Random Snippet From the Scenes of My LIfe

As I was out with my teenaged daughter last week, we ran into a man who recognized me from our church. He stopped to chat with us for a moment and asked, “Is your sister with you? I don’t think we’ve met.”

I corrected him and informed him that Bright Eyes was not my sister, but was in fact my daughter, to which he replied, “Wow, you two look more like twins.”

As we continued on our way my daughter was unusually quiet, clearly thinking about something. When I inquired she asked, “Do you think he thought that you looked young, or that I looked old?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her, which made her laugh. My answer to her question? “I am too vain to ever have considered the latter.  Not to worry, though. You don’t look 40 anymore than I look 18.”

I Like Going to the Beach In February As Much As Anyone…

But if you’re a nut job, a criminal, wacko, a negligent parent, or just plain old stupid beyond redemption, do us a favor will ya?

DON’T MOVE TO FLORIDA.

We have enough of that kind down here and we’re darn near bursting at the seams as it is. Here are just a few headlines from the last few weeks:

~Florida man adopts his 42-year-old girlfriend

~Woman claims her big breasts hindered DUI test performance

~Ocala man shot to death in dispute over barking dog

~Woman arrested after leaving 3 kids in car while shopping

~Man with shorts on head tries to rob to bank

~Orlando mother urged her daughter to “hit harder” and “bite her” during fight with schoolmate

~Wife enraged at hubby’s request to “use the bed” with  another woman

And that’s just a small, insignificant sample.

I know there are crazy new stories to be found all over the country but it seems as if  a disproportionate number of these stories are based right here in the Sunshine State. Check out FloriDUH! for more evidence if you doubt me.

However, I’ll have you know that we native Floridians are not as insane as the news would imply. It’s all these transplants, coming down here bringing their emotional, psychological, and criminal baggage with them, creating headlines and making the rest of us look bad.

So rather than packing up and moving down to enjoy our sublime winter climate, I’d rather they just schedule their vacation for February rather than August, and save themselves (and us) the trouble of their moving here.

Barbecue and Birthday Cake

After only a week back into my quest to adopt The Paleo lifestyle  (and let me tell you it’s not easy to do when you’re married to a practical vegetarian),  I’m taking a break from that and this blog to kiss my 30′s goodbye.

I will eat cake, it will be chocolate, and I will enjoy every bite!

Enjoy your hot dogs and apple pie. And please,  take the opportunity to pray for those who rule our nation.

Happy Fourth!

We Have A Winner

Karen, who stumbled onto my blog by happenstance, is the winner of my surplus book giveaway!

My email address is on the sideblog, Karen. Email me and we can make arrangements for me to ship your books out on Monday.

I’m hoping Fridays will be All About Books Day on the blog, as time permits. I was hoping to post a review of the first book in the series, My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas. Alas, I am “on the road” today and didn’t have time to finish it. I’m at my first homeschool convention. It’s overwhelming, but thankfully it lasts more than one day so I can take it all in!

Ya’ll have a great weekend now!

Monday’s Musings (and a Giveaway!)

It’s been a while since I’ve done this but like most Mondays my week is beginning with lots of things I could write about but not enough time to write them. So here goes:

It’s May 23 and I’m still here:

When I saw the billboards around my city saying “The Lord is Coming: May 21, 2011″ I had no idea at first that the person who paid for them was serious; until the news broke that these billboards were popping up all over the country. Apparently I,  and quite a few saints far more righteous than me are not saved at all. We missed the rapture. Judgment Day has found me not up to spiritual snuff. My pastor and friends at church did, too. I’m tempted to mock the  minister who seems to have a reading comprehension problem, but I can’t bring myself to do it.  The issue is too serious in my opinion. Many people believed this and are disillusioned this morning. But just to be on the safe side…if you thought you were in good with Jesus and got “left behind” too, I need to hear from you. You know, just so I know that I’m not the only damned Christian soul still foolish enough to be hanging around the blogosphere when I should be preparing for the Apocalypse. I just mocked him, didn’t I?

Seriously, we should be praying for these people. Their faith is undoubtedly shaken. They spent or gave away everything they owned in preparation for May 21st, thinking it was Judgment Day. My SAM pointed out that we should be living everyday as if it could be the day anyway.  True words.

My culinary adventure continues: This gluten-free living stuff is harder than I thought. Well it really isn’t, but I was initially surprised at how many foods contain gluten. Foods you never suspect, like vanilla extract or dried fruits. While I’ve tried to focus mostly on avoidance of gluten through increasing green vegetables, proteins, and legumes, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at baking a few times. The quick breads have been a rousing success. Sweetie Pie asked for chocolate chip cookies and I found the recipe for Toll House cookies in this book, even with modifications to account for ingredients I didn’t have, to be quite good. Except for the expense of Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose baking mix (and I’m taking steps to start making my own baking mixes), I’m thankful that going gluten-free need not mean going baking-free. I’ve been doing a bit of reading and am frankly shocked that wheat (even whole wheat) isn’t as healthy as we’ve always been told it is. A little research produced a great bit of enlightenment. I need to brush off my copy of Nourishing Traditions pronto.

Strange Bedfellows: This blog is an interesting place, judging from where I get the most traffic. Most people find this blog NOT from seeing me linked on other Christian  blog rolls, but from links on “manosphere”  blog rolls. For my sisters who have absolutely no idea what the manosphere is, it’s a network of blogs primarily centered on topics related to men’s rights, the gender wars, and how feminism has altered the relations between the sexes. Most of the blogs are as far from Christian as you can get, but a few are family friendly. Hawaiian Libertarian sends the most people to this blog. He’s followed closely by Elusive Wapiti. Both of them are on my blog roll.Thanks, guys.

The next group that sends referrals this way (at least over the past couple of weeks) are folks who abhor everything I have to say about, well, everything. But I suspect it’s my views on marriage and family that first got me in the cross hairs. These are the snark forums. You’ll understand if I don’t provide links.

There are a few Christian sites that send significant referrals my way, like Laura at Full of Grace, Seasoned with Salt, Sheila at To Love Honor and Vacuum and Alte at Traditional Catholicism. So thanks, ladies!

It occurred to me recently that I’ve never done a giveaway: When I have books in excellent condition that I’m ready to part with I usually take them to a local used bookstore and trade them for credit towards more books. This time I’m going to give them away to a lucky blog reader! I have three books I want to bless someone with. A Wife After God’s Own Heart, by Elizabeth George. It’s a really great (and balanced!) marriage book for wives.  The second book is Healing Is  A Choice by Steve Arterburn. I read this one as part of a book club a few years ago and it has some good godly guidance for people who are  attempting to move past life-altering hurts. The third book is C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. I’ll announce a winner on Friday. Comments will be accepted until Thursday at noon. Good luck!

Happy Monday!

I Just Thought This Was Cool…

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I spent my formative years growing up in the house with my dad and brothers. I do have sisters, but they’re 13 and 15 years older than me, respectively.

The television was on sports in our house- a lot. I developed a fondness for sports, football and basketball in particular. I don’t watch them nearly as much as I used to. A typical football or basketball game eats far more time than I can usually sit and spare, especially since my husband isn’t into sports all that much. We do watch the occasional game of basketball (when the playoffs heat up),  and I really enjoy grand displays of athleticism.

Secret Agent Man, the kids and I all thought this display by Blake Griffin during the NBA’s slam dunk competition last Saturday night was pretty cool.

We are anticipating a beautiful,  very warm weekend which means lots of time outdoors. It’s been this way all week and the kids are loving it.

Whatever the weather in your neck of the woods, have a restful, worshipful family filled weekend!

Birthday Party!

It’s 2011 and I have already begun to look ahead with a sense of mild foreboding at the thought of kissing my 30′s goodbye later this year. Thankfully, Brenda has decided to go first. She’s turning 40 today and I couldn’t resist taking a minute to send her well wishes.

If money were no object and we were not separated by 986 miles, I know exactly what I’d give Brenda as a birthday gift: a craft room equipped with all the space and supplies she needs as she works on her many projects around the house. A place where she can sew and craft until her heart’s content. It would look something like this:

Alas, money IS an object and we are separated by just shy of 1,000 miles so this will have to do: 

I think I’ll wrap this up by linking to a few of my favorite posts of Brenda’s:

Helping Our Husbands With Work

A Place for the Husband

Neglect

A very good friend of mine recently turned 50 and shared this little bit of wisdom. She said the anticipation of turning 50 was far worse than the reality of actually being 50. I’m hoping Brenda will confirm her findings about turning 40!

Happy Birthday, Brenda. I pray you will be blessed greater with health, happiness, holiness than you’ve ever known in the years ahead.

I said this was a birthday party and it is. Giovanna and several other blogging friends have decided to join in to send birthday greetings to Brenda today. Click over to Giovanna’s for links to the rest of the birthday posts.

Or you can just click over to Brenda’s blog and wish her a happy birthday.

craft room picture credit

birthday cake picture credit

We Interrupt Regularly Scheduled Programming…

To congratulate Joanna, and her husband on the birth of their sixth child, a baby boy named Isaac. After five girls, it appears dad finally has some company…

Congratulations Joanna and hubby!

Do You Wear a Wedding Ring?

This is not a deep subject, to be sure, but after reading the comments of a recent post at Full of Grace, Seasoned With Salt,  my curiosity was piqued.

Until just a few years ago, I assumed just about every woman wore a wedding ring. I knew that there were a few denominations and religious orders that shun jewelry of any kind, but I thought they represented a small minority of married women.

I wear a wedding ring, always have. I don’t feel any more married with my ring than I would without it. However, I have had a few instances where I was approached by well-meaning men when I was without my ring and realized that had I been wearing it, an awkward situation might have been avoided. It helps me remember to wear my ring when I go out. Of course, that was during earlier years in my marriage. These days, the gaggle of kids following me around pretty well marks me as a committed woman. Or one who’s got enough on her plate already, take your pick! I’ve worn mine for so many years now that I don’t feel fully dressed without it.

That said, I am not saying that a wedding ring is a necessity. Neither am I convinced that it is any guarantee against being hit on, nor does it guarantee fidelity in the heart of the wearer. I know that. Jesus had a few words to say about it as well.

It’s a nice tradition, and rings are very pretty, but it appears they don’t  hold the significance they once did. My husband wears a ring. He has not found it to be much of a deterrent from interested women. Sometimes a magnet, but that’s a post for another day, because I definitely have some thoughts about that.

Do you wear a wedding ring? If so, do you feel it is very significant? Why? If you don’t wear one, why not?

 

Miscellaneous blog keeping note: I will be streamlining and organizing my category tags into something more coherent over the next several days (weeks?). This will cause older posts to pop up in Google Reader when I make the changes. I certainly wouldn’t mind comments being left on those, especially since I lost most of my comments with the switch from Blogger, but most of them will not be new.

Make Funeral Arrangements at Wal-Mart (And Other Random Musings)

Some interesting things I’ve run across of late:

• The post title is accurate. Wal-Mart sells caskets, urns, and any other number of things a family might need during their time of bereavement. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!
• There is a documentary/comedy playing in theaters that I am really intrigued by. It’s called Good Hair, narrated by the very funny Chris Rock. I realize that most women have a love/hate relationship with their hair. However, I have yet to meet a white woman who comes even close to spending in a year what the average black woman spends on her hair in just the first three months of the year. Even here in my frugal house, where we take a do-it-ourselves approach to hair care for the most part, we probably spend about $1000 a year on our hair, which sounds like a lot, but for myself and three teen aged girls, it’s not much compared to our family and friends who visit the salon a lot more often than we do. I sometimes fantasize about chopping off my chemically straight hair and returning to my roots, but I don’t know that I ever will.
• I have a link over on the side to a recent post by Sheila. It resonated with me so because I often wonder if I am the only stay at home mom who feels this way. Sheila put into words what I often want to say to folks who think that because I’m at home, it means I’m available in way that I wouldn’t be if I was “at work.” But here’s the thing: I AM at work!! I just happen to work at home, make my own schedule, and don’t get a paycheck, lol. But my job is as important, no,more important than anything I could do sitting in a cubicle all day.

Hopefully next week I’ll something substantive to say, but for now…

Have a relaxed, worshipful, and family-filled weekend.