Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Milk Comes from Cows, not Cartons


Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Sometimes life kicks you in the ass and makes it hard to do the things we like to do. We go at 90 miles an hour, acting and reacting on autopilot. This week, I’ve been meditating on slowing down.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about counting blessings. I'm not referring to blessings in a religious sense necessarily, although for some to count blessings mean using the ritual of prayer. This post has to do with consciously realizing and considering where our food, clothing, housing materials, etc. come from.

People work daily to make my life easier. From trash collection, to mail distribution, to water purification, there are billions of hours dedicated to me and I’m not even aware of it most of the time.

When I sit down to eat, do I ever think about where my food came from? There was a family in the market the other day and the little girl was complaining that she was starving! Her mother responded “Look around you! You’re in a GROCERY STORE! You’re not even close to starving”

Bravo Mama!

We have so many conveniences, so much at the tips of our fingers and with the whirlwind of our lives, we forget to think about how it comes to be.

We forget to remember the back-breaking work, the ridiculously early start to a ridiculously long day the farmer has. Besides the harvest, he has the planting, sowing, and cultivating. All so we can have fresh fruits and vegetables on our tables. Or milk to drink. Yeah, milk comes from cows, not cartons. Sometimes a machine helps, but still a cow was involved. There’s only one way to get it out of the cow.

We forget that an animal gave his life for us to eat it. Sure it might have been his destiny, but still, it was a life.

I planted the trees in my yard and have watched them grow over the past 16 years. I didn’t have to do very much other than trim them a bit if their branches got unruly. It was totally the tree and Mother Nature doing all the work. When I open a box of crackers or chips, I rarely think about the tree that was grown and now is the paper/cardboard holding my snack.

So today when I sit down to eat I’m going to stop for a few seconds and think about what is in front of me. And appreciate it. My aunt always says a prayer of thanks before eating. Now I understand what that’s about. A little thank you to the universe.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

YOU are an idiot...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Yesterday I let the dogs out in the backyard, then went up to my bedroom to change so I could take them for a walk. I was putting on my socks when I heard someone (a man) say something. IN THE HOUSE. No one else was home. The TV was off. I was freaked out. I quietly closed my bedroom door, locked it, and sat down on the bed wondering what I should do. Since the dogs were outside, they would be no help. My cell phone was down stairs. I had no weapon.

So I grabbed a laundry basket. I figured if I had to, I could shove it at them and run out of the house. Opened the bedroom door cautiously and listened. Nothing. Holding the laundry basket in front of me, I tiptoed downstairs, opened the back door and let the dogs in. Then I proceeded to open doors...to the bathroom, the basement, the closed garage, and let the dogs sniff out anyone who might be there. No one.

Fast forward to just a few minutes ago. I was in the family room watching a recorded show. Suddenly I hear the voice again behind me coming from the office!! It's the same exact time of day as when I heard the voice from yesterday!

It was my Avast virus software saying "Your virus database has been updated"

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/youare

About Me

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Thank you for viewing my blog. I nearly wrote "weblog," only hesitating because I realized I would sound very un-hip....a word which inofitself is un-hip. Ugh. Such is my life. My 17-year-old son was once telling me a story about a school friend who was getting on his nerves because this friend was so emotional. I was sharing this story with a youngish co-worker recently, describing his friend as "emu." She looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked, "do you mean "emo?" Believe it or not, I used to be cool. Anyway, maybe that gives you a little insight into my life experiment, where everyday is a new challenge. I hope I won't ramble and that I'll bring you a little laughter in my attempt to be thought-provoking.

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