My Attitude Sucks Today

Today Blows. My apathetic self is back--if it was a living thing I would shoot it after I slit its throat and spit in its face. But it is not, so I can't--I kowtow to that SOB inside me every time. Today I am a failure--maybe tomorrow I will be the victor. I feel better any how after typing the above. 

Oatmeal: Yes it is Good!

Lately I have been hooked on breakfast sandwiches made with egg, cheddar cheese and tomato on an english muffin, they are delicious but I have been looking for something else to add to my breakfast repetuare. I found what I was looking for in old school Quaker Oats. Now, as most of you may agree, oatmeal by itself is gross and reminds me of Oliver Twist and the phrase "Please Sir . . . I'd like some more" comes to mind right after I gag on bland mush. 

Linz and I have discovered that if you want to enjoy oatmeal you got to dress it up a little. Here are some of our recent creations. 

But first some standard operations:

Never Cook in Microwave--always on the stove top!

Put the oats in with the cold milk before you start heating. Doing this gives good texture with out the oatmeal getting to goopy. Also at this point it is standard procedure for me to add a few drops of vanilla extract. I feel this rounds out the flavor and their is also the added benefit of the pleasant aroma when cooking.

Banana Oats

After oats are done cooking add sliced bananas, slivered almonds, cranberries, and brown sugar. 

Apple Oats

Throw in diced apple with cold milk and oats

While heating add nutmeg and cranberries 

When done stir in brown sugar (not to much or you will drown out the apple) and garnish with a dash cinnamon. 

Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Light

Is it just me, or does everything taste better this time of year. Coffee tastes better, wine tastes better, cookies taste better, kisses from my wife (these always feel magical, but none the less they feel extra good), all of it. My theory is that Christmas is magical. Duh--we all know this right, and if you don't think it is magical anymore . . . well, then perhaps you're heart has shrunk. I believe that Christmas owes a lot of it's magical feel to lights. Lights are a big deal, for they stir within the human nervous system a hypersensitivity to everything our little synapses can handle. It is so fitting that light should lead the charge in holiday spirit. Fitting because Christ was light to the world. Light in literature is always symbolic with hope, rejuvenation and life. This is true outside the realm of literature, not just in film and art, but in real life too. Light brings clarity, perspective, and most important, life (ask anyone who suffers from seasonal depression). Christ is light and Christ is life. 

My dad, when talking of his life before he was a Christian, says that Christmas always housed, for him, an inordinate amount of hope. Hope for what I am not sure, perhaps just hope for hopes sake, but none the less there is this intrinsic quality about Christmas--even with all the commercialization. It is a season that is shot through with a magical air of light, life, and hope. 

I should also mention that yesterday I saw, right around mile 13 of my 18 mile rain run, a vary large Bald Eagle perched high up in a tree over the river trail. It was massive, and majestic--it was a Christmas miracle.