Perfect guacamole

It comes to the point whereI have to explain myself.
Why guacamole girl? ...............Why not?
I love cooking (& eating of course) & Mexican food is high on the popularity list.
Homemade guacamole is so much nicer than shop-bought & it's so easy. My tip is: squeeze half a lime into a bowl & THEN mash the avocado into it. This stops the avocado going brown. Also, the avocado has to be really ripe & squishy or it just doesn't work.
The real question is - should you add chilli ?
My globe-trotting sister says no. She reckons real Mexican guacamole is just avocado & lime, (seasoned with salt & pepper) to cool the chillified burrito, but creativity rules, so I do chilli it a wee bit.
As they don't say on Brainiac - Do try this at home!

Skipping Christmas, part 1

Christmas is coming,
The goose is getting fat.
But I'm a vegetarian
So that's enough of that!

Hands up who's looking forward to Christmas? It's a fact of 21st century Western life that Christmas can be stressful & expensive. I know many families who try to overcome this materialism & refocus on the reality of "God with us" in various ways. Here's a wee one (as recommended by my best friend) which I'm about to have a go at..........

Teachers presents:
With 2 children at primary school, we want to give something to their teachers at Christmas, but it's difficult to get something original - I guess some teachers get more chocolate & "smellies" than they can shake a stick at - & I know some other parents who feel the same way. So I'm writing to all the parents in my children's classes to see if anyone wants to join in with us & get alternative gifts. Oxfam's catalogue includes things like school books & desks as well as teacher training for schools in the developing world. I hope the teachers here will appreciate something from this list, as we appreciate the education our children have free access to.

I'm not sure if any other families will want to chip in to this, but I'll keep you posted!
If you want to have a go, see www.oxfamunwrapped.com

Learning Curve

Yesterday evening I helped out at our church midweek children's club for the first time. A few helpers couldn't make it, so I was drafted in as last minute reinforcements.
Having done Sunday School, summer kids club etc, I thought "OK, no problem." - boy was I wrong!
Although there were only 17 children there, they were really lively & we definately needed 7-8 leaders to keep the programme running smoothly. They got involved enthusuatically in the games, joke-telling & activities, but it was a bit harder to keep their attention in group-time & speaking from the front.
Why was it so difficult? The majority of them were not "church children"! I forgot they're not so used to sitting & listening to an adult. A few were definately anti- paying attention & pro- making a mockery of what I was trying to say.
At the end I was a bit dispirited, but the regular leaders felt there had been a real breakthrough in getting to know the children better & them engaging with what we were trying to teach & model. Wow - if this is a breakthrough, I'm glad I wasn't there on week one!!
So what's the punch-line? I take my hat off to the team who put themselves through that every week because they love all these children & want them to experience the love of Christ. Through the chaos, these are children with wit, imagination & massive creativity - that could grow on you. Next time, I might not be so complacent!

Ordinaryness

Hello world. Welcome to my blog.
My husband says if I'm writing a blog, I must have too much time on my hands & I should be doing some housework. I say housework is over-rated - this may turn out to be much more fun!
I haven't got anything profound to say today, except that when I was writing my profile & trying to define my life in 1 sentence, I started wondering about being ordinary.
When I was a teenager (not too long ago!) I would imagine how my life would turn out & it was never ordinary. I imagined I would have significance beyond my own house, whether by runnning a successful business, or being famous in some arena of creativity. And now I find myself living what I would have deemed to be an ordinary life - part-time job, husband, 2 children etc. But now I'm here, I found out it's extraordinary.

I am discovering that significance is found in friendships & family relationships, not in acquiring material possessions or achieving "success" at work. Every person has such immense value, as a person made in God's image. Sometimes I take that lightly, but every interaction with another person (even via the blogosphere, as I may find out) makes a contribution to the world - positive or negative. That is where we are all significant.
This is the theory - God help me to put it into practice.