Category Archives: Fun stuff

Thursday Thirteen: More One-Liners

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1. One good turn gets all the blankets.

2. Write all complaints legibly in this space –> [ ]

3. My friend got the Amish flu. First she got a little hoarse…then she got a little buggy.

4. If a book about failure doesn’t sell, is it a success?

5. For every action here is an equal and opposite criticism.

6. Two of the biggest problems in America are making ends meet and making meetings end.

7. It’s becoming more and more difficult to support the government in the style to which it has become accustomed.

8. Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear.

9. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

10. Don’t judge a book by its movie.

11. TV news people have the hardest job in the world — trying to cram 10 minutes of news into an hour long show.

12. I misplaced my dictionary. Now I’m at a loss for words.

13. Here at First National, you’re not just a number: you’re two numbers, a dash, three more numbers, another dash, and another number.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

5 Blogs That Make Me Think

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Janeen (aka ChupieandJ’smama) at Our Story has named me one of the bloggers that makes her think and passed on the Thinking Blogger’s award. Thank you, Janeen! That was very kind of you. 🙂

The instructions that go along with this reward are to then name five bloggers who make me think. Probably all the bloggers I read make me think in some way or another. Some of the ones that come to mind have been named for this particular award more than once, so I want to try to name some that I haven’t seen awarded yet (which is harder than I thought it would be! I keep putting people’s names down, going to their blog to copy the url, and finding they have received this award already!).

1. Mrs. Wilt at The Sparrow’s Nest makes me think about creativity and joy in homemaking.

2. Erica at Butterfly Kisses began Psalms Sundays, which causes me to think through rather than just zoom through one Psalm each Sunday.

3. Elle at A Complete Thought makes me think about doctrinal issues and spiritual truth.

4. Mrs. B at Cherish the Home makes me think all across the spectrum, from homemaking to Scriptural truth.

5. I wanted to include at least one of the craft blogs I love here. With raising three boys, crafts have kind of drifted off my landscape over the years, but some of the craft blogs I have found have been truly inspiring to me, causing my to think about ways to include crafts in my life again, both for the joy of creating and the meaningfulness crafting gives to one’s home decor and to gifts for others. There are so many great ones out there it was hard to narrow down, but I decided to name little birds handmade, because she not only caused me to think about crafting again, but to actually do some: button wreaths and soft trees.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

You can choose from silver or gold:

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Fun with Peeps

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This has nothing to do with Easter, except that Peeps make their appearances in stores this time of year, but if you’ve never seen the Lord of the Peeps site, go check it out — it’s hilarious.

Then there is also Peeps Research.

Marriage meme

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I saw this meme floating around on several blogs this morning, so I thought I’d borrow it. 🙂 I would save it for my anniversary, but that’s not until December.

Marriage meme

1. Where/How did you meet?
In the library, where we both worked, at college.

2. How long have you known each other?
29 years.

3. How long after you met did you start dating?
About four months.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?
A year and four months.

5. How long was your engagement?
Seven months.

6. How long have you been married?
27 years.

7. What is your anniversary?
12/21.

8. How many people came to your wedding reception?
Oh, my — I have no idea. Somewhere around 100-120 maybe?

9. What kind of cake did you serve?
White cake with white frosting decorated with blue flowers.

10. Where was your wedding?
My home church in Houston, TX.

11. What did you serve for your meal?
We didn’t have a meal — that wasn’t a tradition then, at least not in our area. Just cake, punch, nuts, and mints.

12. How many people were in your wedding party?
We each just had one attendant — most of our friends lived out of state and we got married over Christmas break.

13. Are you still friends with them all?
Yes, though we don’t keep in touch as much as I’d like.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?
No, I don’t think so.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day?
There’s no one moment that stands out — it was all special. 🙂

16.Any funny moments?
Not really.

17. Any big disasters?
One of the soloists called in sick that morning, and then just before I was to begin walking down the aisle, a garland wrapped around an arch in the middle of the platform came undone and started slowly unwinding from around the arch. A dear lady sitting at the front went up and tucked it back in.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We spent the first night in a nice hotel in Houston, but didn’t have an extended honeymoon — time and money were tight (we were both still students). Though it wasn’t planned this way, we spent our second night at my folks’ home in my old bedroom because something with our car needed to be worked on and we couldn’t leave that day. I’ll tell you, it felt mighty strange bringing a man into my bedroom! We spent the next day driving (with a U-Haul with my stuff) back to Greenville, SC, to set up housekeeping and get ready for second semester.

19. How long were you gone?
See above.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?
My veil. I wanted to look kind of like a Southern bell, but later I thought the veil looked more Spanish.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
Left.

22. What size is your bed?
Queen

23. Greatest strength as a couple?
Commitment.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple?
My husband’s traveling.

25. Who literally pays the bills?
He does.

26. What is your song?
We don’t have one.

27. What did you dance your first dance to?
We’ve never danced. 🙂

28. Describe your wedding dress:
How about if I just show you instead?
Wedding Day

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?
This is terrible, but I don’t really remember, and I can’t tell from the picture what was in my bouquet. I think there were white roses and blue-tinted carnations. I had wanted more blue, but there weren’t many blue flowers, especially in December.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved?
No.

31. How old were you when you got married?
I was 22 and my husband was 21.

Feel free to grab this meme and play along — let me know if you do.

The Wiki Meme

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Saw this over at Melli’s and thought it looked like fun. The instructions are:

The rules are:

1) Go to Wikipedia
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday
4) List two important birthdays and one death
5) One holiday or observance (if any)
6) Tag 5 other bloggers to complete

Three events:

Two Birthdays:

One death:

  • 1940 – Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)

One holiday or observance:

Five tags:

She likes my post!

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I was very surprised this morning to discover that Carol at She Lives had awarded me the “She Likes My Post” award for the post “When there is no hunger for God’s Word.” This is my first ever blog honor/award, and I am honored that it came from Carol. 🙂 I do hope the post is a blessing to people in “diagnosing” why we’re sometimes not as hungry for the Word as we should be.

Dinner conversation

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I’ve recently rediscovered quiche. I don’t know why I stopped making it — I guess I just forgot about it. I made it several weeks ago and my youngest really liked it, so I put it back in my repertoire.

I made it again last night. As everyone was coming to the table, I told Jesse, my youngest son (age 13) that when I used to make this, his dad would say, “Quiche me, baby!”

After just a second when he “got” it, he put his head in his hand and shook his head.

Parents! 🙄

He was smiling, though, as he did it.

My favorite things

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Kimberly, at the appropriately titled Kimberly’s Cup, whom I met through the Ultimate Blog Party, made a meme about “favorite things.” Since I tagged a bunch of people last time, I won’t tag anyone officially for this one, but if you do it, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll come read your list (or you can answer in the comments if you like). And please do credit Kimberly if you do this on your blog.

I have a hard time narrowing favorites down to just one, but I’ll do my best.

A Authors
Classic: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, L. M. Montgomery
Contemporary: Terri Blackstock, Dee Henderson, Lori Wick, Beverly Lewis

B Books
Classic Childrens’ Books: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery; Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Classics for Adults: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Non-fiction: Climbing and Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth; By Searching and In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn

Other favorite non-fiction books are listed here and fiction books here.

C Coffee
Plain decaf. Not exciting, I know. 🙂

D Dessert
Devil’s food cake with chocolate fudge icing.

E Elegant Object You Own
A few brooches seen here

F Flowers
Pink roses, white carnations, lavender hydrangeas

G Guests for Tea
My good friends Valorie and Carol. I’d love for them to meet each other, and I always enjoy time with each of them.

H Home
I like homes with a Southern style or maybe even a Victorian style if not too fussy. I’d love a big front porch and lots of room.

I Inspirational Authors
Elisabeth Elliot, Isobel Kuhn, Rosalind Goforth

J Jane Austen book
I’ve only read Pride and Prejudice so far: I’ve just started Sense and Sensibility and want to also read Persuasion. I‘ll tell you my favorite after I’ve done that. 🙂

K Kitchen Gadget
My Salad Shooter or my multi-measure measuring spoons

L Laundry Help
Stain Stick

M Musical
Phantom of the Opera

N Naptime
Sunday afternoons. I don’t take naps every day, but Sunday afternoon is one time my body just craves it. It’s a nice break and refreshes me for the Sunday evening services.

O Organizing Tip
The OHIO principle, when possible to use it: Only Handle It Once. Putting things away while in hand rather than setting them out of place “just for now” saves so much clutter.

P Pride & Prejudice Character
Kimberly’s answer was based on the films, so I’ll answer in like fashion — I’m not sure. This is a hard one. 🙂 I liked Mr. Bennet in the 2005 one even though it wasn’t true to the book. But I am a stickler for movies being true to the book. I liked Jane better in the A&E version than the 2005 one, and Mr. Darcy better in the 2005 one than the A&E one. Didn’t like Mrs. Bennet in either. 🙂 I liked Elizabeth better in the book than in either film.

Q Quote
“God does not waste suffering, nor does He discipline out of caprice. If He plough, it is because He purposes a crop.” — J. Oswald Sanders

I have a whole category of favorite quotes here. 🙂

R Recipe
For dinner, Chicken Enchilada Bake is one. A favorite seasonal dessert is Harvest Loaf Cake. Cookies — one favorite is Pudding Chip Cookies.

S Scent
Cookies baking. Rain. Carnations. Artificial scents give me a headache.

T Tea
Lipton’s decaf

U Underwater Creature
Sea horses

V Voyage You’ve Taken
I’ve never taken one.

W Water Feature; Lake, Creek, Ocean, etc.
Padre Island, Texas. At least it was when I lived near it — I don’t know what it’s like today. Then there were beach and sand dunes as far as the eye could see and not a lot of commercialization.

X X-tra Special Treat for Yourself
Curling up on the couch with a throw blanket and a good book. Eating out. 😀

Y Thing About YOU!
That I am a saved child of God, that I love to read, that I am quiet. Actually I had a love/hate relationship with being quiet. It can keep me out of trouble and help me learn a lot. 🙂 But it can also cause me to miss opportunities to say things I should say.

Z Zoo Animal

Zebras!

Making headlines!

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(Ultimate Blog Party post is below! 🙂 )

My oldest son found this cool widget that shows a newspaper twirling around like in the old TV shows with your blog post titles as the major headline. Unfortunately WordPress doesn’t allow JavaScript so it won’t work here. 😦 But he set it up for me on his blog with my blog feed here. The info. about it is here.

The Ultimate Blog Party

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Ultimate Blog Party
You know, I’ve had the Ultimate Blog Party button on my sidebar for a few weeks, I think, but I’d forgotten it starts tomorrow! Or at midnight tonight, actually, Eastern time.

First of all, thanks to Janice and Susan for this great idea, for hosting this, and for assembling the prizes!

If you’ve not yet heard about this party, the details are here. It’s an open invitation. From the main page it says: “Everyone is invited, regardless of parental status, gender, religious affiliations, etc. This party is about having fun with friends and meeting new people.” So join right in!

Since we are all also hosting each other, I guess this is something like a progressive dinner, huh? Well, come on in, have some munchies and something to drink, and have a seat. I’m glad to have you visit. 🙂

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. This is the last year I’ll be able to say I’m 40-something. 😯 I’ve been married for 27 years to my husband, Jim, and we have 3 boys, ages 22, 19, and 13. None has left the nest yet though my oldest is perched on the edge. I don’t even want to think about it yet. Here are my guys:

My guys

That was the first picture I took with the digital camera they got me for my birthday last summer.

I have been able to be a stay-at-home mom since I was expecting my oldest, for which I am very thankful. I enjoy working with the ladies’ group at church, reading (I often talk about what I’m reading and I try to keep a reading list on my sidebar), writing, decorating, and I’ve just been getting back into crafting in the last few months, inspired by some of the beautiful craft blogs I’ve discovered. I made a separate craft blogroll over on the side.

My little corner of the Internet is kind of a hodgepodge eclectic. Though I am a mom and love to chat with other moms, I didn’t want this to be exclusively a mom blog. I like to talk about a little bit about many things, thus the title “Stray Thoughts.” I’m first of all a Christian, and my relationship with Christ is the center, the hub that connects everything else. I just wrote 5 reasons I blog recently, but the main one is that I hope I can be an encouragement to others, other women in particular. I don’t really consider myself an expert in anything, but hopefully I can share what I have learned along the way as well as learn from others. And I like to have fun, too. 🙂

I participate regularly in the weekly Psalms Sundays, Tackle-It-Tuesday,  Works-For-Me Wednesday, and the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt. From time to time I also do a Thursday Thirteen and a Wordless Wednesday. Other than those, my posts are made up of my “stray thoughts.” 😀

I hope you’ll come back to visit again, and I am looking forward to visiting you as well! Please do leave a comment to let me know you stopped by. 🙂