Sunday, June 09, 2013

Cooking from scratch and finding good recipes for homemade "packaged foods".

I'm looking for something I can make for dinner that I can use homemade pasta in. I now have a pasta machine, and I can't wait to use it. I just have to discover a good pasta dish that I can make which will highlight the homemade pasta. I'll try to post pictures if I find something, and if it turns out good. LOL

I like cooking from scratch, with as little packaged foods as possible. I've made homemade mac and cheese, but the kids don't like it. I want to find a way to make rice-a-roni too because the kids like it with some chicken, or beef or pork cut up in it, throw in a few veggies and it's a good meal. Well it will be when I figure out how to make it without all the salt and sugar boxed foods tend to have. I'm trying to do more natural foods because children, especially those with special needs, are more sensitive to the chemicals and modified foods. I don't think either of our kids have any problems with food, but  who knows? So, anyway, I'm looking for homemade recipes of the convenience type foods kids seem to love so much. I'm going to use real sugar, butter not margarine, whole milk, cream, fresh vegetables and meats whenever possible, and frozen or home canned fruits and vegetables as much as I need to. Dried foods would be good too, if I dry them myself. I need to get a dehydrator soon, the kids like dried apples, cherries, and blue berries. I can get those easily around here. I'd like to try drying some veggies too, maybe broccoli and peppers for a start.

I haven't had much contact with anyone in the family except for my Mom since we all left her place after her birthday. I play Words with Friends with my youngest brother sometimes. And I keep up with what my brother in California and his family are doing because of Facebook. It makes me a little sad, because I love my family so much, but we are not very good at keeping in contact. Besides I know that the California part of the family is VERY conservative, fundamental Christian  and think I'm VERY liberal and not Christian at all. They are some of the people I mentioned in another post about religion, they are some of the ones who think they know what I believe but probably don't. Another one would be my niece, I doubt that she has a real idea of my political or religious standing. It's okay though. I still love all of them no matter what.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Talking to people about science and religion.

I need to figure out how to explain to someone who claims that evolution is just a theory, and not a fact, that the use of theory in science is different than they use of theory in common language. Should I ask if they believe in gravity? Because it's still The Gravitational Theory, not The Gravitational Fact. But ... I don't know if that would really tell them anything, of it would make them angry. Some of these people are people I love and care about, so I don't want to make them angry with me. Besides I agree with them about creationism, at least in part. Because like I said yesterday God created our soul in his image, out bodies evolved, with divine assistance or without but that doesn't negate the fact that evolution exists and you can watch it happen among creatures with a shorter life span than ours.

Some of these people said something different last year, than they do today. Especially where it involves either evolution or gay marriage. Last year both were okay, gay marriage wasn't for them but it didn't matter if anyone else did it. Now both are wrong. Evolution, I already discussed in the previous paragraph. Gay marriage is now wrong because they think that God says that being gay is wrong. This is too bad, because God loves all of us the same. Straight as well as homosexual. The Bible says that being gay is wrong, but it was written by men, and edited by men, and translated by men, some of those men had an agenda in what they were doing. If God made us all, and God is perfect, and God can not make mistakes, then God made homosexuals just as he made everyone else, and since he is perfect he intended them to be homosexual. Who are we to second guess God?

 I also have a problem with people who think that they can do God's job. By that I mean that they think that they can judge other humans and decide which will go to heaven and which will not.

Thought about religion, family, and politics.

I find it interesting that people I've never really spoken to about my religious and political views think they know how I feel or what I believe. The worst offenders, if that is what they can be called, are family members. I don't speak to most of them about these things, because my Dad prefers to keep those kinds of discussions out of family gatherings. My brothers think they know that I'm a non-Christian Liberal, because I think that people should be able to make their own choices about their lives. They should be able to love who they want and worship how they want. I also think that religion should stay out of schools, and other government things. Our laws should not be based on a religious idea.

To me religion is very personal. I don't want religion taught in schools, because I want to teach my kids the way I believe not the way someone else believes. I don't understand people who have a problem with creationism NOT being taught in school. Are their beliefs so weak that they can't teach their own children about it themselves? Or go to a church that will teach it in Sunday School? Why don't they put their children in a religious school? I've heard it's expensive, I wonder if they have ever questioned why that is?

Also, I don't think that evolution and creationism are mutually exclusive. See, the God I know created us in His image. (I'm using the male pronouns because we don't have any that express the great wonder that is God without assigning gender.) However, God did not create our body, he created our soul. Our body was created through evolution. I also know that God does not make mistakes, so there must be a reason that there are and always have been homosexual people in the world. I don't think that the Bible is the literal word of God, it is a book with some wonderful stories to help guide us through life. It was written by men, perhaps inspired by God, to help others understand God. It was written by MEN, who are not perfect. To help others to understand God, who is so beyond our understanding that we will never understand even 1/100,000,000 of what God is.

The God I know loves ALL of his children, much like any other parent loves their children. He does not hate any of us. How could a loving parent hate one of their children? Do we disappoint him? Probably. Do we get another chance? Definitely. Will we be punished for eternity if we don't follow all the rules? No. I also believe that we have other lives in which to learn, and to take our punishment for misdeeds. The God I know isn't afraid of the free will he gave us, God isn't insulted if we don't know the correct name to use when we pray. God knows your heart, and if you are a good person God knows that and is happy about it. God is everywhere, and knows everything, but God does not interfere with our lives. God doesn't heal some people while letting others die. God doesn't save one family while killing another. It all happens for a reason, a reason we might never understand, a reason we had input into and a choice to be there or not.

Politically, I am kind of liberal. I want women's health to be their choice. I want legally consenting adults to be able to marry the person they love. I think that multi-partner marriage should be legal as well. Maybe the government should stay out of marriage all together? Maybe there should be a legal connection that gives us the "rights and responsibilities", the benefits of what is now marriage, while leaving the ceremonial, the religious, the ... emotional aspects to the individuals to deal with. Churches should not have to preform marriages they don't approve of, but they should not be able to stop people from making that legal connection, or from finding another church that will preform their marriage ceremony.

Okay, well that is enough of that. At least for now. If you are still reading, feel free to comment about anything I've said. Try not to condemn me to hell or spew a lot of hate toward me. But I welcome clear, polite, debate. Thank you.

Monday, June 03, 2013

It's been a very long time since I blogged. Life had been keeping me busy, but it wasn't really very interesting.

News since I last posted something:
I am virtually schooling The Boy and The Girl. I don't remember if I had her when I last posted. She is the little girl I babysit. Her Mom is on the same schedule as my husband, so it works well for all of us. Anyway, the kids get to have school here at my apartment on a schedule that fits with Howard and The Girl's Mom's schedule. The kids actually get to spend time with their working parent, which is good for everyone.

My Mom just had her 70th birthday last month. We spent a week with her and my Dad just because. I took Sylvie and Aidan with me, of course.

We are thinking about buying a house, we have started the process to see if we can qualify for a loan. Howard's credit is okay, so we are hoping it will work out. We have an idea of what we can afford. All we have to do is qualify based on income and credit rating.

I'd like to remember to post more often. I have a lot of things I'd like to say. Things I'd like to discuss and work out through this forum. No promises though.