taco, fajita, burrito

Can anyone tell me the difference between a taco and a fajita? My mom asked me yesterday at dinner, as we were eating tacos... well, I don't know if they were tacos, but we had spicy meat in tortilla wraps with veggies and sour cream... is that considered a soft taco? And am I correct in thinking that burritos are the ones with beans or refried beans in them? What in the world is a fajita, then?

The advice of anyone with culinary knowledge is sought.

Thanks in advance, from me and my mom.

of interest

My parents and I received a very small but information-packed postcard the other day that I thought some of you would be interested in. It's about a week of camping and workshops sponsored by the ICS, University of Toronto Campus Ministries, and Trinity Christian College.

The dates are August 7-13, and Monday through Thursday are just for hanging out and Friday through Sunday offer workshops on a wide variety of subjects like:

-organic food and farming
-peacemaking
-sustainable agriculture
-the arts
-canning
-economics
-eco-tourism

This sounds like something many of you, the people who might read this, would be interested in. It's officially called "Practicing Resurrection" and it's organized by *culture is not optional and located at the Russet House Farm about two hours northeast of Toronto, Ontario.

For more info, go to www.practicingresurrection.com. I was just on this website and got really excited about the possibility of hearing all these neat people speak on the listed topics...

Horray!! and boo.

Maybe none of you care about this, but I do.

At the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church this past week, a decision was made about the infamous 'women in office' issue. The word "male" as a description of the qualities necessary for people serving in the offices of pastor, elder, and deacon was deleted from the church order (the "constitution" of the church, if you will), meaning that those offices are officially open to qualified female members. Hooray!

However, due to pastoral concerns about alienating people who oppose women in office, women are still not allowed to be selected as delegates to Synod. So now a church could have a female pastor who can't represent classis at Synod. That doesn't make sense! Boo. I guess I understand it, the desire to keep the church together and not alienate people who disagree, so I can't complain too much. If you know me, you know how passionately I feel that this is an important biblical issue!

On to lighter things: yesterday I bought a Sigur Ros (don't know how to put in the special accents) cd. The guy I asked about it at the cd store was really excited for me. They've been recommended to me by many friends whose taste in music I trust, so I'm looking forward to appreciating their music as much as they do. So far, I like it. Lots. But perhaps I'm just biased by their hearty recommendations!

drive thru

tips for keeping drive-thru workers happy:

-speak loudly and clearly.
-only let one person in the car talk at a time. it is not, i repeat NOT helpful for 4 people to be shouting what they want all at once.
-if you have a loud, rumbling disel truck, turn it off when you order. we can't hear you over your macho truck.
-be patient. if you ordered four sandwhiches and 6 triple triples and 2 bagels toasted, one with cream cheese and one with butter and peanut butter (grrr) and a dozen donuts, you will have to wait. if you want to keep the drive-thru workers really happy, go into the store and order when you have a massive order!!! people like you hold up the entire line and we get in trouble for not moving through people fast enough.
-be nice. tip once in a while. say, 'keep the change'. joke around. say thank you. it means a lot.

as you may have guessed, i've been working drive-thru at tim horton's for a while now. i like it. usually. today was stressful because we were short-staffed.

i got home from work and the phone rang. i answered it. 'good afternoon, tim horton's, may i take your order?'

oh dear.

Cancer

My dad's sister, my aunt Lois, passed away this morning after a long and difficult battle with cancer of many types. Some of you may know my cousin Lawren, who graduated from Dordt this year too, and who is now experiencing the pain of losing his mother.

While Lois's death was expected for some time now, I was still shocked to hear the news when I called home from work today. Why? is the inevitable question, and sometimes there's just no good answer.

Please keep the whole family in your prayers as they prepare for the memorial service, tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday in the Chicago area. And especially as we all adjust to living without a dear wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend.

thank you

to whomever recommended Life As a House.

i just finished watching it, and it was excellent.

excellent.

bawled like a baby.

and it wasn't excellent because i was brought to tears--i know all you cynics out there are thinking, "she only liked it because it tugged at her heartstrings and made her cry." nope. it was good for so many other reasons. watch it.

(i wouldn't have cried, seriously, except i was alone in my house so there was no one to make me feel embarassed.)

and now i told all of you.

isn't that what blogs are for? sharing your all and making a fool of yourself in the process?? i don't think anyone even reads this anyways.

Correction

I think it's "Life AS a House", not "Life IS a House". At least that's what I rented! I'm watching Magnolia and I want to get back to it now...

Life is a House

Who recommended the movie "Life is a House"? I know I heard about it recently somewhere from someone, on a blog or in an e-mail or something. I'm about to go rent some movies, and I'm looking at the list I've started on a piece of scratch paper beside the computer. On it are written the names of three movies:

-Life is a House
-Bottle Rocket (recommended by Ethan and Laurel)
-Magnolia (recommended by Nathan)

and I haven't yet seen any of them. So I think I'll try to get all three, because sometimes they have a deal where you can rent three not-new-releases for cheap. Like 5 bucks or something like that. Did you (the reader of this short and sweet questioning entry) recommend "Life is a House" to me? I'm just curious, so I can know who to discuss it with afterwards! Please comment.