Wordless Wednesday: Forced Spring
Topic: Photo entries



**For more WW photo entries go to Wordless Wednesday or Five Minutes for Mom.**

ABC Day
Topic: Humor/memes
This is a meme (blog questionaire) about the media. I found it over at A Gracious Home. If you want to join in and do it too, make sure you let me know or add your name to Sallie's list on the Gracious Home sight.

It's an ABC theme, which is funny because today I found an old packet of Alphabet pasta which I added to our chicken noodle soup! Maggie loved it and then used the dried pasta to make Emma a birthday card. =)

Action – Favorite action movie?
National Treasure, Batman Begins

Beautiful – Most beautiful performer?
Audrey Hepburn

Comedy – Favorite comedy (TV or movie)?
Just one??? Gilmore Girls, Everybody Loves Raymond (ha, can't help it!)
And oldies: MASH, Northern Exposure

Drama – Favorite drama (TV or movie)?
Cold Case (like CSI but no gore), Smallville =)

Event – Historic event that kept you riveted to the TV?
9-11 of course, and Hurricane Katrina coverage

Favorite – If you could only own and watch one DVD the rest of your life, what would it be?
The one my husband made of our family videos and pictures would be first.
The 5 hour A&E version of Pride and Prejudice for the epic quality and beauty of the setting, as well as an all time great story and acting. but also because if I can only choose one, it better be long! =)
OR
You've Got Mail I don't know why, but I'm a cult follower of it, memorizing lines from it and ritually watching it. (usually with my daughter Hannah)

G – Favorite G rated movie?
Finding Nemo! It is so original and creative and always cracks us up completely!

Head over heels – Which star were you in love with when you were younger?
Is this to show our age or what??? Peter Tork from the Monkees (yes, it was a tv show and yes, I'm really that old) and also Bobbie Sherman from Here Come the Brides....heehee

Ice – Did you see the “Miracle on Ice” live (tape delayed) in 1980?
Nope, or if I was at someone's house watching it, I don't remember, but we love and have the dvd Miracle, a retelling of the story with Kurt Russell.

Justice – Did you watch any of the famous O.J. Simpson chase down the freeway?
I saw part of it. Weird.

King of the Thriller – Favorite Hitchcock movie?
I LOVE Alfred Hitchcock movies! Although I've never seen Psycho or The Birds all the way through. They both freak me out too much. My favorite is Rear Window.

Laettner – Did you see Duke’s Christian Laettner make the winning shot against Kentucky?
I don't even know what that means!

MP3 Player – Do you own one??Several ;) 2 that play mp3's off of burned CD's and we have 4 iPods among us. Our 2 dvd players play mp3's too.....oh, and in the car.....lol

Never get enough – Which movie have you watched the most times and how many times have you seen it?
I don't count....that would be incriminating! Probably You've Got Mail.

Opie – Opie or the Beaver?
I refuse to choose between those 2 icons! Let me just throw into the mix though, for your consideration, Ernie Douglas from My Three Sons. We saw almost all of the reruns of it a few years ago and he is hilarious!!!

Pride and Prejudice – Do you prefer A&E or 2005 release?
A&E, but I do love some of the scenes in the 2005 one, like the scene in the pouring rain, when Elizabeth and Darcy meet 'by chance' (as they are in the habit of doing). With our surround sound system, it sounds as if it's raining IN our living room!!! I also love the scenery and settings a lot better in the new one.

Quality – Best TV show of all time?
91210 of course....NOT! lol I've actually never seen it, so it very well may be a real worthy show, but I'm thinking not.
That is a really tough one.....The Cosby Show is up there in the greats, but let me please add: The Andy Griffith Show and MASH

Remote control – Who is in charge in your house?
Whoever is fortunate enough to grab it first...ha! Actually, on Monday nights, only 24 is allowed on the big tv. This decree is by my husband, who is an addict...I know...sad. On Tuesday nights I get to watch Gilmore Girls and the rest of the time, there really isn't much TO watch.

Super Bowl – Game or commercials?
Commercials please.

Television – How many in your house?
4 *blush* one of them only plays dvd's (in the teens room) and one of them has a video tape player and can tune in local channels, but only one is permitted=PBS for kids' shows only. One is in our room and the other one....the monster, with surround sound....is in the living room.

Ultimate – Who is your favorite movie star?
I love movies with Tom Hanks or Colin Firth/Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Emma Thompson, or Julia Roberts in them.

Victory – The best sporting event/game you’ve watched live on TV?
*blank stare* Oh yeah! I actually watched the World Series when the AZ Diamondbacks won!

Walkman – Did you ever own a Sony Walkman?
Yes, but we don't use it much...what with ipods around. ;)

X – Movie you wish you had never watched?
Road to Perdition=easily the most violent movie I have ever, EVER watched. Also, Reds because it was a serious waste of time. (I promised the friend I went with that I wouldn't leave though, so I stayed. When I found out that at intermission there was more movie to come, I think I almost cried.)

Yesterday – How many hours of media did you consume?
2 Hours? I was really busy yesterday and I think the only tv/music I saw/listened to was a Sesame Street best of video and the little electric piano toy we have that my little 11 month old nephew watched and played with. I was babysitting. =) Oh, after he went to bed, we watched Ice Age 2.

ZZZ’s – Best music to fall asleep to?
I can't fall asleep when music is playing....I tend to listen to the words. So...maybe instrumental? Although I have a feeling that would be distracting too. I usually have a big fan that roars to block out all noises. lol

How Great is our God?
Topic: God things
I really liked the speaker at the Chris Tomlin concert. Louie Giglio is a dynamic preacher, who uses a lot of word pictures...just what gets into my brain the best. His theme was the greatness of God, as the tour was called How Great Is Our God, after one of Tomlin's songs. He used the Universe with pictures up on the powerpoint screen to drive home how great the universe is and the God who literally breathed the stars into being. Then he told us about the Whirlpool Galaxy....a far off galaxy that was found using the Hubble telescope. It is a beautiful galaxy, white spirals with red jewel looking spots all through it. But at the very center of the galaxy is the most amazing picture. Usually at the center of any galaxy is a round black hole. This is what they found at the center of the Whirlpool Galaxy:


.....the cross. He was slain from the creation of the world. (Rev 13:8)

John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Colossians 1:19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (emphasis mine)

Then, after wowwing us with word pictures and visual pictures of God's awesome Greatness, he brought it down to how God is also interwoven into the smallest detail in our lives. There is a protein called Laminin which is like scaffolding of our cells...it holds it all together, like the rebar in the cement of our being. Then he showed us a picture of what laminin looks like....amazingly enough, it is in the structure of a cross. Laminin, the very protein that holds our being together, is shaped like the cross of Christ, who holds all of life together.

Colossians 1:17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (NAS)

There are so many clues, or confirmations, to us concerning God's presence and the deep meaning of the cross....that horrible instrument of torture and death, our symbol...and God's symbol, I believe, of His purpose of redemption from the beginning.

How Great is Our God.....indeed!

Free to run, free to dance, free to live for Him...I am free
Topic: God things
Some friends took us to a 'concert' last night. It was really a worship service....one of the most powerful ones I've been to. It was held in a very large concert auditorium....pictures of famous rock stars lined the lobby, along with autographed guitars in glass cases. The auditorium holds 5,000 people and it was almost full. Chris Tomlin was the worship leader for the night, along with Matt Redman. And the speaker was Louie Giglio. I looked out at one point and saw a sea of pink faces, beaming with the joy of the Lord.

I don't know why my mindset was ready for a calm, sedate concert. But I was wrong! These guys were energetic!! I don't know if you've ever seen Chris Tomlin live, but he bounces. It's kind of a jumping/moshing kind of bouncing and it gets you excited and pumped up. By the last few songs, my husband and a friend who was with us were bouncing too. ;) For two hours we rocked out, praising God loudly to worship songs and inspired by Bible verses and testimony from the singers. I don't know if it was the set up of the auditorium or just their sound system, but you could literally feel the drums beating inside your chest. It wasn't too loud though. The sound was just right and you could hear every word the singers said. Tomlin kept thanking us all for being there, as if we were doing him a huge favor.....so humble and refreshing. In fact, they had sold so many tickets that last night's performance was sold out and they scheduled an extra concert the night before for the 'late' ticket buyers. Well, it was worth it. The speaker was captivating and dynamic. I have written a blog entry about his talk already, but I will post it tomorrow. He had everyone's full attention through multimedia and professional, yet very real (not forced) sermon delivery. The night absolutely drew us into joyful, exuberant worship of the Almighty Creator.

It reminded me of another worship service we went to last Saturday night. A group of people from our church went to a ministry we are going to help sponsor to attend their Saturday night service. They didn't exactly rock out, but it was true worship. The building would have only held 100 at best, although it was in no way close to being full. The hallways were dingy and the old floors creaked, but the grounds and the buildings were clean and well kept. The building was a church whose original congregation had moved out of the downtrodden neighborhood long ago. As I looked over the assembly there, I saw a gathering of black, brown and pink faces and some shaved heads with tattoos scrawled across them. Some of the people were shaking, all of them looked tired, some looked sick, their faces showed the signs of a hard lived life. When the music began, everyone sang to their own beat, key or 'melody'. There was an elderly man on an electric piano...it had the sound of a '70's rock song electric piano....and a guitar, but they did not play 'together'. It was a little chaotic, no one was on key (even the worship leader) until I nudged my husband with my elbow and said, "Sing! Loud!" My husband has a great voice and a loud, joyful one, so we all got on track and could sing after that. And even though they didn't sound pleasing to our ears, I know it was a beautiful sound to God. The speaker for the evening was not polished, he simply stood in front with his Bible, no powerpoint or videos to show us. But he held our attention, captured our imagination and drew us to God's Word through his testimony and love for the Word. A former biker who rode with a very notorious gang, he is now free from addictions and shame. He is called to lead there at this ministry and God is using him powerfully. This was one of his very first sermons.

Set Free is a ministry to drug addicts, alcoholics, bikers, and skin heads. It began in San Diego, California and this chapter in Phoenix has been up and running for years now. The church grounds have housing for the men in their program. The program involves Christian based substance abuse recovery, anger management, counseling, intense Bible study, and street witnessing for those who have been in the program a while. They also have low income housing apartments for people who want 'clean' living. (no substances allowed and they are strict about it) The people do not have to be Christians to stay there, but it is a very strongly Christian atmosphere, so I'm sure it draws the people to God. They are quite a presence there in south Phoenix. The neighborhood they are in has finally come to accept them and to be glad they are there and some of the neighbors have even started attending the Saturday night services. On Sunday mornings a Spanish speaking church meets there and the Set Free men load up onto a bus and visit various churches around the city. This is how our church got to know this ministry, as they come to our church about once every 6-8 weeks.

You can't miss the Set Free guys when they come to church either! They come filing in to our adult Sunday School classes and into our worship services, smiling and greeting everyone they see. They all open their Bibles, give imput on the Bible studies, offer to pray aloud during prayer request times, praying with fervor and passion, and they LOVE the Lord. In worship, they sing, sway, clap, raise their hands. It inspires and draws the people around them into a more sincere worship as well. And that is how they were worshipping last Saturday night too at their old, small, run down church building, as if God had made them princes......and indeed He has. I had tears in my eyes and a huge lump in my throat when they began singing I Am Free!

Because they are....and somehow it shows so much more on their faces than on the people of most of the churches I've been in....because they know, literally, what being a slave to sin is and they know the deliverance and fresh hope that life in Jesus brings.

Luke 7:46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

Wordless Wednesday: Seedlings
Topic: Photo entries


ETA: This is a picture of a sprouting seed in a planter, not an aquarium....just for clarification. I was practicing with the macro setting on my camera.

**For more WW photo entries go to Wordless Wednesday or Five Minutes for Mom.**

Praying for Emily
Topic: Prayer


This is a prayer request for the child of a friend of mine. Read the whole story here, please: Emily's Scan Results, to find out the news the family got today on Emily's cancer. Basically, they expected previous treatments to clear it up, but it is still there, in her neck and lung. She is having more radiation treatments this week and possibly surgery.

Thank you. God hears our prayers. Let us send up a great chorus of prayer for Emily today. She is 9, same age as our Maggie.

Please pray for her family as well.

Lemony snicker pickins
Topic: Photo entries
We had to pick our lemons off the tree the other day because of the freeze here in Arizona. There were only about a dozen of them, as it's a new tree, but there's something mighty strange about these lemons.

hmmmm



OK, these are not really our lemons (although picking the lemons off the tree was true), but the timing fit. I got this photo over at CuteOverLoad, where they have a ton of cuteness today!

The original photo is the work of an artist named Saxton Freyman

Wordless Wednesday: Spectator sport?
Topic: Photo entries


**For more WW photo entries go to Wordless Wednesday or Five Minutes for Mom.**

5 Things You May Not Know (about me)
Topic: Humor/memes
Iris is playing tag over at Sting My Heart. Here is her meme: Five Things You Didn't Know.

And here is mine:

1. I can growl. My old college friends used to get a kick out of it, but I rarely do it anymore....except for my dog or my little nephew. They both appreciate rare talent like that.

2. I 'know' what animals are thinking. Really. And I often let people who are with me in on it.

It's a gift.

3. I used to have a dream to animate puppets for Sesame Street. (later on it was Veggie Tales) I LOVE both of these shows. They fascinate me. I can animate almost any object you give me.

4. I'm very good at charades and Pictionary. *literal, visual thinker* I like card games, Web sudoku and raquetball. I don't like bored board games.

5. I don't like/watch reality shows (even Am. Idol), nor do I watch 24. Strange, I know. I almost didn't include this one for fear of ridicule, but there it is.... please don't hate me. ;)

I do like Gilmore Girls and Smallville.

Cleaning up, Drawing near
Topic: God things
It was good to be in the House of the Lord today.

My husband had a great sermon.

The old covenant had the Law and the Temple, everything so laid out for God's people....for only God's people. If Gentiles wanted to come, they were allowed into the outer court to hear teaching. They could never draw near, but God did promise to remember them for their faith and devotion to Him. (Isaiah 56:3-8)

These outer courts were the very ones that Jesus cleansed with a braided cord, driving out animals and turning over tables of the men who charged the people to get appropriate coins for the Temple offerings.

Here we are, all nodding our heads. I was thinking, wow, this is interesting and I was writing it all down.

Then the zinger:

Charles parallelled Jesus' cleansing of the Temple, driving out the things that didn't belong there....WITH...Him wanting to cleanse today's Temple (our body, mind, spirit) from all the things that do not belong there....SO....that we can really worship Him in spirit and in truth, not just 'do church', but to draw near, actually into the Holy of Holies because He has made us His holy priesthood of believers.

See, we are all free to draw near to the Lord now. All of the Jews and the Gentiles can freely come....and when we do, WE become God's holy Temple, as He comes to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit. We are free from the restrictive Laws and from having to go to Jerusalem to offer our yearly sacrifices. No one is kept out now...

But with great freedom comes great responsibility and caution.

We need to make our aim pleasing the Lord, because we want to hear from Him and truely follow Him according to His way, not ours.....it was very powerful. I couldn't swallow by the end. LUMP CITY in my throat. I am going to keep this on the front burner of my mind so that the changes can take place...

....the repentance....prayer

....the replacing of my ways with His...meditate on His Word

....the shoving over of the tables, stockpiled with things that don't belong in this Temple....listening to the Spirit instead of quenching it.

.....I needed that today.....

Today's hymn seemed appropriate too:

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;?Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word??All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;?Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;?Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.?Then He’ll call us home to heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;?Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.

Tangelos
Topic: People/Family stories
Smell is such a strong sense that one little whiff of some smell from our past can bring memories flooding back to us. My personality is extra-sensitive to the senses and I get very vivid flashbacks or mental images when I smell certain things. They are usually good things like the smell of certain colognes remind me of different people from my past, the smell of the pine woods reminds me of camping and a closeness of God's presence, the smell of a baby's sweet head reminds me of being a new mom and the sweetness of that new child.

A few days ago, I saw a neglected bowl of oranges sitting on the counter and weeded through them, having to throw out 2 because they looked iffy. Then I decided to eat one because they looked yummy......the good ones, not the squishy, shriveled ones. As I broke into that orange with my fingernail and the spray of juice from that fruit hit my hose, a flood of memories of my dad came into my head and heart and I stood there for a long time, hovering over my kitchen sink, peeling and eating the orange.

My dad was an engineer by personality. Everything had order and purpose and he loved that part of life. He lived in the house I grew up in, in Phoenix, for 30+ years and had many 'systems' that were not to be tampered with! The 2 car garage rarely housed a car. It was his shop, where he had every tool known to man. I know that because every man in the neighborhood stopped by to borrow things from my dad's garage. If one of them stopped by while he wasn't home, I'd say, "Well I don't know where it is." Which was usually responded to by, "Oh, I know right where he keeps it if you can just let me into the garage." I don't think Dad ever turned anyone away who wanted to borrow something. In fact, they often stayed to visit with him about their project and I"m sure they all got lots of advice from my dad, who could fix anything from a tiny watch to a washing machine. My dad was friend to all and everyone loved him.

While they lived in that house, he tried several garden projects. Once, he pulled out the huge bushes that shaded our backyard and put in a vegetable garden with asparagus, green beans, sometimes okra, tomatoes, and other assortments. Eventually his free child labor rebelled and he filled in the garden plot with grass and planted fruit trees. These were chopped down a few years later because the birds got most of the fruit and they got diseased. One of the first things he planted though, the things that lasted and he was never disappointed in were his tangelo trees.

Over the years, they grew higher than our house, which was 2 stories and produced hundreds, maybe a thousand or more tangelos....each! They were his pride and joy. He tended them, he pruned them, watered them faithfully, he even ordered preying mantises through the mail to let loose into the trees to eat the bad bugs. And they did, and they were fun to catch too. (he let us catch them as long as we put them back into the trees when we were done playing....which we actually did gently or we got in big trouble!)

THEN came January, February and March, in which time you were to make as many plans for Saturdays as you could so you wouldn't have to pick tangelos or worse yet....juice them! He finally got an electric juicer, but that was only in the last few years they lived there. Most of those years, those dreadful tangelos were juice by hand, the juice was poured into ice cube trays, transported to the downstairs freezer, then when frozen, popped into ziplok bags, labeled with date, number of cubes and set lovingly onto the freezer shelves.

After they were all juiced, the juice frozen into cubes, the cubes numbered and dated, he did his calculations. He actually numbered out how many cubes he had in the freezer until the next tangelo harvest! So he knew how many cubes he could eat every day. If ever a man was addicted to tangelos, he's your guy! I don't remember my dad having a selfish bone in his body. He was generous with his family and neighbors of his time and his possessions. But man, you didn't mess with his cubes!!!!

He knew if someone had been into them and we heard about it! Yes, he juiced them all, so they were HIS....kind of Little Red Hennish of him, don't you think? Well, none of us really cared much for tangelos anyway, so it was just as well. They smell much better than they taste. My husband though, was groomed by my dad to like tangelos and sometimes he looks for them in the store or threatens mentions buying a tangelo tree. Maybe it's because he didn't grow up having to pick them or juice them or clean up the kitchen after a juicing day!

So for a couple of months each year, our house smelled of tangelo juice. When the fruit was ripe, every morning, he would go out to his trees, pick a tangelo and bring it back into the house and peel and eat it methodically and thoroughly!

Since it was also the time of day when the coffee was made, the smell of fresh coffee and fresh citrus fruit wafting together in the air became a sensory memory that was deeply instilled in my mind. And it is a very pleasant one. Each morning in winter, I would come down to the kitchen to be greeted with that smell and with my cheerful dad eating his oranges and reading his Bible or some devotional book. I can still see him sitting there, munching his tangelo and looking up to say, "Gooooood morning, cricket!"

Such a sweet memory. His birthday is on Monday. He was born the same day (different year) as Martin Luther King Jr. We'll be thinking of him this year, but he won't be joining us, as he went Home to be with the Lord last August.

And I'll bet he's in charge of the tangelo trees there. I wouldn't be surprised to get to Heaven and be greeted by him with a long fruit pickin stick in his hand and the smell of a tangelo on his fingers, "Well helloooo, cricket! What took you so long? Let me show you my trees."

Forget not His benefits
Topic: People/Family stories
Weather report:

Currently it is 72 degrees with a mild breeze, sunny and bright blue sky here in Phoenix.

Sure wish you were out here on the patio with me and my laptop, drinking ice water and watching the lemons on our little tree ripen and the Gerber daisies blooming. =)

The dog isn't even bothering me.....very nice day indeed.

You never can tell what the weather will do in January in Phoenix. It's been cold over the weekend, even breaking out my winter coat for the evenings, but today and the rest of the week it will be in the 70's....

......until Friday when the high will be in the 50's.

And it looks like the winter rains are coming. I love winter rains in Phoenix. I grew up here and it's the only time it really seems 'wintery'.

The dog is beside me now, bumping me with her food bowl, which she's been licking the tar out of. I guess I'll go get her some kibbles.

And I hope you're enjoying your Monday, January 8th, 2007! Each day is a gift, no matter how many trivial frustrations come with it.

Psalm 103:2-5 (NIV)

2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Amusing stuff
Topic: People/Family stories
Things I was extremely amused by recently:

****One of my teens said something that made me fall off my chair. We were up in the mountains and the air there is very dry. Oh, I should also say that she went to a youth lock in the night before and stayed up all night. She turned to me and said, "Mom, do you have any chapstick? My lips hurt real bad." To a normal person, this is not funny. It's a legitimate request. But to us whacko's who have watched Napolean Dynamite more times than we want to admit, that is pretty hilarious. She almost had it exactly right. Because of the lock in, her eyes were half open, and she drew out her words just like he does. It's actually a line from the movie that my other teen regularly says to make me crack up. (otherwise I don't know if I would have recognized it) I'm sure Emma has heard Bethany saying it to me on numerous occassions...and me cackling because Beth does a good Napolean imitation. She shouldn't have been so offended that I laughed so hard. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard!

****My husband and I were sitting outside on the patio. We've been trying to find our dog Winnie a good home because she has shown aggression and nipped at 2 children since we have had her. Well, we cannot find anyone to take her, even though she is a lovable dog. So Winnie was 'standing' up, her front legs in my lap, face to face with me getting some snorgling. And Charles said at that moment. "We should just be resigned to keeping Winnie instead of constantly thinking of giving her away."

At that exact moment, a smile came up on that dog's face. She had her eyes closed, mouth closed, but as Charles finished that sentence, she opened her eyes and opened her mouth to pant, which looked suspiciously like a triumphant smile.

****On my way driving down Cave Creek Road to a friend's house, I saw a little cactus or plant on the very top of a distant mountain that reminded me of a person, standing with their arms up in a triumphant Rocky pose. As I drove closer, I realized it really was the figure of a man doing the Rocky pose, maybe a statue? I looked up as we passed that mountain and realized it really was a real man. He really was doing the Rocky pose and acting very silly. I think I grinned all the way to my friend's house!

****My little nephew sat with us for the Christmas contata, right behind his parents. He is 10 months old and really enjoyed all the Christmas music, sitting on cousin Hannah's lap. Every time the music would begin, he would raise his little baby arms up in the air and 'conduct' the choir along with our choir director. (it really looked like he was praising God, but then we realized he was watching and imitating her) He was also humming along with the songs, which was nothing less than delightful and extremely entertaining!

His favorite Christmas song at home was the Little Drummer Boy. He loved the rumm puh pum pummm part, joining in on the last 'pummm'.

****During the Christmas season, I would end up in the early evening on the couch, zoned out by cold meds and congestion. We gave up satellite television a few months ago, so there wasn't much on except for the Hallmark Movie Channel. Every night in December they had some very sentimental Christmas movie. You know......the kind where the nice stranger in town turns out to be Santa Clause or where the orphans find a loving home. These are the kinds of movies I generally avoid like the plague, but there we were....might as well....it was Christmas, after all.

I love how my husband can't hide his feelings. While watching those movies, I would look over at him during some very sentimental part, thinking he'd missed it because his nose would be in his computer. But it wasn't. He loves things like that and when I'd look over, I would see him with a big grin on his face.....then our eyes would meet and we'd crack up. =)

Cold-hearted
Topic: People/Family stories
Things are filling my mind to write about on my blog lately. It's just really too bad that they go through my mind when I'm driving, when I'm shopping, when I'm at church, in the shower and not when I'm actually sitting at the computer! When I sit here, my mind goes...."derrrrrrr, huh?" Very frustrating, but probably a result of the cold meds I'm taking and the cold itself. So here are some blips, as they come to me, not necessarily in sequence. =)

*********************************************************************

A few weeks ago, Maggie (my 9 year old, youngest child) came down with this cold virus too, but she got a very sore throat. I looked at it, went "eeeeeewwwww". She is quite precocious (note: that is not precious, but precocious....extra syllable there...whole nother word. Although she CAN be precious sometimes too.) ....looked at her throat..... yes, bright red, HUGE tonsils.....with a smattering of white spots.

Before I even had the flashlight put back in the drawer, she raises her eyebrows in the bossiest way, and says, "Mom, whatever you do, even if you give me 3 candies or pay me money, I am NOT going to gargle saltwater. So don't even ask me."

How.....did she know that was my next sentence?? So I just looked at her....she looked so serious....and I cracked up. There was no pretense of parent/child pecking order left here. My comeback (in true one-up-manship fashion), "Well, if you refuse to gargle with saltwater, then I don't want to hear any whining about your throat." Then I called the doctor. She hasn't been to this doctor's office yet since we've lived here less than a year, so we had to go to urgent care. I found out that new patients can't just make a sick appointment. We have to have a well visit first. (Well excuuuuuse us for being sick and not well...gee whiz.)

We sat in the urgent care parking lot (waiting room) for just over 2 hours. I was just about to order out for pizza when they called our name. *YAY* Everyone in the waiting room glared at us jealousy as we went into the inner rooms and after a short wait, we saw a young doctor. He looked at her throat...."Oh, very badly infected tonsils".....he felt her glands on her neck...."ooo, you can feel them from the outside!" A normal, good, kind, sweet mom would have been melting in sympathy for the youngster, so badly infected with germs. But me? The doctor told me that he would order a Zpack of antibiotic and make sure that several times a day, she was to gargle with saltwater.

My cold-hearted mom eyes met her disappointed, sicky eyes and all I said was one syllable....

A very told-you-so, "HA!"

After-thought: I hope the doctor didn't write that in her chart. ;)

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Did I mention I've been sick? Since Thanksgiving to be precise. I have gone through 2 bottles of Tylenol Nightime cold medicine, the last of my prescription strength guafasin from last year, a bottle of Mucinex with expectorant and cough suppressant, a small boat load of Ibuprofen, bags of cough drops, and I made quite an indentation in my bottle of Mentholatum ointment too. But by far, the most interesting cold medicine on the market today is Sudafed. I used to buy Sudafed once a year by the bottle and it would happily carry me through cold/allergy seasons. This year I had to get registered in order to buy it. There is a sign on the shelf of cold meds saying "if you're looking for Sudaphedrine containing products, please ask in the pharmacy. So I asked. And they asked for my driver's license, current address information, and pass a polygraph test. Okay, I made up the polygraph part, but it was pretty intimidating to have to go through all of that in order to decongest my sinuses. I realize it is to keep track of people buying sudaphedrine and using it to make illegal drugs. I'm happy to comply, as long as they don't pull it completely from over the counter accessibility!

The funny thing is, after taking all this information and reading warnings of criminal use of the product, etc.....the girl at the pharmacy desk asks me, "Okay, how many packages would you like?" I said, "Well, I don't know. I was going to buy one, but I may as well get 2 so I don't have to go through this again soon." She said, "Are you sure you don't want more?"

She was either trying to tempt me to see if I was going to use it for criminal purposes.....or she was not getting the purpose of limited accessibility!

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Okay, I'm tired...more stories later. =)

Wordless Wednesday: Winter snow
Topic: Photo entries
My husband took these:




**For more WW photo entries go to Wordless Wednesday or Five Minutes for Mom.**