BJean

My family life has always been centered around food. When I was growing up, meals were a time where we shared all our daily experiences with each other. That was cool, because we laughed and cried together. But make no mistake about mealtime, the best part was the food. We didn't seem to kid ourselves that food was for nutrition only. We prayed and thanked God for helping "this food go to the nourishment of our bodies", but we knew that we ate it because it looked, smelled, tasted and felt good. We loved to linger over the table after a meal, talking and laughing and sharing, until we were able to have that second helping of dessert. When you have those kinds of memories related to food, it is no wonder that with food I'm always trying to recapture those wonderful, fun, loving moments (and that wonderful filled up body) every day of my life. Never let it be said that LB Talk isn't therapy!

QTkidsmom: I am impressed that you are a thinking for yourself woman. You are not endoctrinated in any way. You make your decisions based on your own personal beliefs after perhaps talking with your minister outside of church. That's smart. You are very fortunate to attend a church (or more than one churches in your lifetime) where the pastor separates his church from matters of state. Maybe I should say that where you attend church(s) is not a matter of fortune, it is a matter of you choosing a church that separates religious matters from social/policial ones, by your thoughtful consideration. You are not the only person who is so thoughtful and considered in their approach to religion. However you may be from the top of your class in religious education. I am too. By being from the "top of my class" I know that many churches and ministers are not separating church and political issues. They believe it is their job to address social issues... it is what is expected and what separates (sometimes) one church from another. Your experiences with church and ministers is quite different from mine. I have never attended a church where they only speak to issues of the Bible. They always have related Biblical passages to issues that people encounter every day of their lives - and many of those days and lives are intertwined with political issues. You named a couple. There may be some atheists who are saying that church goers are "drones and voting as instructed" but I am not. However, I can assure you that ministers from all kinds of churches absolutely do involve themselves in all areas of people's lives. That's why so many people rely on their pastors for answers and for input when they are voting - in fact, that's part of the reason why people go to church at all - for guidance on the big issues in their lives. I am amazed frankly at how many people here who say they are Christians are very quick to point out that their particular church and minister does not ever discuss political issues from the pulpit - ever. However, I've never been to one that does not. It is a part of what churches do - they help people with the tough issues of the day. They provide guidance in things that are good and bad in the world. We put our money in the till and go there and expect our preacher to tell us what the church doctrine is on every religious AND social/political problem we are faced with every day. Some do not preach politics to the extent that they are obvious in their efforts to influence their congregation to vote for a certain issue or person. However, even though you haven't experienced it, many absolutely do!

Cute dog photo! A poodle? We have two Min. Schnauzers. They're a handful! Are you on your pre-surgery diet yet? Or does your doctor require one?

gailannr: That is a wonderful tribute to your parents. They may not have been absolutely perfect in every way, but for their children and grandchildren to have a legacy of laughter, love, music and dancing is great as far as I'm concerned! I love the idea of having my children think of my DH and me when they hear the words, integrity and fairness. Those are two of the most important qualities that I believe we strive for every day in every way.

Carlene: The description of the weather reminds me of much of the year in the high desert in Arizona. It really is ideal because it is so dry. You do have to adjust to using cocoa butter body lotion - most lotions just don't hydrate you enough. I think I'll still go for Canada if I have a choice. I like their politics better. I don't speak Spanish, and I'm happier near mountains than being closer to the tropics. Although we did spend some time near the Mexican Baja penninsula and it was very beautiful there. If we hadn't been so afraid of the cannibals that we'd heard about living a few miles out in the desert, we would have more fun on our camp out. We wound up trading some of our kids clothes for some of their beautiful wooden carved animals.

Bubble I too find it very disheartening that we can't fully rely on our media to report the news. Everyone seems to have a bias and it shines through like a freight train's headlamp! And just as frightening. TOM: I got one word for you: hurricanes. We have friends with a beautiful home just south of Tampa on Manatee River that they bought when he retired. They aren't in an area that floods easily, but every year since they've been there, they've had to worry about a direct hit from a hurricane. They're looking to sell their home and second business. So far no luck. A few years ago, that would have been an unheard of situation. They plan to move to high and dry parts of Texas, if they can get buyers interested in taking their chances with Mother Nature.

Thanks BubbleButt. I try to read everything everyone offers up here. I very much like to read the info from both sides, even the biased stuff. It lets you know what everyone is up to. The difficult part is sifting through the lies. Proof that something posted on the 'net is 100% accurate isn't always readily accessible. So it is important that we keep our intellectual and objective hats on. I find that some of the more insidious lies are perpetrated by people with the motivations of money and power.

Bubble: I would believe anything! It might also explain why we had no significant recounts or election monitoring.

Oops. Sorry NV girl! We're so used to talking about it and dealing with it, we don't think twice about openly discussing it. Hope you weren't too put off~!:rolleyes

Bubble: It's nice to know that there are some Catholics that are being vocal about their opposition to some of the church's political/doctrinal actions.

Green: I learned the hard way about why Mr. Roger's changed into his house slippers every afternoon. When we put our first house on the market, a lovely Asian couple came to see it but decided not to buy. When I asked their realtor why, she said that "The Chung's noticed that too many shoes had walked in your house." Darn that shag carpet and my son's cowboy boots!

We would be hard pressed to have a totally paper ballot in this country now. The interesting thing that was offered up not long ago was that the electronic voting machines were either "accidentally" or intentionally tinkered with to cause a glitch that made the machines add votes periodically in the process of counting, to favor the Republican count. Sounds like something a director would get hold of and make a movie of. Something like "Soylent Green" :heh: Or the one where all the books were burned. :omg: Corruption can happen in any sized country. Greed isn't exclusive to the United States. But we could be the poster children for it.

We grow up thinking that our parents aren't just people. We think that they are the know all, be all, end all. When they do something that is... just human, and make some very basic mistakes, even stupid painful mistakes, then we children are completely shocked. I mean these are the same people we relied on for every piece of information in the world during our first years of life. For many of us, we relied on them long after we started school as the people who always knew best. When they had us, they were charged with the responsibility of making only the best decisions in life for us. Fact is, most of our parents are just like us. No Ph.d in parenting prior to getting the job. Everything you do as a parent is either flying by the seat of your pants or from something your parents told you or something you may have picked up in a book or from a friend. Trial and error mostly. And almost NEVER perfectly correct. Too many parents are self-centered children who just never grew up. Just because someone births a child, it doesn't automatically turn them into a responsible parent. The best advice I was ever given was to always keep the best interests of my child in mind whenever I make a decision that involves them. Sounds simple. It isn't. If people thought of their children first, they might never get a divorce. If adults put a potential child's needs ahead of their own, they might never choose to have the child. Having a child should be a completely selfless decision and far too many people have children only for very selfish reasons. I am impressed with people who are smart enough to figure this out before they have children.

NVgirl: Don't feel bad for not knowing what PB'ing means. We all asked that question and people who have heard the question hundreds of times may scoff and ignore you, but it is something we all were unsure of when we joined the forum. PB stands for "productive burp" which is not exactly the right terminology for what actually happens. Sometimes when you eat something too quickly or it is a texture that does not fully get broken down enough before you swallow it, you can have a very uncomfortable reaction. You get a pain in the region of your upper esophogus or in your chest or throat. If the pain is intense enough (because sometimes you can get uncomfortable but it passes without a PB) your mouth will begin to Water and you notice that there is a lot of slimy liquid that you must spit out. The pain intensifies and there is more slime and eventually you have a sort of uncontrolled reflux of partially digested (or chewed) food. It isn't actually as much as when you vomit, but it is more than just normal reflux or heartburn. Once you "spit up" the pain is relieved. This is something that I said I would never allow to happen to me. I would always be careful, chew completely (at least 20 to 30 times per bite), I would take very small bites and I would eat very slowly. One of the tricks is, by the way, to allow yourself some time after each bite so that you can know for sure if the food has actually gone past that area where it can cause a PB. However I have PB'ed. In fact I have done it several times. I believe almost every one does it sometimes. It helps to be able to get up and walk around, loosen your waistband and perhaps your bra, but if you've eaten too quickly, it is probably going to happen no matter what. If you PB regularly, I have been told that you can actually get in the habit of vomiting and that is when you can cause the problem of band slippage and irritation of the site and possibly erosion of the area around the band. None of these things is good and you do want to avoid them! Besides, it is painful and no fun. I hope this explains it and I don't want to scare you because as I said, I believe just about everyone experiences it, and when it's overwith you feel fine again. But I do want to caution you to eat very slowly and take small bites so that you can avoid PB'ing almost 100% of the time.

Family dynamics are awfully strange. For years, I thought we were all so close and loved each other unconditionally. Once we (4 children) were grown, things became very complicated and competitive. Both my parents have died and my sister who was 13 months older than I, also died. My older brother and sister hardly ever talk to each other and although I email my brother and his wife, I hardly ever talk to my sister and her children. I never, ever thought I would see the day when I was estranged from a family member. I work hard to keep the lines of communication with my sister open, out of respect for my mother, but my sister is so wierd, and so volatile sometimes, I am kinda scared of her. Who needs to unleash those hounds?

Green: How would you deal with a scenario whereby your Christian social right started shouting to the rooftops that anyone who disagreed with their stance on a person's right to choose and same sex marriages, was anti-Christian and going against the Bible? Not only that, what if they came into power and used their power to influence every aspect of the government and your military? What if the leftists became completely impotent and you even had to worry because your elections appeared to be fixed?

crabcake: That one is positive rather than negative. I like that!

Green! :heh: "You can choose your friends, but your family is a curse from God" is hilarious! I always thought the saying, "You can choose your friends, but not your family" said it well but Green, yours is much more accurate most of the time! And Green, if I could be 5'9" (like my older sister) I would be much closer to my goal weight!! AND I could reach things on the top self of my cabinets. And it would be much easier to kiss my DH when I'm standing next to him. And a million other reasons why being 5'9" would be awesome!!!

lisa: The scenario you mentioned is similar to some of the things I have been witness to over the years. It is what laurend mentioned earlier... the epitome of hypocrisy!

lethea g: You are a smart, consciously aware person. Not all people who attend church are paying as much attention as you. I believe we can attend church and be spiritual and worship Him without getting sucked into the church's agenda politically, but it is very, very difficult sometimes!

TOM: This goes back to a thread where we discussed clerical political influence. Several Christians jumped in and hotly declared that they have never witnessed their minister or priest telling the congregation how to vote. They couldn't believe I would suggest such a thing. As far as I'm concerned, they're burying their heads in the sand of religious rhetoric and that is exactly how the heads of their church are able to tell them how to vote without even saying the words, "You must vote for ___________(fill in the blank.) It also goes to the question of why otherwise very good Christians can say that Bush's actions in Iraq have been for the good of the people of the United States, and why they might also agree with Pat Robertson, for instance, that he was called by God to lead this country.

Oh really? :eek:

Well said, laurend.

Did Bush go to Congress and say I want to "shock and awe" downtown Bagdad? Did he say I think we'll need to be over there for years and years? Did he say it's going to cost more lives than we lost on 9-11? Did he say not only do I want you to give me the authority to wage war on Iraq, I want you to allow me to do anything else that I think may be necessary, even if it means that I will wind up holding people without charges for years? Well no, he didn't actually say all those words, but that's exactly what he decided to do when they gave him the ability to "shock and awe" at his own discretion. And his reign of terror continues and many people in the U.S. still believe that it was all necessary and important. How can they? I read a piece that gave a chronological order of events in Iraq and it included the things that we did to help Saddam Hussein become the leader of Iraq. It is complicated the way things have all unfolded in Iraq and the Middle East, but we've become no better than many of them, and I am the very most upset about him using American citizens as pawns in this game of Bush's. Yes, most of the pawns are military and yes, they know they are trained to go to war and to not ask questions of their leaders but that they just must follow orders, at all costs. And of course their families and loved ones want, NEED, to believe that their sons and daughters are risking their lives for very good reasons. It continues to tear this country apart! Arguing that what Bush has done up to this point in time is right, when it is so completely obvious that what Bush did was and is wrong, is very sad to me. It makes my heart hurt.

Stacy: Did you get your band? How are you doing?