Old Habits Die Hard

I grew up Catholic. I didn’t go to Catholic School, but most of my cousins did. We didn’t go to church every Sunday, but we went on all the holy days and we observed the “rules”. When my son started school, I sent him to a Catholic school and we started to be very involved with the church, going to church on Sunday, getting very involved with the fundraising, I even built and hosted the church’s website. I thought that I was doing what was right for my child, but little by little I realized that Catholicism just wasn’t working for me anymore and this school certainly wasn’t right for my child. By the time we left I was certain that I could no longer call myself Catholic and I still feel that way today, almost 10 years later.

So, why did we have scallops for dinner last night? Well, there’s a part of me that still loves the ritual, the pomp and circumstance, the sacrifice and the tradition. I still incorporate a lot of these things into my family life today and although we don’t go to church and I can’t seem to find a religion where I fit in, I still love the idea of making room for spiritual pursuits in your life and I try to find spiritual rituals that are relevant to our life and our beliefs.

Lent, to me, seems more for my soul then for my God. I think we need the “cleansing” that this very small sacrifice inspires. To deny myself something that I want, as an act of worship or communion is a very attractive idea to me. It’s a reminder of Spirit in weekly, if not daily practice. I know in my house, fish dinners aren’t as often as they should be and this practice of Lent can be used to remind me, to help me be more thoughtful about what my family is eating. Which, I think, is the point of most of the laws of religions, to help you to live a better, healthier (spiritually and physically) life.

I’m still on my quest to find my Soul Tribe, but in the meantime, I’ll continue to create my own rituals and borrow from my history as well as the history of others.  Are there any rituals that you love and incorporate into your life, whether daily or at certain times of the year? I’d love to hear about them.

All Around the Internet Friday

This week I seem to be interested in what things mean.  Not just surface meaning, but what things stand for, symbolize, and truly mean.

In that vein, I thought I’d start with these:
Symbolism of Flowers - I’m a little startled that most of my favorites are so glum, but I am a bit of a drama queen, so I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised.
I’m always looking for great gemstone symbolism resources.
Gravestone Symbolism - I thought these were very interesting.  I noticed quite a few references to the “Order of Odd Fellows” and was very intrigued as I’d never heard of that before, so I did a search and found this. Shocking!  I’m usually quite informed about odd little groups and sects, I’m sort of obsessed with stuff like that.
And since we’re observing Lent (ok, some of us are observing Lent), there’s the symbolism of the rabbits and hares.
I’m not even going to comment, cause these kinds of comments always get my in trouble with someone… let’s just say, it just proves to me, once again that everything is interrelated. (Here comes Peter Cottontail!)
And what collection of symbolism would be complete without mentioning icons?
Symbolism in art.
A collection of links to interpret the symbolism in dreams.
Ooh!  I love this one.  The Online Guide to Symbols and Signs.

And the downside of symbolism and under the influence.

In pictures:
Beauty
Ruin
Family
Cold
Innovation
Truth Power

Beauty - The symbolism we’re creating for our children

Proteus Biomedical Prescribes ‘Smart Pill’

Smart pill?  Finally!  Now I can hide this in cookies and feed them to all the stupid people that annoy me all the time.  I’ll keep them in a ziploc baggie in my purse and when someone is really pushing the stupid, I can whip one out and say, “Here have a cookie”!  Or so I thought when I first read the headline.

Unfortunately, that’s not what this is, but it is pretty damn cool. Apparently an estimated 40% of all hospital admissions are due to medication errors and in an effort to reduce that number, Proteus has developed a chip-embedded pill that beams reports to doctors and family when a medicine is taken.  The chip, as small as a grain of sand, sends data to the receivers which are on the skin, sort of like a band-aid.  Heart rate and respiration can also be monitored.  It’s all sent wirelessly to the computer, or network and people can be easily monitored.  Just think of the implications of this!  We could equip it with GPS and tell our spouses and children that they’re just taking their vitamins or we could use it to monitor sex offenders and other criminals.  Have a problem with a substance abuser?  Get a text message from their body when they use.  The possibilities are endless really.

Of course there will be the arguments that this is an invasion and privacy and no doubt, it is.  But you can’t help but admire the technology and the innovation of the people who created it.

Low Carb Chicken and Spinach with Goat Cheese and Tomato

Totally on the fly tonight as I hadn’t planned anything, I came up with this yummy, scrummy dish!

one package thin sliced, boneless, skinless, chicken breast
one package frozen spinach
three roma tomatoes
one small package of goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 350

Put a grill pan on the stove top on high, when it gets “screaming hot”, put the chicken breasts in grill  about 6-7 minutes on each side, until done.

Microwave the spinach according to package directions

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with Pam

When the chicken is done, place it on the foil lined baking sheet, top each breast with a little bit of the spinach, a little goat cheese and thin slices of tomato.  Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Dinner was ready in less than 20 minutes and it was outstandingly delicious!  I think we’ll call this “After Theatre Chicken Breast” as I was late because Haley started acting classes today. Good enough for company, I’ll make this one again and again and again.

Lazy Sunday

It’s a little chilly today so I have the perfect excuse to stay home. Sometimes I really like to just stay in and relish in the lack of things that must get done. Of course I can’t actually get through a day without doing at least something productive, so today it was a little bit of laundry and then I made 8 bracelets for Haley’s group of friends. Jim and Haley went to the hardware store for soil so that I can plant the basil plants that I bought this week - the frost killed the other two - I guess I left them out one night that was just too cold for them. They are a little bit more delicate than everything else that I’m growing. I’m not going to replant them today though - I’d like to give them a nice warm day with lots of sunshine to make up for the trauma of repotting. I know I’m traumatized every time I need to be repotted, so I can only imagine how the basil feels.

I might pour myself a glass of wine and watch what everyone’s wearing on the red carpet tonight. Then when I’m bored with that, I’ll switch to last week’s episode of 24 that we haven’t gotten around to watching yet. It’s tough when the person you watch with works nights - I don’t think we’ve ever left an episode unwatched for an entire week!

Sometimes a lazy Sunday is just what I need to prepare for an ever busier week ahead.

(Click for bigger)

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