Citizen of the World

This last week, Matthew and I have rediscovered incense.  I kept seeing our little vase of incense and a wooden stand awaiting our enjoyment.  I also wanted to pick up some new scents for a pomander I bought at L'Occitane years ago. Needless to say, L'Occitane sold out of and discontinued its incense squares. Undaunted and not wanting to be thwarted by that revelation, we went to Whole Foods to try and devise a new means of using the pomander.  I found a new incense burner for little cones, which sits nicely in my bathroom. 

Burning incense is so calming and the energy in the house has changed slightly for the better. The low-level negative energy came from 1) losing my wallet recently, 2) dealing with law enforcement, and 3) calling the credit card companies. I've also started minor meditation again.

Today, I should be wearing my Zen Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I like the sentiment and it pretty much encapsulates my recent need to center myself again (btw, I do replace "The Mouse" with "self".). 

There's definitely a sense of renewal in my spirit that intensifies in the spring, of course. New life and freshness are evidenced everywhere, much like the blue bonnets in Texas posted by erstexman and texwriterbear or the myriad of blossoms at Kew Gardens posted by changeling72.  The flowers this year seem so much cleaner and crisper (might just be the quality of the cameras, but I like to think it's the flowers doing it all).

I'm loving it.

The primary difference this year from last year in the spring is that we're not hosting Easter dinner this year for Matt's family.  That made us both pretty sad when the rest of the family decided they wanted to go to a country club - again - for Easter lunch/dinner.  Matt and I did SUCH a good job last year with the planning, the food, the decorations, the hosting, the leftovers (yes - everyone got a to-go bag!), the Easter baskets for the kids, the traditions from Matt's mother - down to the bunny cake!  Everyone loved us hosting Easter and appreciated the effort we put into it. I know we're good hosts, dammit!!  Alas, Easter dinner will lack tradition, be plastic, and short-lived.

Having a Spring/Easter dinner party to plan and prepare really inspired us last year. This year, Matt and I are finding new ways to be inspired and discovering other things to do.  This Friday night, for instance, we're getting together with friends to dye eggs and tie-dye t-shirts!!  That'll be lots of fun.

Then, of course, Matt and I are meeting - WOW - squirreltot, texwriterbear, and super_sean for the first time ever along with another Texan friend of theirs, and allsmilesbear (who - nudge nudge - hasn't posted in like forEVER - 3 years, actually), while they're in NYC on vacation. We're also meeting jimwnyc and tinman11201* for the first time in person, even though they're just down the road from us; our schedules and determination to meet up finally synchronized!  I think I've known some of these guys for 5-6 years at least online.

On Thursday night, whilst Matt is teaching, I meeting up with devil_cub52, durabear (wishing that malorso would make it up here sometime with him!!), gstorm17, mat_t, and perkbear for dinner.  This is going to be one LJ-filled week!! 

I'm very excited.

Who likes junk mail? What do YOU do with junk mail? A little while back, I posted about Andy Rooney's solution to junk mail - use the postage paid envelope to stuff with the information a junk sender sends you and send it back to them without providing them any information about you. In doing that, you support the US Postal Service and make the junk sender's money support the US Postal Service. It's a win-win for you, as well, because the junk mail is off your desk and won't fill up your local landfill. YAY!

Last week, we received some particular junk mail that REALLY twists my nickers! Here are some photos:








I can't stand this type of advertising. So many churches do it. What really bothers me is not that I'm receiving this crap, but other people who attend their church services like lemmings, who cannot discern that this kind of ministry is full of crap! They're sending around this "prayer rug" that's about 1.5' x 3'. After you've prayed for yourself to get financial gain - FOR YOUR HOUSE FIRST (the ad says) - you're supposed to give the "prayer rug" to someone else to pray, as well.

All of the verbiage instills subtle fears and threats that if the (unknowing and unwise) person doesn't use the "prayer rug" for its intended purpose and donate to the church and give the "prayer rug" to someone else in a reasonable amount of time, their prayers will not be answered.

It disturbs me when people prey upon the prayers of those who follow in blind faith. I'm glad we got this mail, so that we could shred it with glee.