Stuff portrait day: Symbols, Shoes (and bags), and Fridge (so much for alliteration)

Here's my religious symbol:




Yup, I've got one of those annoying (to some, anyway) fishes on the back of my van. We have one on another car too (we have three cars right now, but that's another long story). I don't know this for certain, but I have a feeling this fish symbol is very annoying to people who are not Christians, and perhaps even to some who are. Maybe they think it's some "in-your-face" kind of thing that seems to say "look at me, I'm a goody-goody Christian and you're not, na-na na-na na-na." It's not like that for me. For me, it means something similar to what it meant when it was first used. Early in Christian history, it was dangerous to profess one's faith openly, so many used it as sort of a password. If two strangers met, and one was not sure if the other was a Christian, one would draw an arc to make the first part of the fish. If the other was also a Christian, he would follow suit and make the second arc to finish the fish. Today, sometimes I sometimes feel Christians today are still persecuted, not to the extent they were before (at least not here), and certainly some who claim to be Christians do their fair share of persecuting. But when there are some who would like to remove reminders of my Christian faith from the public eye, yes, I feel persecuted. So this fish is on my van to encourage other believers, to show them that I am one of them, just as I am encouraged when I see the fish on another vehicle.

The other cool thing is this fish, instead of having the Greek letters for the word "fish", has the Chinese characters for "Jesus is Lord". You can read more about the history of this Christian symbol here.

OK, enough of the heavy stuff! Moving right along: shoes and "purses".




I have a fair collection of shoes, but nothing to rival Imelda Marcos. Nothing particularly exciting, for the most part. I don't like heels, and own very few truly dressy shoes. So I just took a picture of my favorite shoes, the ones I wear most often. Starting at two o'clock, we've got my everyday tennis shoes. At five o'clock, my Mickey Mouse mule sneakers. At seven o'clock, my loafers; at ten o'clock, my fake Birks (I am way too cheap, and at the moment, too poor, to buy real ones); and finally, at twelve o'clock, just to prove I DO have a few pairs of dressy shoes, some strappy gold heels.




I only have one "real" purse, as you can see. The inside of it is littered with receipts, old grocery lists, and stray coins. I only use it if I'm going to Walmart at the moment. My billfold (not pictured) travels between it, the diaper bag (most often used; I kinda like this one, except for the irritating Fisher Price logo on it), and the black Borders bag, which is used faithfully once a week on my pilgrimages to said bookstore and cafe.

And finally, my fridge:




This is the outside. The bottom is covered with the requisite artwork, and the top with the likewise obligatory pictures. The top would look as untidy as the bottom if Audrey was tall enough to reach the magnets up there. I really need to update both. The only picture on it that includes Aislinn is the one to the right of the picture with the black background; it's me with Audrey, who is holding Aislinn the night she was born (another good long post; both kids were born at home, and I'll post their birth stories on their respective birthdays).




And finally, the inside. We're not nearly as food-less as it looks; Leo cleaned it out recently, and if I were to open the crisper drawers, you would see how much food we REALLY have in there. And my pantry? Overflowing. Do note that we are really into condiments (see the door). About half of them are Leo's, that he uses for Chinese cooking. He makes a mean mian tang (noodle soup).