I did not realize you could see the Aurora from space, a very different perspective for sure.
Hope you enjoyed this, Space.com has lots more space information and videos available so be sure and visit the site. See you later, Angela

Here is his explanation from YouTube for his video: “A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it’s core Jesus’ gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can’t do your own list of rules and feel “not good enough” for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don’t represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!”

Below is another video that was shared in response to “Why I Hate Religion….”, and it is a beautiful representation of who Jesus really was as a human being while He was on this planet with us, and still represents the kind of relationship He wants with all of us today. Listen to all of it, but really hear what is being said about Jesus in the last half of the video:

I appreciate this thoughtful response. A lot of people don’t know that this is really WHO Jesus is. They think He is the rule maker, the list maker, the fault finder. But He isn’t. He is the LOVE that accepts us all and loves us just like we are. He’ll hang out with you all day wherever you go, be your best friend and love you more than words can say…..if you’ll let Him. Will you try hanging out with Him sometime? It’s really up to you.

Either way, He loves you. Just thought I’d let you know that today. Jesus is saying: “Will you have me?” It’s all up to you. Angela

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Angela W Fitch

Acknowledgements: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDG more...

It's What's For Dinner - Soup!

It’s cold, and I am too. Boyfriend has a nice fireplace we have been using, and I decided we were going to have soup tonight. I have used several variations of this recipes for 5 or 6 years now. This is definitely an Almost Accidental Vegetable Soup, because every time I cook it, something seems to have to be different. I love adding zucchini to it, but the grocery store was out of it today. A couple of versions ago the store didn’t have fresh broccoli, so I started using frozen. Works great. Started to substitute regular squash in tonight’s version, but when I warmed up the frozen variety I didn’t care for it much. So, no squash tonight. Here is the most standard version I can give you of the recipe.

Almost Accidental Vegetable Soup

8 cups broth (you can use chicken or vegetable. This time I used chicken)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
10 oz package matchstick carrots
1 large onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
1 10 oz package spinach, torn
1 17 oz bag frozen broccoli
1 15 oz can peas, drained
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I use a little more to taste)
I would have also used 1 large or 2 small zucchini, diced – but the grocery store was out of them

I was in a hurry, so I brought the broth to boil in another pot. This saves some time, but you do not have to do that if you start it early enough before your meal.

Standard recipe and directions: Put olive oil, onion, garlic and parsley in a Dutch oven and heat on MEDIUM HIGH. Cook for about 5-10 minutes, until onion is a nice brown. While the onion is browning, warm up the broccoli in a microwave safe dish for 4-6 minutes. You want it warm, but not overcooked. Save the zucchini until the last step. Add all the ingredients to the cooked onion and garlic (start with the broth, and be careful if you have heated it before hand) and bring to a hard boil. Cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the carrot and spinach are tender. Add the zucchini in the last 5 minutes, continue cooking until the zucchini is tender. Serve and enjoy!

Shortcut directions: If you decide to warm up the broth ahead of time like I did, add the tomato paste, carrots and spinach to the broth and warm on medium high. Then when the onion and garlic are cooked, add the heated broth and all other veggies to the onion and garlic. I then brought it to a hard boil. Continue directions as above: cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the carrot and spinach are tender. Add the zucchini in the last 5 minutes, continue cooking until the zucchini is tender. Serve and enjoy!

Leftovers can be reheated or frozen to enjoy later.

We also had a rotisserie chicken with the soup, and I chopped up a little of it into our bowls, as well as scarfing a good bit of chicken straight off the bone. In fact, the chicken was so good I decided to boil the bones and make my own chicken broth for next time.

Even though I used the chicken broth today, I have used vegetable broth several other times as well. You can also substitute other vegetables freely. Throw in whatever veggies are your favorites, leave out any that you don’t care for. You can use chopped cabbage instead of spinach for one, add celery if you like it for another. Just try to keep the ratio close to size for whatever vegetable you are trading out in the recipe. Feel free to ask me a question about any substitutions if you like. So, if you are cold I highly recommend my Accidental Soup. It’s quick, hearty and warm! Excuse me while I go cozy up to that fireplace with my warm bowl of soup. Boyfriend bought some doughnuts for dessert, I’ll catch ya later! Angela

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I am still having trouble believing 2012 is here, but that won’t stop time from marching on, will it? Angela

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Angela W Fitch

I always love to pop onto Google and find a new doodle, they are often fun and entertaining and sometimes even interactive. I just found this page you can visit to see the doodles from each year they have been created. I didn’t realize the first doodles were designed back in 1998. The designs back then were much simpler than they are now. Here are the ones from 1998:

• 

  Nov 26, 1998

  Thanksgiving 1998

• 

  Oct 29, 1998

  Google Beta

• 

  Aug 30, 1998

  Burning Man Festival

  Here are a few from 2009, quite a difference:

• 

  Dec 25, 2009

  Happy Holidays from Google 2009 – 5

• 

  Dec 18, 2009

  Jan Evangelista Purkyne’s Birthday

• 

  Dec 18, 2009

  Sapsan Train Opening

• 

  Dec 17, 2009

  Doodle 4 Google 2009 – UK by Sophie Redford

• 

  Dec 11, 2009

  Qian Xuesen’s Birthday

• 

  Dec 11, 2009

  Naguib Mahfouz’s Birthday

• 

  Dec 8, 2009

  E.C. Segar’s Birthday

• 

  Dec 5, 2009

  Father’s Day 2009 – Thailand

• 

  Nov 30, 2009

  St. Andrew’s Day 2009

• 

  Nov 28, 2009

  Panama Independence Day 2009

• 

  Nov 25, 2009

  Thanksgiving 2009

  Doodles are fun. I really like this Thanksgiving one from 2009, Snoopy is always one of my favorite characters. Why don’t you visit Google Doodle Finder and let me know what your favorites are too? Talk to you soon, Angela

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Angela W Fitch

Acknowledgements: http://www.google.com/

The holidays came and went too fast for me. I again find myself quoting Dr. Seuss: Don’t be sorry it’s over, be glad it happened. I also have plans to see some friends soon that I couldn’t connect with over the holidays. Another thing I am grateful for and looking forward too.

I am also very grateful for clean sheets! I guess being so busy making dolls I forgot to change my sheets, oops! But we did get them changed out yesterday, and they felt WONDERFUL last night. Ahhhh!

I have a wonderful feeling this morning. I feel fresh, and new, and clean. Kinda like my sheets I guess. But seriously, it’s kinda like I’m starting fresh, today, right now. Someone told me recently that the past doesn’t matter, God forgave us of it, why can’t we forgive ourselves? It’s not the old track record we need to focus on, it’s the new goals we won’t to accomplish that need our attention now. “…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,….I press on toward the goal to win the prize…” Phillipians 3:13 & 14 We don’t have to sift through the trash of our old failures to “figure out” what we did wrong. We need to forgive ourselves for not accomplishing our goals, and be a little less demanding in some areas to ourselves as we set new ones. Don’t set yourself up for failure, be realistic with what you decide to try. Remember my plans? That document is living, I can change it as I need to so that I don’t use it to discourage myself, but continue to use it to accomplish my goals. I am learning more and more about how much and how little I can do. I am also learning at how badly I estimate things some time. Those Raggedy Anns took wa-a-a-ay longer than I expected them too. So promise me you won’t waste time beating yourself up over things that you didn’t accomplish….yet. Forgive yourself and try again in a more realistic time frame, ok? Help me do that for myself as well.

Here is to a gentler and kinder 2012, in every area of our lives. Remember folks that Jesus loves you, and I do too! Happy New Year everyone, let’s enjoy another trip around the sun! Angela

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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Angela W Fitch