. I don’t wear headphones or listen to music. I just appreciate the beauty of each new day, especially the sunsets.

Today, there were a LOT of bold bunnies hopping around in my front yard. They gave me one of those, “What are you looking at?” glances. Yes, very bold, and they didn’t mind posing for a photo op.

When I was over by the pond, there was a baby bird huddled by a curb. I leaned over to see if it was dead or alive or had a broken wing, as it didn’t move. I had a newspaper, so I tried to scoot the little thing onto the paper so I could place him in a safer location. He wriggled and hopped a little, so it was still alive. Good news. THEN, Mamma bird came swooping down at me out of nowhere, squawking and dive bombing me at a frantic pace. Basically, she said, “Get away from Junior or I’ll peck your eyes out, lady!”

I took the hint and backed away, while she flew over to watch me from a nearby mailbox. Junior hopped and fluttered across the street, then back and forth. Obviously, he couldn’t fly yet, but was out for an adventure, so Mamma was on high alert.

There are always great skies and sunsets and birds chirping and kids laughing. I appreciate the sights and sounds of my wondrous walks.

Friday:) From My Tangerine Skies and a Frozen Pizza

“The sky was splashed with swipes of bold tangerine mingled with hints of hazy grey.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

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It was a pretty uneventful day. I only left the house to go for my evening walk. It’s almost 10 pm and I haven’t eaten anything yet, too hot, but I plan on having a couple of slices of frozen pizza in a minute. Before you feel sorry for me, it’s deep dish Chicago style pizza that my son Matt sent me on Mother’s Day. I tucked a few slices away in the freezer for a rainy day. Well, it’s not rainy, but it’s hotter than —— fill the in the blank. So, I’m going to enjoy my dinner. I’ll warm it up in the broiler and it will be wonderful. Then, I’ll sit down with my favorite Friday night Black Russian.

My evening walk was spectacular, as usual. The sky never ceases to amaze me. When I got near my front door, the sky was a tangerine glow mingled with the last remnants of blue-grey. I took a picture in the front, and went inside and out the back door to catch the final colors in the western sky.

You see why it looks like tangerine skies? Front yard.

The back yard a few minutes later. I may have to write a poem, “Tangerine Skies.”

Darn! I just googled it. Someone wrote a book of poetry called “Tangerine Sky.” I missed my big chance. Oh well. I can still write a poem about it.

Cheers my friends. Happy Friday.