Lizzie's Award Of Shame

I've always considered myself a pretty tolerant individual...it usually takes a lot to really tick me off but this was so huge on the scale of ticked off I just had to write a post about it and this is how this little story goes....

I was hanging out on FaceBook yesterday afternoon and one of my favorite podcasters, Feithline Stuart with SpiritsCast  popped in with a status update and link that I truly had to read twice (okay, it was more like four or five times) anyhow, it was so outlandish... so ridiculous that I wasn't really sure that the author was in complete ownership of  all of her marbles...

And I quote...

"...The word "holiday" means "holy day." But there is nothing holy about Halloween. The root word of Halloween is "hallow," which means "holy, consecrated and set apart for service." If this holiday is hallowed, whose service is it set apart for? The answer to that question is very easy—Lucifer's!....

Really now...  Halloween (Samhain) is holy to me and wouldn't that just make it a perspective issue ... but no, she goes on... Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly...hun you really have a terrible case of the "I has a dumb"  going on and if you were in the least bit informed you would realize that one can only worship Lucifer (satan, devil, etc...) if one actually believes he exists. To be completely acurate, the devil is a misleading and false christian idea introduced long ago in order to maintain control over the peasantry and people of the "old ways" had absolutely no such concept of this creature in their belief system. 

How sad that many "christians" are running about spouting such  uneducated, misinformed nonsense ...  it's giving their god a bad name. If I were their deity I would surely hang my head in shame for creating such poorly educated folks...yes, ignorance is a choice in my opinion. ( doesn't the good book say  "made in his image")...  is that the sound of  laughter I hear coming from the heavens?

And again I quote

"....During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches..."

Seriously folks, I'm not sure about you... but I'm usually way too busy scarfing down said candy to be letting it go to waste ...while trying to come up with an astoundingly good ditty that'll really put a whammy on those christian kids...(now their parents are another story... ah-hem, just kidding folks)  Anyway, I've put the article link below and I hope it will at least inspire fits of humor among my readers. I'm not sure if this will be a regular part of my blog because I really hate to think this type of mindset really exists out there!

The Dangers Of Celebrating Halloween

*If you would like to host your own Award of Shame, please feel free to grab the nun!*

(UPDATE- strangely enough the article I was referring to has magically disappeared, I cannot find just where they "moved" it to but I'm sure it could not have been it's inflammatory content...)

Tasty Recipe

Candied Ginger Truffles

I was surfing the net again, looking for really cool recipes and came upon this one that sounded heavenly. I have some down time around mid week so I thought I might give this a try!

Yield: Makes about 2 dozen 1-inch truffles

Ingredients

3/4 cup whipping cream
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon rum
1/4 cup minced candied ginger
About 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

Preparation

1. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over high heat, bring cream to a boil. Meanwhile, place chopped chocolate in a bowl. Pour cream over chocolate and stir gently with a flexible spatula until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. (If chocolate does not melt completely, place bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted and smooth.) Stir in rum and candied ginger. Chill mixture until firm, at least 3 hours; if desired, cover and chill up to 1 week.

2. Line a 12- by 15-inch baking sheet with a piece of waxed paper. With a spoon, scoop out 1-tablespoon portions of chocolate mixture; place on waxed paper. If mixture is too firm to scoop, let stand at room temperature about 10 minutes.

3. Place 1/4 cup cocoa on a rimmed plate. Dust hands lightly with cocoa. With your hands, roll each scoop of chocolate mixture into a ball, then roll in cocoa to coat. Place each truffle in a small paper candy cup (see notes). To store, place truffles between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container and chill. Advise recipient to chill as well, then bring to room temperature just before serving.

Love Is In The Air

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and was originally a pagan festival of love, which was taken over by the Church and disapproved of for it's romantic and sexual connotations, and renamed for "Saint Valentine" and a day for martyrs. This day is commonly connected with the exchanging of Valentines Day cards and other such tokens of affection like heart shaped boxes of chocolates and large bouquets of red roses.... symbols including heart-shaped outlines, white doves, and figures of little winged cherubs named cupid are seen everywhere. I still remember to this day how incredibly important it was to put together the perfect cards for your friends and that cute boy that sat next to you in English class (after all, this was THE day that it was totally acceptable to make sure you gave him the best card without drawing taunts or jokes from your other classmates!) It's changed a bit since I was in school and now my children are writing out cards and giggling about that boy or girl of interest and which card should they give to them and I find myself thinking of what this day really means. Where did the days go that found you coloring and gluing red felt and white lace scraps together, actually making your Valentines with your own two hands? Ah, those were the days.... when everything seemed a little more special because you came up with the idea and put it together all by yourself...the days mom baked late into the night, frosting pink and white cupcakes with colorful sprinkles for the great occasion the next day, the days you wrote out poems in the very best handwriting that you could muster in order to impress that special someone that you just couldn't come right out and admit you were smitten with? Have I really gotten that old ( I'm almost older than dirt)...have times changed so much that that kind of effort is no longer the in thing to do? Tomorrow, I ask you to think of those you love and just pull them aside and tell them how special they are to you and that they will always be the most important people in your life, tell them thank-you for simply being themselves and then plant a big fat juicy kiss right on their cheek!