Friday’s Fave Five

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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. A ladies’conference that a sister church invited our ladies to last weekend with the theme “Christ My Light.”

2. A relatively quiet week after several busy ones.

3. The Private Diary of Bella Swan, HT to Carrie. I haven’t read the Twilight books and only saw the film because my son and his girlfriend wanted to, so I’m not a fan, but I thought this was funny.

4. This video:

5. Not one but TWO food items! Both chocolate.

I’m on a quest to find a chocolate chess pie recipe that tastes similar to the one at Golden Corral. The first one I tried was The Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie. It was good – but not like Golden Corral’s. So the experimentation will continue. 🙂

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And I’ve been craving these Choco Peanut Butter Dreams for days and finally made them last night.

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Happy Friday!

A Thousand Words In Idioms: The Rainy Version

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If “language is the dress of thoughts” ( Johnson), then idioms must the wardrobe.

Jientje at Heaven Is In Belgium hosts A  Thousand Words In Idioms on Wednesdays wherein she asks participants to illustrate an idiom or two with a photo. This is the next-to-last opportunity to participate as the challenge will end after next Wednesday.

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Into each life some rain must fall.

This means that every life will have its bad days…or weeks, or seasons. But just as the rain serves its purpose in the earth, so do those less-than-bright days in our lives, if we’ll let them.

Folly Beach sunrise

Come rain or shine.

This means that plans will go on no matter what happens.

Stop by Jientje‘s for more idiom illiustrations.

Friday’s Fave Five

FFF fall leaves 2

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. My semi-annual clothes switch. We have pretty small closets in this house, so twice a year I have to switch out seasonal clothes between the attic and the closet. Though I like my spring/summer clothes better, seeing the fall/winter ones again are like seeing old friends. It’s almost like having something new to wear.

2. Finding my purple dress. There was one particular dress I was looking for this week that’s just good for many occasions and isn’t strictly winter, but I couldn’t find it. It wasn’t in the back of my closet nor in the storage box for off-season clothes. Finally I remembered I had put some clothes in a separate box as there were more than would fit in the old one, so we found the box in the attic last night. I was beginning to be afraid I had accidentally given it away, so I was relieved.

3. Days off from school. Though school was cancelled for a bad reason — about 1/4 of the school was out sick — and that’s not a favorite thing, nevertheless I don’t mind not setting the alarm clocks for a few extra days. And thankfully we have all been well except for a couple of days of sore throats.

4. A mammogram is not a favorite thing, but the fact that it is done for at least another year is. I’ve been supposed to schedule it since last spring but just hadn’t gotten around to it. And since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let me point you to this post at Rocks in My Dryer, where she describes what happens for anyone who might be apprehensive of the procedure. Mine was a bit more uncomfortable that what she describes, but only for a few seconds at a time.

5. An order came in from Pale Pink and Roses, purchased during Make Mine Pink’s Friday Shopping Event.

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That little cupboard is just darling. I am going to use it in my craft room but I am not sure exactly how yet. And it is amost impossible to find pink linens in stores here.

That’s it for today — hope you have a great Friday!

Friday’s Fave Five

FFF fall leaves 2

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

This is going to be short (which some would say is an improvement. 🙂 ) but hopefully sweet as I have a lot to get done today.

1. Cooler temperatures.

2. Good reports from doctor visits  and lab work. Nothing wrong besides the usual issues — just catching up on check-ups.

3. The Lord lifting up and encouraging when I was down and frustrated and providing grace and strength and guidance for things I needed to do.

4. This cracked me up:

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

5. And this touched my heart — one of the neatest things I have ever seen:

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Hope you have a wonderful Friday!

A Thousand Words In Idioms: The Cash Version

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If “language is the dress of thoughts” ( Johnson), then idioms must the wardrobe.

Jientje at Heaven Is In Belgium hosts A  Thousand Words In Idioms on Wednesdays wherein she asks participants to illustrate an idiom or two with a photo.

cold hard cash

Cold, hard cash.

If you pay for something on cold, hard cash, you are using actual bills and coins rather than a check or credit card.

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Stopping on a dime.

If you stop  on a dime, that means you have very little space or room to stop. An alternate is to “turn on a dime,” meaning it was an extremely sharp turn or there was little space in which to turn.

You can visit Jientje’s on Wednesdays for more creatively illustrated idioms. It’s fun to see what people come up with, plus every now and then I learn one I had never heard of before.

Friday’s Fave Five

friday-fave-five-spring

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. School’s out! Jesse’s school has a teacher’s conference for a couple of days.

2. The Biggest Loser. I only started watching the show last year. I don’t like the trainers’ yelling in faces, but I love seeing the contestants’ progress. I loved that everyone did well and no one got sent home this week.

3. Triple chocolate chip cookie from the Barnes and Noble Cafe. Jeremy brought one back for me when he went out there this week. It was perfect — fresh and soft. And no, the irony is not lost on me that I mention that after mentioning The Biggest Loser — or that I received it while watching that show.

4. Picking up my cross stitch again. I had set it aside before Christmas and just got it out again this week. I like working on it while watching TV — unless it’s something really suspenseful and needs full attention.

5. Jasmine rice. Jeremy, my oldest, has been teaching himself to cook in anticipation of leaving the nest one day. He’s very much a by-the-book cook whereas I tend to throw things together, substituting or leaving out ingredients I don’t have. He has taught me a few things! I’m finding out those little touches can make a big difference. Something he made called for jasmine rice, and I really liked it. It comes out better for me and takes a little less time than long grain, but has a better texture than Minute rice. I used it for the first time myself in one dish this week, and really liked how it came out.

I’m off to the doctor this morning — NOT a favorite thing. But it’s been well over a year since I have been there, and they won’t refill my prescriptions unless I come in. I know, I know, how demanding. 🙄 Just kidding. I don’t mind the not eating before the lab work that much, but not drinking is really getting to me. I almost always have something to sip on close at hand. This will be my first “over 50” appointment where I already know she’s going to want to discuss some of those over-50 things they like to schedule…so I am not looking forward to that. But, I’ll be around to visit you all later on today.

Random Dozen Meme #3


Hosted by Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

1. Please share one middle school memory. It can be good, bad, ugly, funny. Pictures or words, I don’t care, just share.

I had junior high rather than middle school — it wasn’t until a few years after that that schools in our area went to a middle school format. 7th grade is mostly a blur — I was only in that area one year. Before 8th grade we moved to a new town that was THE most clique-ish place I have ever been in. There were three distinct “groups” in school, and they didn’t seem open to new people. I spent the first few weeks of the school lunch hour walking around by myself crying. Finally a girl named Dawn befriended me. A couple of years later when I had made friends with a few other people and started dating one guy, they urged me to “drop” Dawn, but I said no way. All of that may have been the Lord’s protection, though — years later I found out some of the most popular kids were into some pretty unwholesome things, including one guy I’d had a crush on. That was a vulnerable time in my life because those were the years leading to my parents’ divorce. If I had gotten in with that group of kids, who knows what kind of trouble I would have ended up with.

2. What’s your favorite Beatles song?

I’m not really a Beatles fan, but in my teens I liked “Yesterday.” I don’t know why — it was kind if depressing.

3. If I asked you to describe your most comfortable outfit, what would it be?

Most of my everyday outfits are pretty much the same style: a dress of lightweight woven fabric that is loose but not baggy.

4. Would you rather host a party or be a guest?

I’m not much for parties, but I’d rather be a guest. I enjoy hosting when I do it, but I find it stressful.

5. Do you think we will move completely from traditional books to digital ones, and if we do, are you OK with that?

I hope we never do. I think most people who enjoy reading enjoy more than just absorbing words: there is that whole feel and experience of holding a book…not to mention my eyes feel strained at just the thought of trying to read much in one of those tiny screens. But I can see the portability of digital ones, especially when traveling.

6. Do you learn best by reading, listening or experiencing?

It depends on what it is I am learning. I do better with a task by listening while experiencing, but overall I’d say I learn most by reading.

7. If you are (or when you were) single, what is the kiss of death for you concerning the opposite sex? (That is, what is one trait or behavior or habit or anything at all that immediately turns you off from considering that person a potential match for you?)

Self-absorption, selfish, thoughtless behavior.

8. Snacks. Salty or sweet?

Usually sweet though sometimes I crave something salty.

9. Look around you in a four foot radius. What object is around you that you didn’t realize was there or forgot was there? How long has it been there?

A vase from my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding that I need to return to them.

10. What is your favorite Tom Cruise movie?

I don’t think I have seen many Tom Cruise movies. The only one that comes to mind is the first “Mission: Impossible.” I saw it on TV, so if it had any bad language or scenes, they were cleaned up, and I enjoyed the suspense.

11. You buy a bottle of shampoo and discover that you don’t like what it does to your hair at all. What do you do with that full bottle?

I might offer it to someone else, with full disclosure as to why I don’t want it, but if no one wants it I eventually throw it out. I was thinking I couldn’t take it back to the store unless there were something actually wrong with it, but I don’t know — some may have a money-back guarantee. But if that involves sending the unused portion back, I don’t think it would be worth it.

12. Your favorite Fall comfort food? (Last week it was beverage.)

Quick breads — banana bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread…mmmmm…

A Thousand Words In idioms: The Bookish Version

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If “language is the dress of thoughts” ( Johnson), then idioms must the wardrobe.

Jientje at Heaven Is In Belgium hosts A  Thousand Words In Idioms on Wednesdays wherein she asks participants to illustrate an idiom or two with a photo.

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By the book.

If someone goes “by the book,” they are going exactly by the rules or established procedures, or sometimes literally by what a book says to do. I illustrated that with a list of “How to” books because if someone is looking for a book about how to do something, they are wanting to go to some extent by the book.

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An open book.

If someone’s life is an open book, they have no secrets, no skeletons in the closet; they’re open to scrutiny without fear of what anyone will find. A variation is “his or her face is an open book,” meaning they don’t or can’t hide their feelings. You can pretty much tell their reaction or what they’re thinking by looking at them.

I know we’re only supposed to do two — but of the three I have I can’t decide between just two. So I hope you’ll forgive me for including one more.

My Bible

The Good Book.

Sometimes people refer to the Bible as the Good Book. It is that — but it is so much more than just that.

Friday’s Fave Five

friday-fave-five-spring

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. Meeting author Beverly Lewis! She came to a nearby Christian bookstore for a book signing, but spoke to the crowd for a few minutes about her new release, The Missing, and answered questions from the crowd. I mentioned a while back that I had gone to some of these book signings to hear what the authors had to say, but rarely worked up the courage to actually meet them, and was surprised when one of the authors I mentioned plus a few others I had read “dropped in” on that post to encourage readers to stop by their tables. So…this time I did. Mittu went with me (another enjoyable aspect!) and I had told her that I wasn’t sure what to say, so just before we got to Beverly, Mittu said, “Do you know what you’re going to say yet?” I said, “Nope!” But Beverly was very amiable and easy to talk to.

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I don’t know why I am looking like I just ate something sour there — someone who knows me, please tell me I don’t wear that expression often!!!

2. Our church’s ladies’ meeting Monday night. I had thought about making this a separate blog post and probably should have. On the way there I was wrestling with anxiety over a certain issue, and the verse kept coming to mind, “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:32b). That was a great comfort. Then our speaker told about an opportunity she had to minister in the Philippines this past summer in a Bible Institute in the music department. As the Lord led and provided every step of the way for her to go, she said the verse that kept coming back to her was Psalm 116:7: “Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.” That blessed me. Then just hearing how the Lord used her stirred me up again for the ministries He has given me, even though mine are different from hers.

3. Jesse’s 16 birthday

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…..which included eating out for his birthday dinner at Red Lobster.

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Up until this year he would never have chosen seafood, but somehow he discovered he liked salmon. I like their popcorn shrimp, myself, and their baked potatoes are some of the best ever.

And I really appreciated that they were very accommodating to my mother-in-law. We’ve never had a really negative experience at a restaurant with her, but these folks were just especially accomodating, helpful and friendly. This reminds me I meant to write a note to them.

4. Discovering a forgotten gift card while cleaning out my desk.

5. Working in my craft room. I hadn’t done much in there since the initial setting up of furniture, but I got some time this week to start sorting and organizing stuff. It’s fun rediscovering what I have and getting it in order. I’m itching to get back in there.

Happy Friday!

Wednesday Random Dozen Meme


Hosted by Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

1. Which is worse: a long, boring meeting or standing in a return/exchange line after Christmas?

Standing in line to return something. I’d rather sit than stand, for one thing, and I am always a bit nervous they’re going to give me a hard time about my return, though that doesn’t usually happen.

2. Except for maybe Rosie O’Donnell or Ann Coulter, nobody likes confrontation, yet we all have to deal with it. When you feel cornered and defensive, do you “bite back” or become passive aggressive?

I usually just try to get away, and then stew about it inwardly for a long time (not healthy, I know).

3. Do you know anything about your genealogical background? (What country, culture, ties to prominent historical figures, or other stuff.)

We’re a hodgepodge — English, German, I think some Scottish or Irish, and supposedly a little bit of Cherokee. I don’t know much of anything beyond my grandfather’s parents on my mom’s side, and just back to my grandparents on all the other sides.

4. What is the quickest way a person can endear him/herself to you?

Unexpectedly doing something thoughtful or kind or jumping in to help.

5. Cake, pie, cookies, or ice cream? (Note there is no “all of the above” option. You must choose one. Feel free to elaborate on flavor or memories tied to this dessert.) If you’d like, you can share a recipe, but you certainly don’t have to.

Cookies. I can’t eat ice cream (I do know about stuff you can take for lactose intolerance and I do use it with other things, but I am afraid to with straight milk or ice cream, as those affected me the worst). Love pies, but they’re a bit more trouble to make with all the rolling of pie crusts and peeling of fruit (hence I never thought the term “easy as pie” made sense). Love cake, but we just don’t have it much except for birthdays. So cookies are what I crave and have most often. Mt favorite brands are Oreos with chocolate cream in the middle and Chunky Chips Ahoy. My favorite cookies to make are Pudding Chip and Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

6. Females: Do you regularly change your handbag to coordinate with your outfit?

Yes. I had a whole post, quiz, and meme about purses around this time last year.

7. Are you task-oriented or relationship-oriented?

Task-oriented, I’m afraid. I have to frequently remind myself that however urgent the task is, people are more important.

8. IHOP, Bob Evans or Cracker Barrel?

Cracker Barrel, hands down. I’ve never been to a Bob Evans — would love to find and try one some day.

9. Have you ever left a movie in progress in a theater? Why?

It’s been…let me think….35 or so years since I’ve been in a movie theater, and I really don’t remember ever doing so, though I may have.

10. What is one area of life in which you would like to develop more discipline or organization?

One area? What area would I not like to develop more discipline and organization?

11. Was middle school fun or painful?

Very painful.

12. What is your favorite Fall beverage?

I don’t drink much of anything in the fall that I don’t drink during the rest of the year except the occasional cup of apple cider if someone is serving it at their home or event. And I do start drinking more coffee when the weather turns cooler.