Day 8: Goodwill Hunting

When I say Goodwill Hunting I do not mean the movie.

What I mean is my mother, aunt and I went thrift store shopping today. We went to Goodwill along with Salvation Army, Stuff ect. and Big Lots. I know Big Lots is not a thrift store but it is known for its deals. It’s amazing how different some second-hand stores can be from the other. Some are just junky making you afraid to touch anything,  and others seem very organized and welcoming.  We (thrift) shopped ’til we dropped. Our one resting point was the A&W, drinking out of the cold frosty mugs and enjoying a chili dog. I sat there taking in the stories they shared about the old fashion A&W’s when the waitresses were on skates and they brought the food out to the ’57 Chevy’s.

All in all it was a great day of bonding.

 

Day 7: Do They See Jesus In Me?

Today I heard something that made me stop in my tracks, crawl up on my rocking horse and take off. Some of it verbal but most of it silently to myself.

I really do not like when I hear that someone who claims the title “Christian” not only thinks of themselves above others but makes it obvious to them and everyone around that they are not worthy to be in their presence. To treat someone with complete disrespect just because they are of a different class, different race, have different beliefs or a different lifestyle is NOT OK!

What happened to …

“Love them like Jesus”

“Preach the gospel when necessary use words”

“…with humility think of others as being better than yourselves.”  (Philippians 2:3)

As a Christian the goal should be to live according to the bible and to share the Gospel. Tell me how it possible to meet someone and immediately tell them whats wrong with them, throw scripture at them or just plain treat them with disdain and expect them to jump on the God wagon of Love?

Jesus would never treat someone in such a way, why is it that some of us think we have the right to be so rude?

To love like Jesus is to treat someone with respect, accept them for who they are and let them know they are important.

So what if they are a sinner, so are you AND so am I!!!!

People who know me are aware that I’m a Christian. I do not hide the fact that I go to church and that I believe in God. I know they watch me. I know they watch me to see what I do when I get mad, when I get hurt or when I’m having a bad day. In my experience living my life the best way I know how and by giving everyone I come into contact with the attention and respect they deserve has been effective in spreading the gospel. How do I know? Because eventually they come to me and ask me to pray for so-n-so or they ask me a question about the bible. They come to me with problems and ask me my opinion, wondering how I would handle it or what God would think.

It’s simple.

Love & Respect opens the doors when people are ready to walk through them. Crashing through the door and trying to drag them to the light is a waste of everyone’s time and energy.

My prayer is that people who know me and even people whom I’ve just met will see Jesus in me, in my words and by my actions.

 

 

 

 

Day 6: Old Music & Ugly suits

Tonight I had my mother and my aunt over for a soup and salad supper. We sat around reminiscing over old times and watching old music shows from the past on netflix. Back when the gals wore the fluffy dresses and the men work the flashy suits picking their guitars and playing country music. I do enjoy this music but some of the outfits were just ridiculous. It was a great night of dinner and laughs. Here is a clip from one of the shows we watched.

 

Day 5: Diamond in the Rough

Day 5 of my blog worthy life. My mother and I  drove to the Amana Colonies to meet my Aunt and Uncle so as to bring my Aunt back with us for a visit. While there we met my brother who lives in the area for lunch.

If you have ever been to Amana Colonies, Ia you know that it is German based.  The colonies are a great place to visit, with quaint little shops full of everything you can imagine.  Every restaurant you go into is German food, served family style. If you don’t like weinersnitchel, sauerkraut or Gansebraten you could be in trouble. For those of you who are not a fan of those restaurants have I got the place for you!

That’s right I found the diamond in the rough, called The Rose & Thorn Public House. It is nestled into the small colony of Middle Amana. A bar with old wooden booths,  offering a nice selection of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, fries, pizza and pasta’s to choose from. They have soda and a buffet of  beer to wet your whistle. It is such a nice atmosphere and good service! Very relaxing after a day of touring and shopping!

For more information on the Amanas or The Rose & Thorn:

http://www.amanaheritage.org/history.html

http://www.amanacoloniesiowa.com/

http://hooplanow.com/2011/03/03/the-rose-thorn-public-house/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rose-Thorn-Public-House/99852192534

 

 

 

Day 4: Disibility by Force?

I had surgery on december 6th 2011 that took me out of work for a month. One of the benefits of my place of employment is short-term disability. It is now January 24th 2012 and I have yet to receive any disability for the time I was off. I have called them four different times now. The first 3 times I was told why it was rejected and what I needed to do to make it go through. Mind you it was 3 different reasons in which all three times I did what they said.

Finally today I made the 4th call and they told me it was being processed today and I should receive a check in the mail in a few days! YAY!

My question is why is it so difficult to receive a benefit that I pay for?

Day 3: Spondylolisthesis

A few months ago I began experiencing pain in my lower back that was bothersome but I could ignore it. Back pain was not a new concept in my life. When I was a teenager I was working in a nursing home lifting people for a living. My back has taken a beating with many of the jobs I have had so back pain just went along with it.

This back pain was a little different though. My back aches began coming more often and the pain became more intense. It got to the point where the pain spread to my left hip and down my left leg, sometimes going all the way to the toes. By November of 2011 I was no longer able to ignore the pain. I was starting to think “I’m going to have to do something about this.”  The pain started getting in the way of my work. I work in a factory where I stand in one place for 10 hours.

I was scheduled to have surgery on a different issue on December 6th so I decided to wait in hopes that I could rest my back while I was off with surgery. I was really hoping I would be good to go when I went back to work on January 5th. Soon I found out that wasn’t the case. The pain came back with a vengeance causing me to miss some work. Not good.

Finally I gave in and went to the doctor, who immediately ran x-rays after hearing all the symptoms. The doctor’s office called the next day saying that the doctor wanted me to make an appointment for the next week to discuss the results of the x-rays. Next week??? So, I made an appointment and waited ALL weekend to have this discussion. He sat me down and explained to me that I have what he called a slipped spine. I found out later the technical name for it is Spondylolisthesis.

The following information is from http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5535#

Spondylolisthesis: Forward movement of one of the building blocks (vertebrae) of the spine in relation to an adjacent vertebra.

Symptoms and signs can include lordosis(swayback), pain in the lower back, thighs and buttocks, stiffness, muscle tightness, and tenderness in the slipped area. Pressure on nerve roots may cause changes in sensation and pain radiating down the legs. Diagnosis is by X-ray of the lower spine. Most patients with mild spondylolisthesis benefit from strengthening and stretching exercises. In very severe cases, the slipping vertebra can be surgically fused.

After the Doctor told me what it was I had he told me what the plan of action was to avoid having surgery.

1. Lose weight – my weight is one of the things pulling my spine forward.

2. Physical therapy – to learn strengthening and stretching exercises that I will do the rest of my life

3. Never go skydiving or be any kind of racecar driver because of the impact the back has to take in such activities.

I got back on my diet immediately and I started physical therapy this monday to learn the strengthening and stretching exercises. She also did a heat treatment on my back. LOVED IT! I wish I could have one of those everyday! So after she made me hurt she made up for it with the heat treatment. I forgave her for hurting me.

 

Day 2: Lost and Found

Day 2 of my goal of doing something blog worthy everyday.

Today I went to church to worship my Savior, to gather together with fellow believers and to spend time in His word.

The sermon was about the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-32. My favorite verse from this passage is verse 32 “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

I know I was once lost and now I’ve been found. Life is so much better when you have God by your side. This parable always reminds me of a song based on this passage in scripture, “When God Ran” by Phillips, Craig and Dean. Such a great and powerful song.

Day 1: Comfort Food With a Twist

It’s January in Iowa which means that 4 letter word. SNOW!!! Even though this winter was delayed a month or so it finally reared its ugly head and dumped mounds of snow upon us. Which makes me hibernate for two days just because I can. What better to do with your snowed in days but to enjoy the view through the picture window, watch movies until your bum is sore and to cook comfort food?

The problem? I am trying to eat for my blood type. Sounds weird I know, but it works. If you want to know more ask me or do a search for Joseph Christiano’s blood type diet. My blood type is O+ and according to the blood type diet I need to cut out white and wheat flour which cuts out almost all breads and pastas. Like 99% of dairy products and a few fruits and veggies (potatoes being one of them) which sounds odd but hey! Like I said it works.

All of that makes comfort food impossible right?

Wrong! There is a little bit of saving grace which is called the 20% rule. Conveniently I like a lot of the food on my beneficial and my ok list but sometimes I need to bring in the 20% rule and use something off my avoid list.

So, Here’s my comfort food with a twist. Keep in mind unless I am following a recipe I don’t measure, so I can’t give you exact measurement on everything. So if you borrow these recipes you have to use creative interpretation.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Roast – rubbed with olive oil and cayenne pepper and cooked in crock-pot until falling apart. YUM!

Juice from Crock-pot                     Beef broth

Tomato Juice                                   Cut up roast

Peas                                                   Carrots

Turnips                                             Sweet potato

Green Beans                                    Onions

Tabasco sauce                                 Salt & Pepper

Mix all together and cook on low until veggies are all cooked and soup is smelling delicious. This soup is NOT spicy hot, I just use enough of the cayenne pepper and tabasco sauce to just add flavor.  The only thing in this soup that is not on my good lists is the black pepper. The amounts you use depends on how much soup you want.

Chicken and Biscuits

Biscuits made from gluten-free bisquick

Chicken Broth                                  Canned Chicken w/juice

Peas                                                    Carrots

Onion                                                 Rice Flour

Cream of Mushroom Soup            Soul Seasoning

Tabasco Sauce                                 Salt & Pepper

Bring to boil chicken, peas, carrots & onion in chicken broth. Turn down heat and add seasonings stir in rice flour to thicken and add cream of mushroom soup. Serve over biscuits. Once again tabasco sauce is just for flavoring, there is not enough to make it spicy. The only ingredients not on  my ok lists are the soup and the pepper.

Both recipes were very comforting on a cold winter’s day.

365 Days

It has been so long since I blogged and like what seems a million times before I was trying to come up with something to blog about.

I thought about the Julie and Julia movie and how clever of an idea that was “365 recipes” but, well.. it’s been done.

Then I thought of my brother Don and his little experiment for this year. January 1st: shave head & beard and let them grow out for 365 days. How fun is that? Until of course you think of all the food that could collect in said beard by the end of the year. O.o So he grabbed that idea and well, I’m not shaving my head.

So, I’m stuck. What can I write about? My life doesn’t seem very exciting that people would actually want to read about it. Even when I try to think of something to do for 365 days straight I come up empty-handed.

But wait, that’s just it. Why not set a goal to do something blog worthy every day for a year? You know, liven things up a little. Step out of my comfort zone and maybe do things I wouldn’t normally do.  This my friend, you can believe will be a challenge. They don’t call me “old fuddy duddy” for nothing… ok, ok no one calls me that… out loud anyway.

Christian or Hypocrite

As a Christian I seek to walk the “straight and narrow” of what I’ve learned from the bible to be right and wrong.

Sometimes I fail.

Often times when I mess up I am afraid for others to know, I don’t want to be a hypocrite, nor do I want people to think me one. Plus, it’s just embarrassing… I like people to think I’m perfect. haha

So, I remind myself…

Being a Christian does not remove human status, it does not make you super human. It makes you still a human. A human who is forgiven. Christ died for our sins, forgiveness is free. All we have to do is ask for it.  Once we make the commitment to be a Christian, it doesn’t mean we are perfect, nor do we think we are perfect(we shouldn’t anyway)

I think that all too often Christians think they have to be perfect and hide the fact that they are not. I also think it works the other way too, People who are not Christian think that Christians should be perfect and when they are not they call them hypocrites.

What it boils down to?  (If I may borrow a phrase from the army), “be all you can be”  and let God do the rest.

I do realize there are real hypocrites out there.  I also realize that the majority of  christians are not, they are just humans who falter while trying to live according the word of God.

We may aim for it but nobody is perfect, not nobody