Tag: wordpress

Are You Happy With Who You Are?

For most of you Society dictates your life. It tells you how to think, what music to listen to, how many degrees is enough to qualify you as important, and what kind of clothes to wear. Sadly, for some of you, the world even dictates your morals and values. What is right and wrong? What God should you follow and to what extent? How much devotion is enough devotion and what potency of truth is cult like? How much religion is too much religion? Why is the bible associated with religion at all? Or is that too far out of league to question? Or how much weight is too much weight? I keep seeing people, women especially, with their non-flattened stomachs out. Are pot bellies in now only because society said so? Let us expose our guts now because the world finally agrees that big is beautiful.

With all of this going on, what’s in and what’s not in, who’s perfect and who’s not perfect, my question to you is: Are you happy with the way you live your life?

Writer’s Quote Wednesday

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My entry for Silver Threading’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday this week is from Zora Neale Hurston’s Dust Tracks on a Road:

 
“I have been in Sorrow’s kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and a sword in my hands.” 

– Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road

I love using imagery and symbolism with my writing so this quote is  very inspiring to me. I love the way she lends us a pictorial version of the words. The up close and personal relationship with grief contrasted against the achievement of ones dreams by having climbed the highest mountain, and the added serenity of being wrapped in rainbows. And while there is music, there is still a pending fight to endure, so she balances the music with a weapon of war.

 

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http://silverthreading.com/2014/12/17/writers-quote-wednesday-121714-c-s-lewis/

Guest Feature – Mother to Son

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Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So, boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps.
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

 
– Langston Hughes

Something 2 Think About

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“The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.”

– Eric Hoffer

The Hypocrisies of the Word “But”

We’ve all been there. We’ve all used it before. That means that in some time in our lives we have all been hypocrites. That is because we’ve all used our “Buts” before. The funny thing about “But” is that sometimes it is such a contradiction. While we can use our “Buts” to denote that we are unsure of something, usually when people say “But…” it’s because they mean the opposite of what they are telling you they mean. Here are a few examples:

“I like you but…”

This usually means that the person really does not like you but does not want to hurt your feelings.

“They cool but”

This one is two fold: a). There are more bad qualities about “them” than there are good, and  b). I don’t want to talk about your friend in front of your face.

“I don’t mean to offend you, but…”

Here, this but means that I’m warning you that what I am about to say will in fact offend you.

“That’s a great idea but”

This means that chances are your idea sucked and the person doesn’t know how to tell you.

“I know but”

Means the person doesn’t really know what they’re talking about.

“I was going to tell you, but..”

This means the person wasn’t going to tell you, but now that he or she has been caught they have to think of a lie real quick.

“I don’t mind watching your kids, but”

Your children are little devils who don’t listen and no one feels like being bothered.

Before and After Blog Awards

I’m learning more and more about the blogosphere. One thing I recently learned more about is Blog Awards. My opinion about them is split into two categories: Before I knew what Blog Awards were and After I knew what blog awards were.

Before:

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Ah, those lovely things hanging on the sides of everyone’s blog. If I didn’t know any better, I’d sworn I’ve walked into the home of a very prestigious individual. You know the feeling, when you walk into the office of someone with hundreds of plaques on the wall; seems like they have a PhD in everything except your life. You scroll through a blogger with like 10,000 followers and 10 plaques to back it up. More than this, they are surely experts in their field. I am guaranteed that the “Whatever You Wanna Call It” Blog has been given the “Blog of the Year” award because of its capacity to understand whatever. I am rest assured that this person has worked long and hard to put out a product that has garnered him this award. Indeed, blog awards are a sight to see. It made the person’s blog look so official and so important because they had won. They had been recognized. They had been selected among the best of the best by the WordPress higher ups. Yea, blog awards are pretty neat.

 
After:

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But then I found out that Blog awards are not given out by the chairman of who knows what, but that they are actually given out by bloggers to other bloggers. That’s cool too. But understanding that they are made up awards by members of the blogging community does degrade my level of awe a bit. It’s like walking into that room with all the plaques on the wall and being told that they are made up certificates by the person’s best friend. It doesn’t make it look any less cool, but it does degrade the initial assumption of expertise. It’s almost like I initially thought they were accredited, and then I find out they were printed off a Word Document. I still think they’re awesome. Just not as awesome as when I thought they were given from the outside. So for those of you thinking of me, I would still accept it (plug).

I have an idea: What if a blogger created a Blog award that was actually based on something a tad bit deeper than recognition? An award created specifically for the bloggers who meet the qualifications and recognized Publically by WordPress or some other fancy guy in a suit. Something Bloggers can both hang to the sides of their blogs as well as on their walls at home. Something only those qualified bloggers can get so that it’s a real competition? Something unique that can become the global standard for Blog Awards; that thing bloggers actually work hard to get and strive to achieve? Now that would be awesome.

 

Tomato and Beef Casserole With Polenta Crust

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Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Caroline Murphey

Today’s special recipe is a feature from Kathy Gizzi, of Rotonda West, Florida. It looks so tasty I cannot wait to try it myself. This time, we’re all going to do it together, yall with me? Tonight’s dinner is: Tomato and Beef Casserole with Polenta Crust. We’ll need:

1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper < or zucchini. I don’t care too much for it so I substituted with bell pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans diced tomatoes, drained
1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bring 3 cups water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in cornmeal; reduce heat to low, and simmer, whisking constantly, 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in steak seasoning and 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Spread cornmeal mixture into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

 
2. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is well done; drain and transfer to a bowl.

 
3. Sauté onion and bell peppers in hot oil in skillet over medium heat until crisp-tender. Stir in beef, tomatoes, and tomato paste; simmer, stirring often, 10 minutes. Pour beef mixture over cornmeal crust. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

 
4. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle casserole with parsley just before serving.

Enjoy!

Do you have a tasty recipe you would like me to try? Send it in! I love recipes and will try it seriously, no joke. :). Just be sure to send a picture along with it so I can feature it on Recipe Sunday.