Bfth's Boring Blog

Halloween is behind us; Christmas and Chanukah are ahead of us.  That must mean that it's time to rush through Thanksgiving.  (Quick, chow down on that turkey and stuffing before heading out to the mall to spend more than you have.) In the rush of holidays and just in the general rush of life it is so easy to forget all that we have.  Everyone, no matter who you are, has something to be thankful for.  Do you take the time to acknowledge it? Thanksgiving can be stressful, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the holiday.  We want everything to be just right for the big family and/or friend gathering.  It doesn't have to be. I guarantee that at least 90% of the people at your holiday table will not notice that you haven't used your fine china (if you even have fine china) or that you wine glasses have water spots on them from the dishwasher.  The majority will just be happy to have a meal with the ones that they love.  It's about family, and of course, food

I'll admit that I'm no political pundit.  I don't know all the facts when it comes to world policies.  I'd like to think I'm relatively well informed, but there's so much going on in our world and we are being constantly fed news from all sides.  I try to keep a cool head and try to look at things with a level of common sense.  (Although that seems to be harder and harder to do.)  So my question is why must we go to extremes? From what I see on social media, we must accept ALL refugees.  Or conversely we should accept NONE. How can we accept refugees when we have homeless veterans?  Why should we accept refugees when there are hungry children in our own country who live on the street?   Why must it be all or nothing? Do we truly think that if we deny all refugees that we can solve our homeless problem?  I don't deny the fact that by accepting refugees we WILL see an uptick in homelessness.  But ignoring one isn't going to help the other.  R

A friend with four children recently posted on social media how since she has a husband who is frequently away from home for long stretches of time how grateful she is to have an "amazing  network of friends" who help out with such things and dropping off and picking up the kids from school  I only have one kid and a husband who is stay at home and we have a network too.  The phrase used to be "it takes a village;" now it's "you need a network." Life is busier than ever.  Is there such a thing as a "traditional" family where dad works from 9-5 and mom just stays home and takes care of the house?   The stay at home moms and dads that I know are always on the go; certainly not "just" staying at home.  We all have so much to do for and with our families.   What's defined as "traditional" family has changed too.  It's not just mom, dad and the kids.  Today mom and dad are helping to take care of their parents.

It's report card day in town.  It's the first year that my son received "real" letter grades.  (A-F; as opposed to elementary school where it was N-needs improvement, P-on level, I- above level or something along those lines.)  His report card will be of no surprise to me as I have been (obsessively) following his progress on the parent portal.  (http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/somwad-portal-to-hell.html)  I watched his triumphs and his downfalls.  I recognized when he needed help and thanks to a recommendation from a friend, found that help in the form of an incredible tutor.  Nonetheless, he still struggles with certain things.  (Especially when it comes to tests and timed quizzes, tests & assessments.) There is a reason why I call it the portal to hell and I fully admit that I AM too reliant on it as I nervously await postings of grades on projects, tests, etc.  I try, but often fail, not of freak out when I see a grade that is less than I expe

When I started blogging back in April of 2013, my third post was  http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/there-are-things-that-i-will-never.html  and just a few days later I wrote:  http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-dont-care.html.  Here were are over two years later and I could have written those words on Friday or Saturday of this past week.  Time has marched on, but it seems like things have not changed.  I still don't understand the point of the violence that has taken place throughout our world. I'll admit that I am pretty naive despite being relatively well informed.  I watch the news and read the news, but still when I hear the word "ISIS", I think "Isis" and am taken back to the Saturday morning of my youth.  Yes, I was one of those who watched "Isis" regularly.  (For those too young or who had better things to do on a Saturday morning here's a recap from Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secrets_of_Isi

It's been all over the internet, so I'm going to join the hoards and talk about Starbucks too.   I haven't been to Starbucks in a long time.  It has less to do with the color of their cups than the fact that there is currently no Starbucks on my direct route to work AND their coffee is darned expensive.  And let's be completely honest, nobody really goes for a cup of coffee.  We go there for a caramel macchiato or  Caramel Brulée Latte or Iced Chestnut Praline Latte.  Back in the day when I was a true Starbucks fan (when I had some cash to burn), I even had a Starbucks Card.  (The true reason might have something to do with the fact that Paul McCartney had his face on one at the time.)  I'd go in and buy my cafe mocha, or if it was AFTER Thanksgiving, a peppermint white chocolate mocha.  (Obviously Jesus was a big Mocha Latte fan as it is written in 3 Corinthians 15: 59-62:  "Thou shall only drink Pumpkin Spice from Labor Day weekend, or the first of Sep

This Article can also be found with photos:  http://www.myveronanj.com/2015/11/11/thank-you-veterans/ Thanksgiving is two weeks and a day away, but today is a day to say thank you.  It's Veteran's Day; a time to thank all those who serve and have served their country.  As I drove to work this morning, I saw lots of flags flying proudly.  Even though it is a dank and cold day, as I passed by several town's community centers I could see multitudes of flags on display. It stirred something deep inside me and made me reflect on all the sacrifices our current servicemen and women must make every day as well as the sacrifices those who served in past.  They must have an inner strength that I cannot even imagine. I know that it must have been dark and even colder when volunteers put them up; showing their gratitude to those who served.  I'm thankful for those people as well, who gave their time to recognize those men and women of the armed forces.  Who recognize, a

Note:  This morning I had the pleasure of speaking on stewardship at my local church.  (It was called a minute for Stewardship and I think I went a bit over.  But no one has stoned me yet!!!:)  Wanted to share here what I did there in this short blog post. Stewardship is not easy.  As our prayer of confession says today:  “How quickly we judge people…how easy it is to lift our voices in criticism rather than life our hands in compassionate care.” Like Christianity, stewardship is challenging.  As faithful members of this church, we MUST be devoted stewards; we are charged with the careful and responsible management of not only this building, but of all its people and their missions.  It’s not all about money, well maybe today it is, but it’s about grateful giving…giving of finances, giving of time, giving of talent and sharing love the way that Christ taught us. To be true Christians, we must be good stewards.  And again this is not easy.  Think about it, when taken out of

As a follow up to the other day's post, Casting Stones (http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/casting-stones.html) I want to tell you 3 truths about myself. 1.      I was fingerprinted by the police. 2.      When my son was a baby, a social worker had to visit our home several times. 3.      I was questioned by a judge in family court. All of the above are absolutely true.  Assuming you don't know me personally, what do you think?  What opinions would you form based on the above?  Am I a criminal?  A bad mother?  A child abuser? If you've read my blog for the past few years or you know me well, you've probably figured out what the three truths are about.  All of the above were necessary to adopt our son. But take those truths with no context and you could come up with a completely different scenario. I am not a journalist, nor do I claim to be. Truth matters, but so does its context.  Truth can be twisted and warped.  Truth can be "used&

I'd like to think I am a religious woman, but I try NOT to preach. (Unless I am asked to do so; and I'll admit that I've been asked to do so several times at my church and I've loved doing it.  Not just the standing up and speaking, but the whole process which has been enlightening for me.)  Yet here I am ready to start off a blog post with a quote from John 4:  4-11. (This is taken from the Revised Standard Version, which I find easiest to understand.)  "t hey said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.   5  Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”   6  This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.   7  And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them,  “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”   8  And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.   9  But

This weekend has certainly been a busy one.  Halloween on Saturday; the NY Marathon on Sunday. In the midst of everything, did you remember to fall back? We gained an hour Sunday morning or Saturday night depending on how you look at it.  Of course you could also say that we didn't really gain an hour, we just got it back from that evil morning when we lost it this spring. It may be a little lighter when I go for a walk in the morning.  (Although who knows how much longer I will be able to do that.  Some days have been so cold that I swear I am giving up and staying inside until the spring.  Then the next day will be so warm I will wonder how I could ever consider NOT going outside for a walk.  Then the frost comes back again and I'm loathe to even get out of bed.)  The drive home at the end of the day will be dark (or close to it).  While it will be nice not to have the sun glaring in my eyes (there is one treacherous curve where I have to slow to a crawl because I can bar