Did everyone have a great weekend? I’m pretty exhausted from it, but I think it was pretty great. We got the house decorated for Christmas, so the rest of the holiday season doesn’t have that stress to think about – we can just enjoy it. We had a wonderful dinner with my aunt, uncle and parents, and truly can go into the new week feeling like we got a LOT accomplished! AND on top of it all, we got that extra hour of sleep! That’s a pretty great way to head into a Monday, don’t you agree?
Verse of the Day
November 5, 2018
This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Ouch! I hate taxes. But I have to admit, I enjoy many of the privileges and blessings that those taxes afford. Paul reminds us in Romans 13, that civil authorities are God’s tools to hold back anarchy, chaos, and lawlessness. As a Christian, I’m immune to most laws because my faith in Jesus is going to regulate my behavior far more strictly than a legal code. But I do have a responsibility (I “owe” it, Paul says) to be a good citizen, a good financial manager, a nice respectful neighbor, and a person who willingly honors those who have merited it.
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I Am Thankful For . . .
No matter what your political views are, or how you may perceive what is going on in our nation, we are blessed to live in a nation that allows us the freedoms to feel, think, and say what is on our minds. Our constitution was set up with much forethought and consideration on ways to protect those freedoms from people who would try to take them away – often government people. We are blessed to be able to vote for our leadership and for other things that go on in our country and states. As I head to work today, I will be dropping my ballot off so that my voice counts for something, exercising my right as a citizen of this nation to speak up for what I believe in. If you are a citizen of this nation and are registered to vote, please do so. Let your voice be heard. I am praying for a red tide, but that’s just how I roll.
Color the World Orange Day – This is the first time I’ve ever seen the is one, but the first Monday in November is the day that awareness is brought to an illness I’ve never heard of – Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. I just looked at a brief description of it, and it sounds pretty awful. “It is a chronic pain condition that has continuous, intense, often burning pain that is out of proportion to the severity of the original injury. Symptoms can include changes in the skin color and temperature of the affected body part, as well as skin sensitivity, sweating and swelling.” That’s a pretty vague description, but it doesn’t sound very good. How do we bring awareness? Well, apparently, they have chosen to wear orange for the occasion.
Fill Our Staplers Day – A group called the Dull Men’s Club started this one and it make me laugh. How funny! They’ve decided that it is very annoying to run out staples right when you need them, so to eliminate the problem they decided that the day after Daylight Savings time change, and the day after Standard Time change should be designated to refill the staplers. It is also check batteries day and changing the clocks day – so it can all be done at the same time. Now, this one wouldn’t work for me since I use a LOT of staples at work and have to fill it all the time. Perhaps it might work for you though!
Guy Fawkes Day/Gunpowder– These are both actually the SAME thing! They commemorate the infamous Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605 in England, led by Guy Fawkes. In 1603, King James I took the throne in England. He was an avid Protestant and began persecuting Catholics in the country. He forbade Catholics from practicing their religion and punished the Catholics who did not convert to the Protestant church. The Gunpowder Conspirators were a group of Catholics who wanted to take action against the king. They plotted to blow up the British Houses of Parliament and planned to do so when the king and his supporters were in the buildings. Their plot was discovered on November 5th, 1605, when 36 barrels of gunpowder were found in the basement of Parliament. Guy Fawkes, the man who was the leader in this conspiracy, was arrested and tortured until he confessed. Oh, and when he was arrested? He was just about to ignite the gunpowder. Talk about timing being EVERYTHING, right? I had to laugh at this though because do you know how people in England celebrate Gunpowder Day? With fireworks and bonfires!!! HAHAHA! So, the thought for the day would be . . . if you had been there at the time, would you have been on the side of Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators for attempting to eliminate religious persecution, or would you have been on the side on the government for successfully discovering this plot and saving lives? I know which side I would have landed on . . . how about you?
National Love Your Red Hair Day – This is the 3rd annual day set up for people with red hair to celebrate the beauty of their gorgeous tresses. Many people have felt like outcasts for having red hair, and considering all of the jokes about red hair, and the names that they are sometimes called, I can see why! This day was created with the idea of empowering redheads to feel more confident and to look amazing as they learn that having red hair is more about a lifestyle than it is the color of what’s on the head. The next time you hear someone call you a Ginger, smile and be proud. It’s perfectly OK to love your Red Hair, and quite honestly, women pay a FORTUNE on products to have beautiful red hair, so if you come by yours naturally, be proud of it!
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Chinese Take-Out Day – What most of us know as Chinese food started out in the mid-1800s when there was a huge influx of Chinese immigrants to California during the Gold Rush. When American Chinese restaurants stepped into the mainstream culture, restaurants had two menus – a Chinese menu and an American menu. The American menu soon became the only menu because of large crowds of young Americans who really loved the savory sauces found in the American Chinese dishes. The folded paper boxes that are a staple of today’s Chinese take-out were originally used to transport oysters – I had NO idea! Think about Chinese food as we are all used to it – no matter how popular in our familiar dishes, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots and yellow onions are not in actual Chinese restaurants because they aren’t vegetables that are native in China. I didn’t know that either! Ok, now I’m REALLY hungry for Chinese food.
National Doughnut Day – There is something that I miss very much now that we have gone low-carb in our household. The delicious, light, fluffy, yeasty doughnut. Oh sure, there are low-carb baked cake doughnuts, but they are basically a dense circular cake with a hole in the middle, and as tasty as they can be, they just aren’t a doughnut the way most of us think of them. Originally the doughnut came from a Dutch recipe without a hole. The dough was dropped into hot oil and was originally called an oily cake. The first time that the doughnut was written about was in Washington Irving’s 1809 History of New York. He wrote about “balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat and called doughnuts, or olykoeks (oily cakes)”. The story goes that in 1847, 16-year-old Hanson Gregory created the hole in the middle by using the top of a round metal pepper container, so the dough would cook evenly. There are many types of doughnuts – bismarcks, jelly filled, raised with yeast, squares, twists, crullers, cream-puffs, etc. My favorite of all though is the rectangular doughnut with a maple glaze. YUM!
International Stout Day – Stout is the darkest and heartiest of beers. It is top fermented and different from a regular ale by its brown-black color, chocolate-coffee flavors and full body. This happens by brewing with barley that has been dark-roasted to the point of charring (think of how espresso beans are darker than a medium-roast coffee). It is darker and more malty than porter, tastes hoppier (not my favorite flavor – anything really hoppy) and has a fairly high alcohol content of 6-7%. Stout started out in Ireland where most of them are rich and a bit bitter. There are various sorts of stout. Chocolate Stout is a different category that has different malts for a more chocolate flavor. Some brewers have been adding chocolate into the brew, or brew it over cacao beans, or even both. Coffee Stout uses dark roasted malts to give them a bitter coffee flavor. On the market today, we can also find Breakfast Coffee Stouts, Espresso Stouts, Guatemalan Coffee Stout, Cream Stout (which is sweeter from the milk sugars). Dry Stout is dark and toasty. And there is Oatmeal Stout which adds oatmeal to the mash, giving a smooth creaminess to the stout. All of this is wonderful, but seriously, I’m not a fan. I prefer a porter any day of the week over a stout.
It’s sure dark out there this morning! Makes me happy for my flashlight and Moose’s l.e.d. collar for visibility as people head out for work as he and I are on our morning walk. After this, I need to head to work, as I’m sure many of us must do, so have a wonderful day, be safe and find something to celebrate! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
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Celebration list sources:
www.verseoftheday.com www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com