Poverty or excess

Lately I have been constantly reminded of how much "stuff" I have and this country has. As I made 15 different things for Christmas I couldn't help but think of people who don't even have Christmas dinner or are only preparing one thing for dinner. I had so many different battling thoughts running through my head while cooking like, well it is Christmas, this is what we do, but then I would feel bad that we got to enjoy all of this wonderful food and then had leftovers for days when I am aware that others have nothing.

As someone who enjoys going on short term mission trips I like to be aware of what is going on in other places and be reminded of how extremely blessed I am to have what I do. What I am struggling with is finding how to deal with these thoughts.

An example:

I dream of the day where I can design my own kitchen with 2 ovens and a great stove, and a warming drawer... As I think of that I begin to feel guilty because there have been families that I have served (in other countries) that don't even have an oven, a sink, or a bed....I want to help others, but at the same time I don't think I need to feel guilty for being able to have things.

P.S. I would really like to go on a short mission trip this summer, anyone know of any?

Merry Christmas!

I am so sad that the Christmas season is going by so fast again! And where is the snow?

I hope that you all have a wonderful time celebrating this season with your family and friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

If you like chocolate...

You must try the new Hershey kisses that are out. (I am not a huge fan of the milk chocolate kisses, because I think there is better chocolate out there.) BUT, Hershey's holiday flavors rock! The two that I really enjoy are mint flavored and peppermint. The mint is a chocolate kiss with a mint flavoring. Peppermint consists of white chocolate with bits of candy cane dispersed through out. Yummy.

New Hobby?

I don't think so. Today was my mother's birthday. I decided a few months back to do something extra special for her birthday gift. I came up with idea of doing a scrapbook of our Disney trip this past summer. I haven't done one of these books in about 13 years.

I totally forgot what a BIG job this was. The time and energy that went into it was amazing.

As I would go to stores and work on the book, I was amazed at the beautiful pages people would make and just the whole creative aspect was fun.

Despite all the work, the book came out great and my mother was so appreciative of it!!! This made it all worth while.

Do you ever do something and think no one will understand or see what you do or how much time you put into something to make that work? Well this was the feeling I had with this book, but I was wrong. My mom recognized the time, energy, money... and that made me so happy and the fact that she couldn't get over it made me even more excited.

But, it will probably be another 13 years before I do another one. :)

G's thoughts on the Bears

I love that there were SO many Bears fans in St. Louis!

Hester is a maniac.

Why is Charles Tillman called Peanut?

I am so sick and tired of all the talk about Rex Grossman. The poor guy! I know he needs to step it up, but that is all that is talked about, oh and the 3 or 4 pro-bowlers who weren't able to play tonight. My gosh, give Grossman some encouragement, tips, ideas...You could see the fear all over him tonight. And now all I have to say is we got our "Rexy Back"!!!!

Crazy upsets this week in football, wow!

Look out playoffs here come the Bears.

And how great that part of Christmas Eve will be celebrated with football. Oh yeah!

"The Holiday"

So I LOVED this movie!!! I will not give anything away, but I will say that I think I liked it so much was because I could relate to a few of the parts. I want to see it again and I do have to say Jack Black actually pulled off a serious role. Wow!

A motto (in reference to men) that I have learned at times, I take from the Rolling Stones, "You Can't Always Get What You Want"!

So ridiculous!

I watch the food network from time to time. It helps me keep up on my culinary skills, get ideas, and get excited about cooking. Every once in a while I would watch Rachel Ray, but I was usually annoyed by her. She now has a talk show on and I have seen it a handful of times. I can't quite figure it out. Sometimes it intrigues me and other times I just turn it off. One of the things I get annoyed by is her always saying "EVOO", which stands for extra virgin olive oil. She says it over and over and over. Today on her talk show, it was announced that "EVOO" is now going in the Oxford Dictionary. What? Can I start making up words and abbreviations and get them in there too? Ugh!

Da Bulls

I attended my first Bulls game this year with Amy. When we walked into the United Center, the crowd was already extremely pumped and really ready to go. It made me even that more excited to be there and ready to cheer on the Bulls. This subtle observation reminded me of how much our attitudes can affect other people.

In case you missed the game, the Bulls were on fire! Nocioni and Gordon were scoring machines! I really enjoyed their warm up mix, how can I get that?!

Christmas in the city!

Despite how nice and warm the weather has been, I am kind of excited about the possibility of our first snow that supposedly will be coming tomorrow night! The cold, crisp air along with the snowy yards and streets remind me that Christmas is near.

Tonight I sat and wrapped Christmas gifts with the fire going and watched the New York lighting ceremony with some wonderful artists singing some great carols. This really put me in the mood. Something that I also really enjoy during this season is to take time and walk around the city visiting the Macy holiday windows, walking around Chicago's huge tree, and going to the little village to visit all of the different countries Christmas items.

Today there was big news and controversy in regards to Christmas in Chicago. In the area where the tree and festivities are there is a big manger scene that is set up. Of course, that is what Christmas is all about, right? Well some stuff was stirred up because the movie "The Nativity" wanted to help sponsor some of the activities that were going on and were denied that publicity.

At first this didn't bother me and the more I think about it, the more I realize how sad this really is. The argument is that people of different religions would be offended by a Christian display. Wait a minute, who else celebrates Christmas? I know that many do the whole gift giving thing, but Christmas is centered around what us Christians believe, the birth of Christ. Every store you go into that sells or displays Christmas decorations you see mangers. So now are people going to get offended by that? This movie is allowed to air commercials and put up billboards without running into problems, so why was this such a big deal for the city of Chicago?

The Bears

What a game the Bears had against the Patriots! To be honest, I was really surprised that the stats were so similar! We could have won.

And who determines a booth review? Whoever does, I would like to kiss their feet!

Good times

Black Friday was a success! After a long, hard hunt the Nintendo Wii was purchased. We will have some happy campers at Christmas.

And that brings me to my next point....CHRISTMAS! I am so excited for this season. We put all of our decorations up today while listening to some great Christmas tunes. Our tree is gorgeous and this evening we sat and enjoyed our newly decorated peaceful apartment. It was divine!!!!

Now onto wrapping some gifts!

Turkey Time

I hope that everyone has a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am excited for the break and looking forward to some good food! Also, happy black Friday to all who venture out!!!

Nintendo Wii

What is the deal with Nintendo Wii? I get all the interactive games, that seems pretty cool! But why would a company only make a certain amount around the holidays? Some people I know stood in line at the crack of dawn to get one and now all the stores are sold out. Of course, no one knows when they will get more in. I also get supply and demand, but something like this should be readily available, a store shouldn't only have 150 for its premier.

Yeah, I know

Ok, so it has been a long time since I have posted. I realize that, sorry. I just have not felt very inspired to write anything. I am hoping to improve, although with my break nothing good has creeped into my mind on what I should write about. We will see what happens.

Oh and to those of you who have given me a hard time about not writing, it would be nice to have some more interaction from you i.e. comments...

Cupcake Time!

So Christmas is right around the corner...can you believe it? That brings me to coming up with a new holiday flavor for Christmas.

I would love any and and all cupcake suggestions! Please just leave them in the comment part.

Can I get your digits?

I will save you with the drama of the day, but my cell phone decided to stop working today and therefore I lost my entire phone book. Many numbers I do not have written down anywhere, so if you are a friend or family member who I chat with, would you be so kind to e-mail me your phone number???? cookginag1@yahoo.com

Thanks!!!!

Marie Antoinette

Today I began to chisel away at the list of movies that I posted yesterday. In case you are unaware, AMC does this great deal where before noon on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday every movie is $5. Back to the movie.

I went into the movie thinking it would be a chick flick and really I was looking for some brainless entertainment. I do admit that I do not know a whole lot about history and I am wondering if that would have helped me to understand this movie.

Questions I left with:

1. What was the point of this movie?

2. Why didn't Marie Antoinette stand up for herself?

3. Why was her mother SO involved?

4. What was the point of the first part of the movie having not a whole lot of dialogue? There was no climatic point building, all I wanted was some interactive chatting.

So instead of having this happy feeling when I was left, I was more or less a bit annoyed and confused.

Shoes

I know I have written a post before about shoes (crocs), but this time it is about Uggs. I do not think they are that bad looking, actually they look pretty comfy and warm. (I wish I could show you a picture, but I don't know how to do that) In fact, my sister who is quite fashionable for her young age, just purchased a pair this past weekend. I was totally shocked by the price and cannot figure out why they are so expensive. I mean, back 10 years ago I was way into Dr. Martin's and those cost easily $100. Uggs are more expensive. Wow! What is the attraction to them???? I have to admit, one of the babies I watch had a pair of Uggs on today, and he looked SO cute!!!!

Way side note, there are a TON of movies that I want to see. I need to catch up in the movie department. Here is my list of movies that I am looking forward to seeing, let alone the ones that look great that haven't come out: "The Last Kiss", "The Departed", "The Illusionist", "Marie Antoinette", "Running with Scissors", "The Guardian", "The Prestige", "Facing the Giants", and "The Lake House". Just a few!!!!!!!!!

Pizza

I think that pizza is one of my favorite foods and I could eat it at least 5 out of 7 days of the week. Man it is so yummy!!!!

My favorite place to order pizza is Giordano's. (There is no way I could eat this every day, I would be the size of a house.) Their stuffed pizza is just oozing with great cheese and all the flavors combined make my mouth and stomach so happy.

This is definitely the place to stop at if you have out of town guests who want some Chicago style pizza.

Girls and Sports

My dad loves sports! I remember growing up with my family having the T.V. tuned to the Bulls, Bears, Sox...(those were the dominant teams we cheered on and still do). As a young girl I jumped on the band wagon and didn't think anything of it. I can recall being in junior high rooting on the Bulls to all of their championships and celebrating their victory by the entire family jumping in our swimming pool.

It became apparent to me in highschool and college that girls were not really into following sports as I was (at least none of the ones I hung around). I saw that girls would use "watching sports" to win the favor of some guys and so I in turn would keep it quiet around them. Because for one, I was not trying to impress them because I just honestly liked football, basketball, and baseball. Also, I found out that if I talked with guys about sports they wouldn't take me seriously (not that I know a ton about it, but I do know a bit).

In the past few years my love for my favorite sports has increased. By this I mean I have dedicated more time to watching them and going to the games. For example, this past Monday the Bears were on Monday night football. What a big night, I was pumped ALL day long, I felt like I was jumping up and down on a regular basis because I was so excited. I couldn't wait until the 7:30 kick off. As I watched the pregame show the talk was about the 85 Bears and all their remarkable players. The Bears and Arizona game was fun with it being Monday night and all, but what a terrible and frustrating game to watch.

Recently I talked with some friends of mine and I was telling them about this great football pool I am in (atothegizzo rocks!!!), they were surprised. They had no idea I was so into football. That conversation made me collect my thoughts about this topic and hence write this blog.

So the bottom line is: I don't care that I am a girl and I love to watch sports and I will talk about it!