Thursday Thirteen

Maria over at Jubilee on Earth has posted a fun Thursday Thirteen and invited everyone to join in. I have decided to shirk all responsibility for a few moments and play along. If you have a blog and want to play, too, go right ahead.

So here is my first Thursday Thirteen -Wacky Questions - "If I could..."

1) If you could time-travel, and go back to any particular time/place in history, what would it be?

Although I am a sucker for modern conveniences I would probably choose either Victorian England or right here in Texas about 100 years ago.

2) If you could go back and relive any time in your life, what would it be?

Wow. I don’t even know. Maybe my time in Europe right after college.

3) If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be?

The effects of gravity.

4) If you could do anything in the world for a living, what would it be?

I really like being a mom, but there’s not much money in it. I would love to be a writer. Maybe a professional singer, but I would have to get over my stage fright and have a really fun band to play with. (You know who you are!)

5) If you could only read one book over and over again in your life, what one book would that be?

I guess it would have to be the Bible, but I would need a really good teacher to chat with about it.

6) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

There is a little patch of land just outside of Navasota, Texas…..

7) If you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your days, what outfit would that be?

Probably a T-shirt and jeans.

8) If you could have dinner with any one person (dead or alive) -- anyone -- who would it be?

Jesus Christ.

9) If you could ask for any talent or skill and instantly receive it, what talent would that be?

I would love to be able to paint in oils.

10) If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

The condition of my house.

11) If you could name your biggest regret, what would that be?

Not too much to regret, really, but I do wish I had taken art classes in school.

12) If you could have exactly one million dollars right now in your hands, what would you do with it?

Pay off all my debts, make a couple of charities really happy, and buy a place in the country.

13) If you could fix one major world problem on this Earth, what would you fix?

Given my domestic frame of mind, I would probably make sure that everyone had enough to eat. There is just too much of my grandmother in me, I guess.

Don't Give Up On Me!

I am still buried deep beneath piles of ribbons, bows, and wreaths. But I am praising God for the beautiful weather we have had! There are few things more miserable than hanging things outside when it is raining and 45 degrees. Thank you, Lord, for sunny skies and mild temperatures.

See you soon!

P.S. If anyone know why all of my text is suddenly underlined, let me know. I see know button that either made or can correct this.

Signed,
Your Incompetent Blogger.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope every one has a Happy Thanksgiving.

What are you thankful for?

One More Thing

I know I haven't been around much lately, but things heat up around here about this time every year. Along with the regular craziness that abounds with homeschooling, I have the added fun of decorating the city.

I am blessed to be able to decorate the gates of quite a few townhome and other gated communities around town. Yes, I am the one who does this:


OK, up close it looks more like this:
I have about 30 properties to do. I try to be done with everyone else's Christmas by December 1st. I have installed a few properties, but I am still doing mostly prep work. I should start hanging in force this weekend.

If you see me out swinging from a gate somewhere, smile and wave!

Pretty in Pink

This little bit of tropical beauty is brought to you by my 85 degree front lawn.

To my northern readers, wish you were here?

Even as I write this there are clouds looming to the north announcing their arrival with rumbling thunder. They will drop our high 30 degrees for tomorrow. I know that is not snowfall, but around these parts, that's something. We are excited.

Free Christmas Music!

If you are a blogger and would like to receive a free copy of Michael W. Smith's Christmas CD (I almost dated myself and said album!) hop on over to this site


But it is only open to the first 150 bloggers, SO HURRY!!!

Friends

Today an old Girl Scout song kept going through my head:

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver and
The other gold.

It has been a weekend of old and new. I love you all.

Ahhh.....that's better

I've been complaining about our mid 80's temps. We had a front blow in last night and it was delightfully cooler this morning.

That's what I like. Delightfully cooler. I don't like cold. Well, maybe for a day here and there, but not for months on end. That's convenient. Where I live, we are lucky to get cold at all. But cold is a relative thing. It dips below 60 here and people start pulling out the woolens and hot cocoa.

I would be one of those people. : )

Aren't they cute?

Look at these little cuties.


The are the first of my crop of yellow pear tomatoes. I have dozens on the vine. They aren't very big, but they sure are cute. The biggest one isn't two inches long.

In other news, I saw the fattest squirrel I have ever seen - in my backyard! I don't know if that explains our lack of a pecan crop this year or we should expect a cold winter. We have had such a warm fall. It would sure be a shocker.

What do you think, tubby?

Does anyone else have fat squirrels of other signs of a harsh winter?

Veteran's Day

Thank you to all those who have served.

A Special Kind of Love

Last night, I went with a group of people to a weekly "street event". I don't know what else to call it. It was in a parking lot. There were a bunch of homeless people there and a bunch of other people trying to minister to them. There was a praise band complete with sound system singing some great music. People prayed. They had little contests for fun and profit, such as a donut eating contest to give the homeless a chance to win $5. There was clothing for them to go through and choose what they could use. There was even an area blocked off and staffed with volunteers for small children to play while their mothers got a break for a couple of hours. After the message, dinner was served.

It was quite an amazing scene. The people who were running this event do it every week for whomever shows up at their parking lot. They obviously have a deep love and compassion for these people. They are doing what Jesus would do.

The people who came to this event were a mix of people. Mix of races, interest, addictions, and sexual persuasions. Some were there to sit through whatever they had to sit through to get a meal. Some were there to cultivate some semblance of family or community. There were lots of hugs and "Hi, so good to see yous." There were some who looked lost and confused.

I felt a little like that myself. I was out of my element. I'm a Christian. I have boatloads of compassion and love for most of humanity. I was even there to see what I could do for the effort. I feel like I should be doing this sort of thing. But it was brought home to me again that that was not my ministry. It takes a special kind of love, a special kind of calling to do what these people do every week. Probably every day in some capacity.

For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. (1 Cor. 12:14-21, 27)

From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph. 4:16).

Once I learned that God only wants us to use the talents he gave us, I started sleeping a lot better. It's hard enough for me make good use of what I have been given without trying to do well at things He has given to someone else. Not that I can't stick my foot in someone else's pool every now and again to see what they are doing, but I'm grateful that He doesn't expect me to do their jobs. I want to do my part for the body. I'm glad to see other people are doing theirs as well.

100th Post

Well, It seems that I have made it to my 100th post. In keeping with tradition, here are 100 things about me. Try not to fall asleep.

1. I was born in Houston, Texas
2. Except for my dad’s stint in the army when he was stationed in Tacoma, Washington, I have lived here all of my life. (That was before I was even 2, so I don’t remember it at all.
3. I was a quiet and shy child.
4. My childhood was really quite idyllic. Things didn’t start getting crazy until college.
5. I am the oldest of 4.
6. I used to cry when people sang “Happy Birthday” to me at my birthday parties.
7. I lived in the same house from the time I entered kindergarten until I graduated from college.
8. I got glasses in 4^th grade.
9. I thought they were cool. (?!) Does that tell you how uncool I was?
10. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was 12.
11. I haven’t always been as close to Him as I should.
12. My most fervent prayer is that my kids will come to know God early and never turn away from Him.
13. I started coming out of my shell when I met my BFF. (She is a little wild and crazy.)
14. We are still BFF’s, even after 33 years, even though we haven’t lived in the same city since we were 18.
15. I wish she lived closer.
16. I wore braces. Baaad case of bucked teeth.
17. I used to have a gerbil named Stanley. He was named after a guy I had a crush on. Well, the character he was in a play.
18. I started out as a theater major. I chickened out.
19. Then I was an accounting major – for 6 weeks. Hated it.
20. Finally decided on Consumer Science and Merchandising as a major.
21. People used to stop me and tell me I looked like Boy George.
22. I even entered a look alike contest once.
23. I didn’t win.
24. I had pink hair for awhile.
25. I practically killed myself to graduate in the allotted 4 years. (I declared a major late and had a lot of classes I had to take in a short period of time.)
26. I still haven’t figured out what the rush was.
27. After graduating, I spent about 6 weeks in Paris “taking classes” with Parson’s School of Design.
28. It is still one my favorite times in my life to remember.
29. While I was there, I saw some bike race come in.
30. After I was married and going through some old pictures, my husband freaked out when he saw pictures of something called The Tour de France.
31. He was beyond mortified that I didn’t know what a big deal that was.
32. My roommate there was an older woman from New Mexico.
33. She was just about the only one there I would have wanted to room with.
34. We still exchange Christmas cards.
35. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a teacher.
36. Now I can’t imagine anything much worse. (Please, ignore the fact that I homeschool. That is different. I like my children. I don’t deal well with groups of children.)
37. My son thinks I’m a “big meanie”. I secretly take great pleasure in that.
38. My daughter thinks I hung the moon. It is no secret that I take great pleasure in that.
39. I’m not much of a housekeeper.
40. I wish I could afford a maid.
41. I’m a good cook.
42. I’m terminally crafty.
43. I sew.
44. I knit.
45. I cross-stitch
46. I’m awesome on a hot-wire machine.
47. I’m pretty good with a hot glue gun, too.
48. I got engaged to my husband after only knowing him for 6 weeks.
49. We were engaged for 8 months though.
50. I had the flu at our wedding.
51. We had to cut our honeymoon short because I had such a fever.
52. It was still wonderful.
53. We have been married for over 20 years.
54. Christmas is my favorite holiday.
55. My first job was at The Original Christmas Store. (If you don’t count babysitting.)
56. I’ve never had a broken bone.
57. I’ve never had stitches from an injury.
58. I have had 4 surgeries.
59. I took piano lessons as a kid.
60. I can’t play much now.
61. I used to play guitar.
62. My fingers are so tender, I can hardly make chords anymore.
63. I played a snare drum in my high school drill team.
64. I am a list maker.
65. I’ll even add things to my list after I have done them just so I can cross them off.
66. I hate boats.
67. Mostly because I’m afraid of water.
68. A cruise is my nightmare vacation.
69. I have an inner ear disorder.
70. I take 15 different nutritional supplements a day in an effort to control it.
71. The only time I have ever ridden in an ambulance was because of this disorder.
72. I experienced a very bad case of vertigo while on a field trip in Randall’s and ended up on the floor vomiting.
73. There were more than a few very scared and confused 4 year olds watching me.
74. I have flat feet.
75. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who drive the wrong way in a parking lot. Look at the arrows, people!!
76. I have taken Spanish.
77. I have taken French – from a Cuban refugee who could barely speak English.
78. I have taken Latin.
79. I can speak none of these languages. Well, maybe a word or two.
80. I have never been arrested.
81. I have never gotten a ticket for a moving violation.
82. I have no tattoos.
83. My only piercings are 2 holes in each ear lobe.
84. I have a pet chicken that likes to sit in my lap and be petted. She makes a sweet, low clucking sound when she is happy.
85. I miss having a cat.
86. I don’t like eggplant. I’ve tried to, but I just don’t.
87. I love pink roses.
88. I always have trouble deciding what my favorite color is because I really like pairs of colors. I love pink and green. Purple and green. Deep rose and dark green. Pink and purple.
89. I think pink is probably my favorite though.
90. I sold Mary Kay when I was in college.
91. When I decided to stop, I had a closeout sale at a flea market.
92. It sold so well that I put in another order and had another “closeout” sale.
93. The kids’ dogs follow me everywhere I go in the house.
94. I like to mess with Princess and act like I’m going one way and then change directions.
95. I’m mean like that.
96. I used to have a ’67 VW bug when I was in college.
97. It got stolen within weeks of when I got it, but it was recovered. It had been spray painted red and pinstriped! And the wheels were missing.
98. I used to have a blue civic with a Praise the Lord sticker on it. They guy who worked on it called it the Praise the Lord Honda. He is the same guy who introduced me to my husband. We still refer to it as the Praise the Lord Honda. I loved that car.
99. I grind my teeth when I sleep.
100. This was a lot harder than I wanted it to be. I guess I’m not that interesting. Or there is a lot about me that I don’t want you to know. ; )

And who couldn't use a little strengthening....

I just signed up for another giveaway on the Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway. I thought I'd share with you a sample of what is out there.

Karen's Ramblings is giving away the book Bill Johnson's "Strengthen Yourself in the Lord" - How to release the Hidden Power of God in your life. Go by and check it out.

Room For Everyone

There has been a lot of press lately about who had what idea first.

WHATEVER!!

Look, kids have been refusing to eat real food since the dawn of time. Moms have been trying to figure out ways to get real food into them without them knowing it. Two women have actually written cookbooks to share some of their ideas on doing this.

I don't know which one is the chicken and which one is the egg, but I think both have good ideas and we all need a little help with the kids. (And I know more than a few adults who could benefit from a vegetable or two!)

I have had a link to the Sneaky Chef on my site for awhile. I hadn't heard of Jessica Seinfeld until recently, but after looking at her site I thought I would give her some extra exposure, too. (I know, like she needs help from me.) In any case, hop on over to Deceptively Delicious and get some veggies into you kids.