boob injury from sledding....haha! Merry Christmas

 

pretty sure i pulled a muscle under my boob sledding this afternoon. i'm sneezing right now which is not helping much. you know you are getting older when you hurt your boob. nothing is sacred as we age. 

sledding was a bit of a mess since Kincaid was blowing something pretty fierce. i made 5-6 runs though. i was dared a bit. the snow was blown over so punchy but i did find one pretty solid run so i just tried to hit that. not many others brave enough to stick out a sledding day so not many out there. the dogs were able to just run around.

i woke early to get the turkey started. i have a new roaster pan so i wanted to try that out. the turkey was adequately thawed so i didn't want to waste that.  especially since i'd confused the size in pounds with the price...so i paid much more than i thought i did. probably shopping after working a night shift. haha.

there weren't any of those roaster bags so i just had it in the roaster and the bottom bits got burned a bit so i couldn't make gravy out of those bits...turkey/potatoes/dressing...really just not as delicious with out that homemade gravy. so a bit of a wash on that end as well. i had a packet of gravy and just made that but it was brown gravy so really i just ate mashed potatoes before i went sledding and packed all the rest away. in the end this evening i made spaghetti since i was mostly in the mood for that tonight anyway. 

the dogs did get to open their gifts. lots of prezzies. they had fun with that.  tonight i went to let them out and play in the yard but it was drizzling.  we may look like Seattle does right now...all ice! 

travel has been a mess all over the lower 48 especially.  winter storms all over down there. streets of sheer ice in Washington.  lots of videos of cars and humans sliding all over the place. 

that idiot abbot from Texas shipped a few more busloads of refugees to the vp of the USA's house. always nice that the i believe in Jesus crowd so ignore the words of Jesus when it comes to treating people with love and kindness. that is lost on all of them. 

spoke to a brother tonight.  when a conversation about time came up. there was something about me leaving the church and like it was for the time off...i'd said that was a big perk of leaving was the free time. i just said point blank. i didn't leave for free time. i left because i just didn't believe it was true. 

i mentioned the money issues as well bothered me. like with covid, why weren't members given an option to just not pay their tithing if they were struggling.  i mean it's a church that has over 100 billion dollars in assests/cash, whatever. he said something like people have free agency to pay or not pay.  i then asked, can they get a temple recommend if they haven't paid their tithing.  no.  and they can't get to the highest kingdom of heaven without going to the temple...so people are made to choose between feeding their kids or going to the highest level of heaven? seems a pretty poor and cruel choice really. 

no church should ever make people make such choices. the ward only has so much money allocated for welfare for their congregation.  this he said.  silly.  if you are in a poorer ward boundary you are screwed, wealthy one, better off.  this is a common theme in this and many religions.  money seems the key to heaven...only with God money is the root of all evil.  they never seem to get that message. 

people make their choices though.  i'm happy my choices led me away from that emotional/religious manipulation.  it really is a manipulation. holding heaven and your family over you.  if you do not do this or that you won't be with your family in the next life. 

Christmas as we celebrate it was taken from many pagan rituals as a means of eclipsing the pagans and forcing Christianity of the masses. Jesus would not be turning people away at the border or busing them to other people to become their issues.  the general Christian community has opted to look the other way on so many issues in their current Christianity. it's frustrating.  they act like they have heaven all wrapped up and the rest of us will go to hell....not so fast. Christians are driving more and more away from Christianity as many are disgusted with the themes of hatred and persecution. 

historically, this does happen with this and various religions.  people will only take so much before they start to embrace freedom over religious demands and manipulations. iran and afghanistan are both seeing rebellions from the women, who do not want to continue to live or return to a life where they have very few rights or freedoms.  shocking really how much most will tolerate though.  hitler used religious bias to push his racist agenda. it wasn't all at once, it was incremental.  people fell in line.  

you have to scream loudly or you will suffer and generations after you will suffer. 

i know, i'm a downer on this big holiday.  celebrate as you will.  just remember that many have different beliefs or lack of beliefs.  much of this stuff that we do has other meanings and/or origins. trees, santa, presents.  it's a blend of many things. you can believe other things but still want to celebrate with some of the rituals. santa is not really Christianity. Jesus birthday during the taxation time was not likely at this time of year at all. solstice like the tree was taken over from the pagans.

mormons stole their temple rituals and secret stuff from the masons...who were not big fans of smith for this very reason.  the mormons are supposed to keep these things secret even though these things were stolen from the masons and smith did not keep the masons secrets. 

i do enjoy the lights and mood and music of the season.  otherwise it's really just regular days for me. 

some years i have made myself sad by putting more meaning on these days than they deserve. eat drink and be merry...or sled and hurt yourself.  i like the message of Christmas even if i don't always appreciate the religion that holds claim to this holiday season. 

Christianity is at a cross roads in my mind.  will they continue to embrace or allow the hatred and cruelty to steal the beauty that does exist in their beliefs or will they kick these crazy, hate filled fools out.  how things turn out for Christianity will be up to them. 

watched a few flicks. tonight i watched the Grinch, 2018. a sweet version of the Grinch of whoville. 

i also had the Christmas Story on as i cooked. always a favorite since it came out.  last night i watched a bit of scrooge and it's a wonderful life.  the later of those kind of cracks me up.  i know many who root for George Bailey in the movie but in real life they vote and support the Potters of the world.  they don't even seem to realize it. 

caught 3 light events/displays this past week.  so this was the third out at the Botanical Gardens.  shorter, closer to my home...blocks really.  always a good time though.  

thanks KR for joining me on a few of these and for snapping this photo

this one above was at the zoo lights event. 

these are in Homer a few summers ago. 

i made it to Ruth Arcand yesterday.  well, Saturday now i guess. i was taking this middle loop but in the end i crossed over.  it was 10 below again so that change probably took me away from some rocks i was thinking may be on a separate loop.  not worth it that day to loop back around.  trail not too bad. 

the day before that i think i was just at the dog park. then i wanted to do a few errands.  

roads are still not overly plowed. so some roads that usually had 2 lands only have one. thank the GOP and their fear of socialism...they don't seem to understand that a democratic socialist system could give them control over how their tax dollars can help them and others live better lives.  now they just give all their tax dollars to the rich.  a fool and their money are soon parted with zero services given. so annoying. 

clam gultch. 

hoping for a nice long sleep tonight. maybe i can pick up some gravy tomorrow at the store. eat my turkey dinner for lunch tomorrow. 

i did allow myself a midnight snack treat last night for Christmas.  :-)  one cookie size of cookie dough.  

need to do some shredding.  the snow put us behind on recycling pick up and now there will be no mail or trash pick up tomorrow.  holiday.  so garbage on Tuesday.  i have loads of cardboard/recycling so it will take a few loads to get that cleared out. that is only every other week. 

pretty star. 

not sure when i'll pull all the Christmas decorations down. the fake tree can stay up longer. many leave it up until right after the new year. maybe my next stretch off.  maybe get a few bins and clean out that storage area.  toss stuff i don't use anymore.  maybe i can fit the tree in there. we shall see.

small place so it does take up extra room having all the Christmas stuff out. 

hopefully i haven't depressed anyone with my Christian/Christmas stuff. these evangelicals have really allowed themselves to be hijacked and it's hurting all Christianity at this point.  if you do not stand up and out, you will be lumped in. so far it doesn't seem like many are willing to stand up to these extreme religious factions.  it's severely damaging them all 

i can only really control what i opt to do with it all. i do feel like i'm not as willing to just shut up about these things. i don't think i have to be hateful and i try not to be.  still, i feel like things need to be said.  ultimately people make choices as to what they listen to and what they ignore.  there is only so much that can be ignored.  at some point we are responsible for the things we choose to ignore...ignorance comes from ignore. blind obedience and all the excuses that come with that...there is still some accountability. 

happy swimming dogs. 

the wind has blown some snow away.  so that means some from on top the roof has also blown away.  warm temps may melt some more away. 

snow is predicted to fall over night. none spotted yet though. 

then cloudy and i head back to work again on Thursday. 

did manage to get the mandatory education completed. my brother said he got a loyalty bonus. perhaps one day hospitals will figure out they should pay bonuses to staff that stay rather than always just paying out to new people who come.  my own fault for not job hopping to take advantage of that. 

chilling pets.  love to watch the animals sleep so peacefully.  do they see this in me when i sleep

anyway, no matter what i believe or do not believe, another Christmas season is over.  gifts were shared as a way to thank those who keep you in their lives despite your flaws and being difficult at times.  it is appreciated. music, cute decorations, a lit tree, means of making our lives a little brighter in a dark winter. a way to remind us of the good messages that are at the heart of the teaches espoused to Jesus. love thy neighbor, do not judge...kindness, acceptance. 

a new year is upon us. 2023.  what will it bring? we will have to wait and see. go forth with a positive attitude and hope. 

speak your mind...but be willing to listen.  so many different ways to view all aspects of this life we all are living. there is no one way forward.  like a braided river, we can travel many different paths and still come to the great ocean. 

the mistake is always in thinking you are right or you have the only truth or the only way...just bogs down one path...beaver damn i guess. the only way through that is to just break it down. 

my goal for next year...declutter. too much crap. 

well, i guess i better get off this computer and crawl into bed.  hoping the muscles feel better not worse tomorrow. 

thankful for A. the people who stick it out with me despite my many flaws.  B. the pretty lights, music, spirit, movies...and food that light up the season. C. friends who will sled in the worst of weather.  haha.