6 Things I Learned This Week - Part 8

1) I finally tried peanut butter mixed into my oatmeal this morning--Umm, Umm, Good! I found this suggestion several months ago on The Peanut butter Blog but didn't try it until Tuesday of this week.

2) The Christian fiction author, Karen Kingsbury, used to be a sports reporter and has wrote MANY books. Her website is www.KarenKingsbury.com if you'd like to see all the books she's written and get recommendations from her readers.


3) I learned from visiting Chica and Pumuckl's blog at Two Egyptian Cats in Germany the Neuschwanstein Castle was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park and for the Cinderella Castles at the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. I thought that was interesting and enjoyed taking the tour of the castle with Chica and Pumuckl.


4) I learned the story of Adam and Eve's pets from Comedy Plus--it's very funny! You should go take a look.

5) In talking with one of my bosses this week, I learned that Israel is very big on technology. I always just thought of it as a barren country big on religion but they are big on education and high technology!


6) Through the Beth Moore Bible study, "Living Beyond Yourself" on the fruit of the spirit, this week was faith. I learned that to keep our faith steady and firm, we need to base it on who God is and not on what He does because his ways are higher than our ways. Sometimes what is good for us is not always pleasant or easy, but God always makes it beneficial. That was the key point for me. Another point made was that in order for us to come to Him through faith, (which is the way He ordained it to be), he left some things that we can't reason or prove scientifically for then there would be no place for faith! Finally, faith always involves action. (See Hebrews 11 and my more in-depth post about this at http://karen.pnn.com (Parma Heights Baptist Church section).

Our October Top Reads: "Dewey" & "Between Sundays"

We read several really good books this month but our top ones are reviewed here. The Shack was a very close second. Gerard's favorite of the month was
Dewey, The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched The World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter. I read and liked it too though so included my review on it as well as my favorite of the month, Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury.

Gerard's Review: I give Dewey as many stars as in the sky to this book! This is one worth buying! My favorite book of the year!

Here are 4 things about this book:

1) You will LOVE this book.

2) You will not want to put it down.

3) You will cry a lot!

4) You will never forget it!

That being said, this is a wonderful book. I plan to get this book to have and read it again and again!! This book will touch you like it did me. What a special cat Dewey was and wonderful person Vicki is. Thanks for telling the story, Vicki. I wish I could have met Dewey and pet him!! Treasure and enjoy this book!!

Karen Says: Dewey is a good book. It's about the love between a lady and the cat she found in the library book drop box that she let live in the library. It was a very friendly, affectionate, energetic cat who became famous and who greeted the patrons and laid in their laps. It reminded me of my relationship with my cats and how special they are (although they very seldom lay in my lap). The end as he aged reminded me of our Moe cat. I think anyone who likes cats would enjoy reading this book.


Karen's Review: Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury is Christian fiction about how God works in the lives of two NFL players, a low-income foster mom and her foster son. Each of them has their own issues which they turn over to God. I liked this book very much because it is about relationships and how God works in our lives. Although predictable, it is a fun and interesting read. I liked how it focused more on the private lives of the football players and their interaction with each other off the field, between Sundays. It pointed out some shortcomings of the foster care system and gives the website of www.AlexSmithFoundation.org where you can go to find out how you can help through the Guardian Scholars program.

I rate this book 4 stars instead of 5, just because of its predictability. Even though I knew the end early on, I enjoyed seeing how it all unfolded and looking through the discussion questions at the end.

See all of our book reviews at our PNN blog at http://karen.pnn.com (What We've Just Read Section) or at www.shelfari.com. You can keep up with what we're reading by checking the left sidebar under the graphic "Happily Married 11 Years." We update what we are currently reading there.

Today would be my mom's birthday and I can't help but think how happy she would be to know that I have become a reader! She was an avid reader and would constantly try to get me interested too, but I had my other activities to occupy my time. I wish I had started reading when she was still alive because it would have been nice to discuss the books with her. She even enjoyed reading as a child, but I think it was because it was an escape for her. She enjoyed romance and novels about other countries. When she didn't go out anymore, I would go to the library for her and try to find books she'd like. She'd read 3-4 novels a week! I'm not up to that yet.

Boo On Halloween?

Today would be my mom's birthday if she were still alive, so Happy Birthday, Mom!

This is a picture of my mom at a Halloween party in 1977 when she was Jr. High youth group leader and I assisted her. (Sorry picture quality is not good but it is a picture of an old picture.)

TRICK-OR-TREAT!:
I loved dressing up and going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, mostly because I liked candy! As a kid, I used to "judge" how nice people were by how decorated their house was. Usually, the better decorated, the better treats we got. The houses that didn't have the light on, I viewed as housing grumpy old people. The ones having a light, but no decorations I viewed as people who liked kids, but weren't into decorating (this is the category I am in today). The ones who went all out with house and yard decorations I figured probably had kids living there and we would get really good treats. Some people even dressed up when they handed out the candy. I remember one time, the person looked so scary that my little brother wet his doggie costume! I used to dress up as a ghost to give out candy until I saw some little ones being afraid, so I changed to being a clown instead.

I see nothing evil in dressing up and collecting candy from generous people who like kids! I was always so proud of my dad because even when he was in his 80s, he still bought candy for the trick-or-treaters and passed it out. He really enjoyed seeing the kids come in their costumes so you see, the kids are actually a blessing to the elderly (like me, well old at least if not elderly) and it's fun to give to the kids.

We never played any pranks on anyone. We never damaged any one's property or even rolled any one's house with toilet paper. I think these activities are wrong for Christians to participate in because it's not showing any love to others and it's not how I would want people to treat me.

HALLOWEEN PARTIES:
It's so much fun to plan and go to Halloween parties because you can do so much with the theme. We have old home movies of a party my parents had when we were just little and everyone was having fun. Some of my best party memories were from Halloween parties which include: Great looking cakes, lots of candy, dunking for apples, scavenger hunts, spook walks, costume contests, games like murder where the lights go out and the murderer tags someone, they scream, the lights come on and the others have to figure out who the murderer was, touchy-feeling games and donuts and cider. I remember one really church youth group party where we started at a home of a couple kids in the youth group and then we had someone dress up (I forget who it was now) and come in to take us all hostage. One kid thought it was real and actually tried to hit the guy! It was funny, but I always gave that kid credit for trying to protect everyone. We were all transported then to another location for a spook walk in the attic of a person only a few of us knew--our Hi-BA leader. (Hi-BA stands for High School born-againers which was a club for teens geared to witnessing about Jesus to our friends.)

HOW TIMES CHANGE!
When I was growing up, the church never boo boo'd Halloween, at least not mine. I never sensed the Holy Spirit convicting me that it was wrong to participate. It seems though, that in the last 30 years, there's been sort of a movement among Christians to boo it based on its history and its connection to things opposing God. Frankly, I don't get it. How is it for years it was not a big deal. God doesn't change. When I celebrate Halloween by decorating, dressing up, trick-or-treating or handing out the candy to trick-or-treaters, or planning or attending Halloween parties (as opposed to festivals as the church refers to them now as an alternative to Halloween), I have absolutely no thought about honoring the spirit world, Satan or witchcraft in any way.

Therefore, to me, it's similar to a non-Christian celebrating Christmas because it's a fun time. Giving and receiving gifts is nice to do. Many people who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior participate in Christmas celebrations without any thought to it being the day we celebrate Christ's birth on Earth. If I were convicted by the Holy Spirit of God that participating in Halloween festivities is wrong and something God really doesn't want me to do, then I wouldn't; however, so far that has not happened so I will continue to enjoy the trick-or-treaters and may even plan a Halloween party one day.


There you have it. My thoughts regarding Halloween from my Christian perspective. Certainly, if I had parents who were against it and didn't let me participate, I would have obeyed them in this and I realize there are some Christian parents who do feel that Halloween is not good to celebrate. I respect that and believe that is the reason why at least my church has modified the way they handle Halloween activities.

So, Happy Halloween!
(Sorry to report no one won the scavenger hunt--even I couldn't find it and I kind of knew what the post looked like! I think it was a blog I normally don't look at, one I found on someone's blog roll and they didn't return my EC drop.)

I Love My Sirius Radio, What About You?

I am very happy with my Sirius radio. Karen got it for me for my birthday one year and I love it!! I'm just curious as to the top ten stations you have locked in and which of those are your favorites. Here are our locked in stations:


1-Love
2-Pops
3-New Country
4-Prime Country
5-60's
6-Movin EZ
7-Fox Talk
8-Sporting News
9-E. Street
10-80's Hits

If you don't have Sirius radio, it's great because there are no commercials and there is a wide variety of music and talk shows to listen to. We got ours from Radio Shack. Let us know what stations you have locked in if you have Sirius.

My First Contest--A Scavenger Hunt For You!

(I'm the skeleton in this picture.)

Now where did I leave that comment? Help! I know this is a long shot, but I left a lengthy comment about Halloween on one of the Christian bloggers blogs sometime last week and can't remember which one it was. Unfortunately, it didn't have SezWho on it so the comment isn't in my SezWho listing of comments. (By the way, this is a very nice feature that I wish more bloggers would install. I know it's a hassle installing it, but I think they got the bugs out of it now and if you don't have it, you may want to look into it.)

Anyhow, I'd like to do a Halloween post and use all or part of this comment that I left so if its your blog I left the comment on, please let me know. It was about Christians and Halloween and why I participate in the festivities. Perhaps you are one who happened to read my comment and can tell me whose blog it's on.

First one to let me know where I left this comment will get some link love and an autographed copy of the book I wrote about my dad--"My Funny Dad, Harry" (if you would like it and give me your address so I can mail it to you).

Here's a Halloween joke for you to reward you for reading this post:
Why was the skeleton afraid to cross the road?
He just didn't have the guts!

5 Things I Learned This Week-Part 7

Raisins and grapes can be very poisonous to dogs. (I knew chocolate wasn't any good for them, but this was new to me!)

When reading Sunbathing at Red Pine Mountain I discovered some horses do lay down even though they are not sick.

I found a new site that has free images for bloggers at 8 Is Enough. The site is http://acobox.com.

I came across some photography tips which included it's best for the photographer to be higher than the subject, always use a flash, and not have the subjects dress in black or white. More tips can be found at Small Town Mommy's 5 Photo Tips For You.

I learned that being without a computer for a week wasn't all bad: I got more sleep because I go to bed earlier; I had more time to read the paper before going to work and one day I even exercised along with a show on Fit TV before work--one day and watched more TV in the evening and Manny came and laid on me again! I'm glad we got it back though!

12 Things I like About Blogs

When I started blogging in February of this year, I had absolutely no idea how to do it. I never even read a blog until then. I learned along the way, mostly by reading others blogs and asking questions. I found that people were very nice and willing to help.

I like blogs that are not filled with advertising. (Copy Write, Outdoor Recreation Activities)

I like the little slideshows on on the sidebars that some blogs have of their family or activities. (i.e., cat/dog blog, Life on a Southern Farm and Life is Good and Beautiful)

I like the guestbooks and so I put one on both of mine. (i.e., Life From A Cat's Perspective with Samantha & Mr. Tigger)

I like the blogs that had the trivia game for feeding animals so put that on both my blogs too. (i.e. Perfectly Parker)

I like the blogs that have a nice big picture at the top of something pretty or of their family or pets. (i.e., Our Homeschool Adventures, Crews Views, Cat on My Head)

Of course, I like blogs with pictures that go along with the posts. That's why I have a lot on mine. (i.e., New York Renovator, Daisy the Curly Cat")

I like little voting things but haven't had very good participation when I put them on my blog so probably won't. (i.e., Steadfast Steps)

I generally like shorter posts than long ones with some exceptions. If the writing is interesting, I will read a long post. (Red Pine Mountain and Live Life 365)

I like bloggers who are funny. (i.e.,Blogging More, Junk Drawer)

I like blogs that have interesting or helpful information. (i.e., Father Blogger, Lesson in Life)

I like blogs about family life, especially those from different states or countries. (i.e., Chica-pumuckl--Egyptian Kitties in Germany)

Finally, I like blogs that have the entrecard at the top or at least not too far down the page in plain sight. (i.e., Rainy Dazeee)

What Animal Are You Most Like?

Since I like animals, I had to take this test! Thanks to Pamela at Life on a Southern Farm for allowing me to use the picture of one of her chickens.

I am a Chicken

I am naturally curious and inquisitive being. You are often poking your nose where it doesn't belong! Collecting nuggets of knowledge is important to me. (See my "Things I Learned This Week Posts each Friday") I enjoy knowing everything I can. I am very independent and strong willed. (I am learning to be more dependent on God and less on me.) I don't like to be bossed around, and I do as you please. (This is why it's a good thing I surrendered my life to God at an early age and seek to what pleases God.) I am quite determined and able to take on challenges. I will “peck away” at a problem until it's gone.

Click here to find out What Animal Are You?

5 Things I'd Like To See Changed In U.S. Politics

I am not big on politics but do have some strong feelings regarding Presidential campaigns and the actual election. The following is a short list of things I'd like to see changed:

1. Abolish political parties. The government is supposed to be about the people, not political parties.

2. Give each candidate a set amount of money with which to campaign from taxes. This amount should be equally divided among the candidates. No adding your own funds or other contributions should be permitted.

3. Limit advertisements to just what they would do if elected and just their own credentials. No comment or information at all should be given about their opponent.

4. If they have any political experience, their voting record should be included in their advertising.

5. Finally, I wish the electoral college would be "tossed out the window and into the lake"! I believe the President should be elected based on all the votes, not just representative votes of the states.

I told you it was a short list--what about you? What changes would you like to see?

A Fun Christmas Project To Give Children A Thrill

Many churches participate in what is called "Operation Christmas Child" sponsored by Samaritan's Purse. I have participated in this project by getting a shoe box and filling it with lots of little things for some child in a foreign country. You can mark your box as for a girl or boy and what age range: 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14. You also enclose a check for $7 to cover shipping (I'm surprised it's only $7--used to be $5). The idea is to pray for the child who will receive your gift and when Samaritan's Purse distributes the gifts, they will also share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the children. It's fun to fill up a shoe box with stuff. I was surprised at how much can actually fit into a shoe box the first time I did this.

THINGS NOT TO INCLUDE: Liquids or lotions, food, chocolate, vitamins, aerosol cans, old/used items, breakable items, war related items.

Check out their website for more information and how you can participate at www.samaritanspurse.org.

Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, is President of Samaritan's purse and has a burden for helping hurting people around the world. I read his autobiography, "Rebel With a Cause" that I found to be both interesting and inspiring.

Collection week is November 17-24. I'll have to start shopping for my box pretty soon!

Ask And Ye Shall Receive . . . Just Not Right Away!

When the Owens-Corning salesman was here, Gerard asked if they were giving away anything if we decided to have them do our basement. Sometimes companies to give little extra things like when we had our sump pump put in, we got free Indians tickets. The salesman asked him what he'd like and suggested a big screen TV. That got my husband's attention and his eyes lit up! So, sure enough, we got $800 worth of gift cards to Best Buy.

We decided it would be wise to get a TV stand for it first so we have a place to set it up when we bring it home so after checking at Best Buy and Staples, we found one that we think will suffice at WalMart. The next day I had every intention of tackling the job of assembling it. According to the instructions, it should only take an hour. HA! The first piece I pulled out of the box was the top and the corner was damaged. I'm not talking about a little nick either. The whole corner was bent! The instructions specifically stated not to return it to the store, but instead to call a number if any parts were damaged or missing, so I called the next day. Now we have to wait 7-14 days for the replacement part to arrive. Phooey!

As it turns out, we may end up using it on a new computer instead. Still waiting to hear what our computer problem is.

Things I learned This Week--Part 6

A pretty little fish called Beta is very aggressive. They come in different colors and like to be alone. My boss has one in her office. It's a tiny blue one.

Launder bedding in cold water which gets rid of 90% of the dust mites droppings. Check out Stress or Bugs at Mommy's Little Corner.

From My Body Building Log I learned Getting at least 8 hours sleep is necessary for recovery to build up muscles or bulk up.

Patience is from two Greek words: (1) "hupomone": meaning patience in circumstances meaning to persevere, bear up under, endure and is inspired by hope such as Job had; and (2) "Makrothumia" meaning long suffering, forbearnace, self-restraint related to people and inspired by mercy. The fruit of the Spirit quality of patience is from the second word, relating to people. When we are filled with God's Spirit, he enables us to forgive others, show mercy to them as God as shown to us and thus be patient with them as God is patient. (To read more about patience, go to Zemeks Updates.

Back up my important files on a CD! First thing I'm going to do when I get my computer back IF there are any left on it.

Brighten Someone's Day This Sweetest Day!

Saturday, October 18 is Sweetest Day this year. It is celebrated the third Saturday in October.

On the back of the Sweetest Day card I got for Gerard this year, it says: Sweetest Day started in 1922, when a candy company employee organized a group to help deliver candy and small gifts to orphans and others whose lives needed brightening. Today, lovers and romantics embrace the day as well, but it's still a time to remember those who bring happiness to our lives.

I like this idea! My most memorable Sweetest Day was when I was at a Pioneer Girls retreat to help out on Sweetest Day. It was the first time I was away over night from my husband and my cat since we'd been married and I was very homesick! When I got back to the church parking lot, he and Leo (a little stuffed lion) were there to meet me with a nice bunch of flowers and Malley's nut mallow! I was so glad to see him!

A close second was when I had an AWANA quiz meet to go to on Sweetest Day. Gerard surprised me a Vizquel Indians shirt since he was my favorite Indian at the time. (AWANA is a kids club whose purpose is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him. It stands for "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed.")

Since then, we celebrate Sweetest Day by going to Cracker Barrel and then for a walk through the woods at the park, enjoying the colorful leaves. That is our plan again this year. Do you have any plans to celebrate it this Saturday? Why not make some?

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulty

I am bummed. My computer was soooo slow yesterday morning and when I got home from work, it went on but I couldn't open ANYTHING! I kept trying to turn in off and reboot it but it didn't work. I even unplugged EVERYTHING and the tried again and that didn't work. I prayed! I called a friend who can build computers but got his voice mail and he didn't return my call. I called a repair place that was already closed. I finally called Best Buy,(the store we purchased it from)and they said they would fix it if I brought it in. I went to bed. I tried it again this morning and it still didn't let me open anything. I will take it up to Best Buy when I get home from work today. Meanwhile, at least I have access with my office computer.

I had a feeling it was going and thought of copying some stuff to a disk, just in case, but didn't want to take the time. Oh well, I'm just hoping for the best.

What Do You Like Best About Autumn & What Does It Say About You?

Your Autumn Test Results

Here are my results: You are a energetic, warm, optimistic person. You approach everything with a lot of enthusiasm. When you are happiest, you are calm. You appreciate tradition and family. You enjoy feeling cozy. You tend to be afraid of change. You are never ready for things to be different. You find love to be the most comforting thing in the world. You feel at peace when you're with your loved ones. Your ideal day is active and full. You like to keep busy with your favorite things, and you appreciate a routine. You are very impatient. You spend more time waiting for something than actually enjoying it.

Click Here to Take The Autumn Test

Miracles Still Happen!

This game was great--Browns Bring Down The Giants 35-14! In spite of the Browns inability to avoid the penalties, they were on fire! Anderson was actually amazing! His throws were on target and the offensive line protected him very well. He took command and the Browns actually dominated the game. The Browns scored touchdowns at home!

I must admit I did not think the Browns had a chance to win this one, but they played so much better but still had way too many penalties. The most costly penalty came when the game was still close. Giants fumbled the football, Browns got it and ran with it on I believe 3rd down. It didn't count though because of an illegal contact penalty against the Browns. The Giants kept the ball and got a new set of downs and scored a TD. I still don't understand why they had so many false starts, but hey, if they can score like they did to win the game, then I'm happy!

The game was on so late that I had a hard time keeping my eyes open near the end. I fell asleep on a commercial with a little over 6 seconds to go and when I woke up, it was all over. I had to go on the computer to find out the final score because I played the the squares at work and had 4 for NY, and 5 for Cleveland. I had a chance because at least the Giants had my number when I dozed off. Browns won with the final score 35-14! It's the first time I won on this!

Wonderful Weekend . . . Except For Football

We had a beautiful weekend and were able to spend some time outdoors. Saturday we enjoyed the zoo in the morning and played a set of tennis. Gerard just bought a new racquet a couple weeks ago but hadn't tried it out yet. I don't think it made any difference because I still won 6-1.

I had a great email Saturday morning from a fellow blogger who read my book (My Funny Dad, Harry) and wrote a very nice review. You can see it at his blog The Espenblog Times or My Funny Dad, Harry. It always makes my day when I hear about someone liking the book I wrote about my Dad.

I was also able to spend time on the computer getting caught up on my Entrecard drops from it being out of use for awhile and was able to get some draft posts written and my award post done. These awards are nice to get, but it takes a lot of time to pass them on.

Then came Sunday and we had a very good message on being completely surrendered to God by being a living sacrifice and willing to follow His leading. My Sunday School was good as always, but this group is hard to please when it comes finding a treat they all like. For birthdays, I bring in some kind of little treat for the class and if we make our attendance goal, I bring in a treat the following week. I brought Twinkies because one kid is allergic to anything chocolate which cuts out a lot of treats! Two out of the 7 don't like Twinkies so they chose Jolly Ranchers instead. Oh well, I'll continue looking for a treat they all like.

In the afternoon Gerard and I went walking at the park, enjoying the leaves that are beginning to change color and then settled in for football. I got knocked out early on my pool getting only two games right out of 5 but Gerard was doing good. He was 4 for 4 with just the New England game left to go. We both picked that one, feeling sure it would be a lock with the Patriots as the underdog getting 6 points, but no. I think it was really the Browns playing out there in Patriot uniforms--they were terrible. The QB was awful. They were on the 1 yard line with 4 downs and couldn't get any points! AAAARGH!

Thanks, Bola, For the Butterfly Award

Bola at Mums Dads Children
gave me this award for the coolest blog. I don't know about that, but I appreciate it.

The rules are quite simple;
You pick ten people and pass this award to them.
Then contact them and let them know that you have chosen them and their blog for the award.
Also link back to the person who gave you the award.

So,here are my picks for this award:

Daisy, the Curly Cat
Ruthi at A Carpenter Wife's Tool Box
Hadias at Proverbs Wife
Trophy of Grace at Real Christian Talk for Real Christians, Consecrated to Him
Sue at Stay At Home Mom
Carole at Carole's Thoughtful Spot
Retired and Restless
Mike at livelife365
Happy Family Matters--Father Blogger Dot Com
I Do Things So You don't Have To

6 Things I Learned This Week! (Part 5)

Friday, I was commenting to a co-worker about a large basket I had that I didn't really have any use for. She suggested putting a soft fuzzy blanket in it and the cats would probably love it. Spunky Doodle wasted no time settling in and stayed the whole evening. Manny didn't have a chance.

Remember READER'S DIGEST? At Our Homeschool Adventures I learned there's a Reader's Digest website (www.readersdigest.com) that has short interesting articles as well as widgets for blogs and social networking profiles that can be added--jokes, word power, cartoons etc.

I just discovered I do have "Paint" on my computer. Now I just need to play around with it and learn how to use it! It looks like I can draw right on the pictures so this will be fun!

I finally discovered how to get other people's Entrecards into posts or on my blog in the sidebar for as long as I want them there. The way if found was in Entrecard, use "campaign" to search for their blog, open their profile and then right click and choose email. Then after sending it to myself, I was able to save it and the upload it to my blog as a picture.

I discovered a cool site for practicing typing and increasing your speed which is very fun thanks to Hadias at http://proverbswife.blogspot.com. I tried it yesterday and it wasn't as easy as I expected, but very fun because you can race against other people if you like. It also takes accuracy into consideration. Give it a try. It's http://play.typeracer.com.

Peace from God is the absence of confusion and turmoil but not the absence of pain or grief. For a more comprehensive summary of this week's Bible Study on peace, go to http://karen.pnn.com

Thanks So Much For Your Kindness!

One of my very nice blogging friends, Mountain Woman, recently purchased the book I wrote about my dad called My Funny Dad, Harry and wrote a very nice post about it and me. Here is the link to her post: Spotlight On My Funny Dad Harry. It really made my day! I love to hear how people enjoyed reading about my dad. She had mentioned to me that she ordered it so I was anxious to hear what she thought.

She has a very interesting personal blog about her life in Vermont. Please stop by to visit. If you click the title of this post, it should take you right to her blog.

Too Busy To Hear From God?

I found a very helpful post this morning on Proverbs Wife: Finding Time for the Bible. I believe it's the first time I ever visited this blog but will definitely add it to my favorites.

When I think about how important the Holy Bible is because it is the inspired Word of God, it makes me want to read it every day. Compared to how much time I spend on other things, it seems like I just don't give it the importance that I should. Having a quiet time with God for prayer and Bible reading/study is key if we want to know Him better and let him guide and direct our lives. Even Jesus was busy meeting people's needs when he was on earth with crowds following him around all the time and yet even He, the Son of God, took time alone to pray to His heavenly Father.

The Bible is like no other book because the Holy Spirit of God speaks to our hearts through it and we learn spiritual truths that God reveals to us. We learn what pleases God and what doesn't. If you've never read the Bible, I suggest you start with the gospel of John because it is about Jesus life here on earth and presents Him as the Son of God. If you are Jewish and are very familiar with the Old Testament, I suggest you read the New Testament as well, starting with Hebrews and Galatians.

I've only read the Bible through once and even then, I did not go straight through from Genesis to Revelation. I used a paper that listed all the chapters in the Bible and started with the shortest books first. That way I made some fast progress and success breeds success so did not get blogged down. I jumped back and forth between the Old Testament and the New. Although I went to church from when I was a preschooler on through my adult years just about every Sunday, there were things that I never heard before. I found the Old Testament books of I & II Kings and I & II Chronicles to be filled with some really interesting history. My least favorite book of the Bible is Leviticus--that one did blog me down a bit.

There are some things that I do not understand, but that's okay. I follow what I do understand and trust that some day God will reveal the other things to me in His time. I don't get hung up on the mysteries of God or why he does what he does. My focus is in my Savior, Jesus Christ, and doing God's will the best that I know how.

The Bible has been referred to as a love letter from God to us. You wouldn't be too busy to read a love letter, would you? For great ideas as to how to spend more time in God's Word, please check out the link above.

What Does Your Pizza Say About You?

I love pizza! I could easily eat a whole medium one myself in one sitting but I don't. When I worked out with a personal trainer at Fitworks several years ago, we would get a large 1/2 pepperoni, 1/2 cheese pizza every Sunday and I would have three pieces for lunch and take two for lunch the next two days. My trainer was not pleased. He said pizza and losing weight doesn't go together. I protected my pizza. I told them I would not give up pizza! I did, however, cut back on it. We now order a medium instead of a large and I limit myself to just two pieces per meal. It's not easy, but I do it. Casamel's is a little pizza shop about 10 min. from our home and we are regular customers there. I like it better than any of the chain pizza places even though it costs a bit more than some. It's rare when we don't call up on a Sunday to order one for pickup. I like it because their sauce is so good--it's not real spicy and their crust is good too, for crust.

Since I am a pizza lover, I couldn't resist taking this little personality quiz and sure enough, the results fit me 100%! What about you?

What Your Pizza Reveals

People may tell you that you have a small appetite... but you aren't under eating. You just aren't a pig. You aren't particularly picky about pizza. It's so good... how could you be? You fit in best in the Western part of the US. You like food that's traditional and well crafted. You aren't impressed with "gourmet" foods. (So true--I hate fancy restaurants!) You are dependable, loyal, and conservative with your choices. You are a flavorful and bold person. You should consider traveling to Spain. The stereotype that best fits you is geek. You're the type most likely to order pizza to avoid leaving your computer. (Yup, absolutely!)

What Does Your Pizza Say About You? Click here

A Sunday Surprise From My Mancat, Manny

Today was the first time EVER that my newest cat, Manny, actually laid on me AND let me pet him for about a good 15 minutes without squealing or squawking! He made me so happy! (See my big smile?) Oh, I couldn't believe it! Spunky lays with me on the bed at night and lets me pet her but never during the day when I'm fully awake. I was laying on the couch watching the Tennessee-Baltimore game and near the end, Manny got off the cat tree and walked over to me! Then he actually laid down on my legs but close enough for me to reach him. I was so excited that I didn't even yell at the Titans to score again. Although they won the game, they didn't beat the spread so I lost on that pick this week, but with Manny on me, he kept me calm. I hope he does it again. I gave him four Temptation treats hoping that will encourage him to do it again. I'm so glad we are friends after our rough beginning.

I had to cut our time short because I had to go to puppet practice, but I think he would have stayed longer even if I didn't get up. Why is it my cats always wait until I'm about to leave the house before they show me any affection? I think they sense it somehow and time it that way on purpose.

Turns out that was the only game I lost on--just one point more and I would have won, but no! I had Penn State, Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots and the Titans. Phooey! I thought the Titans would roll over Baltimore, guess not.

The Joys of Home Ownership--17 Improvements

when Gerard and I were married and bought our first home together, it was very exciting. I remember driving by just to look at it and taking a picture to show my friends at work. It was the first time either of us bought a house. It was one big hassle getting all the paperwork done and then paying it off, but we did it!

We were very pleased with our purchase. We moved in 11 years ago to this day. It was a beautiful sunny day but oh was I exhausted! We were supposed to go to a wedding that night and I just couldn't force myself to go. We both just conked out instead. I was never so tired in all my life!

After we moved in we began to see things that should be done. I started making a list of the improvements we wanted to make and every year, we would add to our budget one big project. It's really amazing how much money a house eats! It seems like there's always something that either needs repaired or that we want to fix up better. Looking back over the years, we've really accomplished a lot as you can see by the list of things we did below:

1)New sidewalk and driveway: This we did after my dad fell in our driveway. It was cracked and weeds would grow in the cracks.

2)Waterproofing and sump pump in basement: We could see water stains on the basement walls in certain areas when we moved in and the paneling was bowed so the first thing we did was sink money into waterproofing half the basement--the worst part. Later we did the laundry room side after we had already put down the Nature Stone so we had to have that patched up.

3)Painted den & carpeting: The den was a dark blue when we moved in and the carpeting was very worn and faded so I repainted it bright yellow and we got new carpeting.

4)All windows replaced slowly but surely 3 at a time. Lots of air used to come in through our old windows and the big windows on the front of the house in the living room and dining room wouldn't even open. We chose Air-Tite Windows Co. to replace them--averaged $500 each. We are happy with our new windows and they pull in to clean. The big ones can actually be pulled out to clean.

5)Nature Stone for the basement floor (done in 3 sections). We liked how the Nature Stone looked but it was expensive. We did the laundry room first and then the pool room. The other rec room area had brown carpet and we just did that part when we had the basement systems put in last month.

6)Den bathroom sink, floor, walls: This bathroom had a very old ugly sink when we moved in but since we didn't use it often, we let it go for awhile. I was glad when we replaced the sink and put new tile on the floor. Litt's Plumbing did the sink and floor but I painted the walls myself to brighten it up.

7)Basement shower and sink: Later, when we had the other side of our basement waterproofed, they had to tear out the old shower to dig around the edge inside of the basement to finish the waterproofing so we got a new shower and new sink installed at that time. We also had the bathroom and laundry room walls painted a pretty blue.

8)kitchen cupboards. Our old kitchen cupboards were gray and pretty ugly. I didn't like them. We had Thiel's resurface them instead of taking them all out and building new ones. This saves a lot of money and they still look very nice! Even this was thousands of dollars.

9)Fence along driveway. We had a wooden picket fence along the drive in back when we moved in that was wobbly and in need of paint. I chose to replace it instead with a vinyl picket fence from Henry Fence Co. We had to get our neighbors to sign that it was all right with them!

10)Upstairs carpeting for man cave(spare bedroom)from Empire. The old carpeting had a couple big stains and was worn pretty thin so we finally got around to replacing it.

11)New roof on house and garage. This we did in March of 2007 because some of our shingles blew off and others looked like they were curling. When my dad dad, the realtor recommended the roofer she uses.

12)Front Door. Our old front door looked okay, but a lot of air came in around it and I didn't like the screen door. We got our door from Thiel's and are very happy with it. It's much sturdier and looks very nice. The screen can be moved up or down and the storm door can just slide over the screen part.

13)Replaced basement paneling and plaster ceiling with basement systems walls and drop ceiling. This was all done by Owens-Corning in just three days and we are thrilled with it!

14)New carpeting for living room. We are waiting to schedule when this will be installed, but it was included with our Basement Systems price. We decided to have them do it because we were planning on getting new carpeting for Christmas and they said they would take out the old and move the furniture for us without charging extra. That's why we decided to go with them for it. They usually do it as part of the basement refinishing, but since we were getting the Nature Stone to match the rest of the basement, they said they could put it in the living room for us.

15)Somewhere along the way we got a new Rheim furnace and a hot water heater too!

WOW!

Visit www.moblyng.com to make your own!

This just goes to show what can be accomplished over time with a plan of attack! What improvements have you made to your home?

What I learned this Week-Part 4

My bus driver works 12-hour days! Whew, I only work a 7.5 hour day. No wonder bus drivers get grumpy easily!

When washing hands to get rid of the germs, we should turn the faucet off using a paper towel so we don't pick up more right away. I found this bit of wisdom from The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Oct. 1).

Here's a great site I came across through work that has lots of interesting and helpful articles dealing with family, health and life in general: www.lifeworks.com. One of the tidbits I picked up is that healthy food is usually around the perimeter of the grocery stores. When I thought about, it's true, at least for our Giant Eagle.

Did you know October is . . .Minister Appreciation month, National Work and Family month, Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Adopt a Shelter Dog month?
Out of the above list, I was only aware of the first one until this week. I never realized October was so popular!

I learned that when teaching guide dogs to come, they are taught to go between the person's legs so the blind person knows they are there. I never thought about that before reading this at Practicing Come at http://maayangordon.blogspot.com.

Do You Pray Together?

When Gerard and I were dating, we would usually end our time together by praying out loud with each other while holding hands. This was his idea, not mine, but I got to liking it because I felt he could be the spiritual leader in our relationship and it was important to me to find someone to marry to whom I would be willing to submit as I believe a good wife should.

Personally, I'm not one who is comfortable praying out loud. I look on my relationship with God as very personal, always have, and I pray from my heart sincerely so sometimes I cry. This is embarrassing for me and awkward for anyone listening to me. I just can't help it. This is why it was so wonderful that I found a guy who I was actually comfortable enough with to pray out loud about my feelings and concerns. I also discovered things that bothered him in this way.

After we were married though, we only kept this up for maybe a year. I'm not really sure why, but it just seemed as though we had a hard time finding the time that worked. In the mornings, we're both rushed and so having our separate devotions is faster. The evenings go by so quick and then we're tired. I miss it and did try to at least pray together on the weekends for awhile but that too didn't work for long. It seemed it just wasn't a priority and so other things would come up and we let it go.

Do any of you pray with your spouse regularly and if so, how does it work? When do you do it? How often? Do you think it strengthens or helps your marriage/family? There was an article in the Arts & Life section of The Plain Dealer--"When life tugs, prayer's the cord that ties spouses" by Terry Pluto which got me thinking about this.

Thank You to Our September Commenters!

We thank want to thank all our September commentators for your participation on this blog with some link love. We enjoy your comments and hope you find things of interest here. We appreciate you taking the time to leave comments and enjoy visiting your blogs too!

Daisy, the Curly Cat
Mountain Woman at Red Pine Mountain
Tina at The Creative Nerd
Jude at Mature But Not Senile
Beaded Tail
:K at Blogging Us--Exploring Colorado
Tahtimbo at Everyday Living
Rosemarie at My Journey
Bola at Life Blog Magazine
Maria at Life's Sweets and Spices
Sue at Stay At Home Mom
Cookie at Bytes of Cookie
Rene at Cheaper by the Half Dozen
Samantha & Mr. Tigger at From a Cat's Perspective
Angel at Angels Answers
Dreamwalkers World
Roger DJ at The Night Is Coming
Wild Cats Three at Ramblings Around The Water Cooler
Chris at The Cat/Dog Blog
Lady Java at Cat Tales and at Lady Java's lounge
Silver at Give Us This Day
Danny Thornton at the Mortgage and More Blog
Tracey at Mom Tidings
Josie at Nerdy Parenting
Maayan at Guide Dogs Backstage
Signe at Signe Says
Simple Married Life
Mike at livelife365
JD at I Do Things So You Don't Have To
Aybi at My So-Called Life
Joan Smyth at Covenant House
Lee Doyle
Carol at Carol's Thoughtful Spot


If you commented in September but are not on this list, I sincerely apologize and will add you immediately if you let me know. Any ommission is an oversight on my part and certainly not intentional.