Category Archives: Memes

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!

Works-For-Me Wednesday: The kitchen edition

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Those looking for Ultimate Blog Party post can click here here. 🙂

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This week’s WFMW is another themed one based in the kitchen. I’m looking forward to reading this week’s tips as I still feel like I need help in the kitchen even though I have been active in one since my teens.

We usually store like things together, and most of the time that is the most efficient. But I read somewhere once about someone who had set up a “baking center” in her kitchen, with all of the supplies she’d need for baking in one area. I thought that was brilliant — saves the need for having to retrieve things from all over the kitchen when you’re getting ready to bake. I separated my spices into two groups, the ones primarily used for baking and the ones primarily used for cooking. I store the ones used for cooking near the stove and the ones for baking in the cabinet with the brown sugar, etc. The canisters of flour and sugar are in the cabinet below.The measuring cups are in the cabinet to the left. Their is an outlet there for my mixer and those cabinets are in a corner where there is space to work and the sink is just to the right. It would be ideal to have my mixing bowls and measuring spoons there, but it won’t work with my current kitchen — they are just a couple of steps away, though. Having all the baking stuff in one area saves time, effort, and frustration, and that works for me. 🙂

Some of the other kitchen tips I have blogged about along the way are organizing the refrigerator drawer, doing one extra kitchen job a night to keep on top of kitchen clean-up, an easy way to clean drip pans and rings from your stove, and how I organize recipes clipped from magazines. I wrote about my love of using chicken tenderloins along with a recipe for Chicken Enchilada Bake. Other recipes are for Chicken and Stuffing Casserole and Oven-Baked Chicken, Harvest Loaf Cake, Swiss Ham Ring-Around, Vegetable Medley and Fruit and Yogurt Salad, Corny Potato Chowder, and Quick Chicken Parmesan.

And that is just about my entire repertoire of kitchen tips. 🙂 Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer to read more or share your own.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Sources for inexpensive prints

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I wanted to share today some sources for inexpensive prints to decorate your home with.

1. Cards

This is from a card that happened to be 8×10, so it fit perfectly in that size frame. But many smaller cards can fit into a 5×7″ frame. This combines my love of bears, hearts, and Scripture (not in that order. 🙂 ). The verse says, “A cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15.”

Bear tea

2. Calendars

This came from a D. Morgan calendar. Even though the dimensions aren’t quite 8×10, it fit by allowing for some of the edge around the calendar picture to be a border. The wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom looked like sand dunes to me, and I found a couple of inexpensive Thomas Kincaid lighthouse prints in a catalog once, so that set a lighthouse theme for this room.

lighthouse

3. Unframed prints

A friend told me years ago that framing shops will sometimes have a section of inexpensive unframed prints. Most of them won’t fit into the standard (and less expensive) frames, but with a mat sometimes you can make it work. You can always get a custom frame, but that can get expensive (be sure to check your Sunday paper for Michael’s 50% off custom framing coupons. 🙂 ) This print was, if I remember correctly, about $6 some 15-20 years ago — the prices may be higher now. The dimensions were some odd size, but I was able to fit the main part of the picture behind this mat and then into a standard frame (I think this is 16×20). This also combines a couple of my loves, reading and pink roses, and I love the peacefulness of it. Please forgive the glare there — the other shots I tried without the flash were shadowy or showed up the reflection rather than the print.

lady reading

You can find great tips and/or share yours at Rocks In My Dryer.

Why I blog

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Erica at Butterfly Kisses tagged me for this meme in which we’re to list 5 reasons why we blog. Thanks for thinking of me, Erica! 🙂

1. I hope the Lord can use it as a ministry to encourage other Christian women and to be a light to those who do not yet know Christ as Savior.

2. Always, or at least often, in the back of my mind I have wanted to write, and the best way to learn to write well is to write, I’m told. What the Lord might do with that desire, I don’t know, but I do know that writing frequently in a blog has helped to sharpen my thinking and my expression and caused me to brush up on a few grammatical rules. 🙂

3. I am on an e-mail subscriber list for people with transverse myelitis, and it has been a great support system through the years. Now I am at the point of being able to encourage new folks there. But in general if I talk about the Lord very much, it’s frowned upon by some in the group. I wanted a place to be able to express myself freely in that regard. I’ve been so thankful that my blog stats frequently show that some search involving TM has led people to my blog, and I hope they found something here that’s helpful.

4. I can think things through when I write about them. Just the process of putting thoughts in writing helps me focus, sort, prioritize, draw conclusions, etc.

5. I’ve enjoyed “meeting” and interacting with other bloggers.

I think I’ll tag Kim, Susan, and Bet — and as always, if you don’t have time, I won’t be offended. 🙂 And if you’ve already done this, please forgive me — I have seen it here and there but can’t remember where.

Thursday Thirteen finale

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I hadn’t planned to do a Thursday Thirteen today, but I just found out that this is the last one!! The powers that be at the TT hub have decided to close down shop. It looks like there is some possibility of someone else buying the rights and resurrecting it.

I’ve been wrestling with some of the weekly memes. I enjoy doing them and it doesn’t take much time to do them. But I feel if I want people to read my entries, I ought to read other people’s. And I think that’s part of the purpose of TT — to introduce bloggers to each other. But when there are 200+ people who participate in the Thursday Thirteen — there’s just now way to visit all of them, even half of them, and get anything else accomplished. So in trying to figure out where the balance is, I’ve pulled back a bit. But I will miss it. I’ve enjoyed the chance to share something serious or silly with other readers, the real live comments! 😀 (My blog stats show I have readers, but there are just a few who comment when I write my heart out about something. But those who visit and comment on the weekly memes like TT, Wordless Wednesday, the Saturday Photo Hunt, etc., make me feel like I’m not so alone in my corner of the blogosphere.), the weekly visit with some of the “regulars” I’ve come to know through TT, the interesting funny, or thoughtful things I have read on others’ lists.

For this finale for Thursday Thirteen as we know it, here are my favorite past TT posts:

1. Thirteen favorite quotes

2. Thirteen favorite Q&A jokes

3. Thirteen favorite Bible verses

4. Thirteen things you might not know about me

5. Thirteen favorite jokes

6. Thirteen reasons to read the Bible

7. Thirteen favorite CDs

8. Thirteen things I am thankful for

9. Thirteen things to make small groups run more smoothly

10. Thirteen of life’s little pleasures

11. Thirteen one-liners  

12. Thirteen things Suzie the dog likes to do

13. Thirteen whys

It’s been fun! Don’t be a stranger!

Works-For-Me Wednesday: “You can’t say no until you pray about it”

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wfmwheader_4.jpgAny article or book you read or talk you hear about managing time will include this point: you have to be willing to say no to some activities. Especially in this day and age when opportunities to do things or have your kids involved in things abound on every hand, sometimes we just have to put our foot down and say “No” to maintain our sanity and keep some kind of reasonable schedule.

On the other hand……sometimes we say no without really considering what the Lord would have us do. All we know is that we can’t take on another thing. I am assuming many of the WFMW readers are Christians, so I am speaking from that basis. Some years ago I was on a committee of ladies at church who took turns putting up bulletin boards to highlight 2-3 of our missionaries at a time each month. This committee was a part of the Ladies Missionary Prayer Group at that church. At that point in time they elected officers every year. At one fall meeting, the president told us that that nominations had been made for the following year and the officers would be contacting those ladies who had been nominated to let them know and find out if they were willing and able to accept. She then stated, “You can’t say no until you pray about it.”

Well, Debbie, the officer over that committee, told me I had been nominated for that office. My first response was, “But….I’ve been waiting all year to get off this committee!” That was not very encouraging to Debbie, I’m sure. 🙂 But I just didn’t feel the liberty to say no, so I said yes. A week or two or so later Debbie came to me and told me that the other nominees had not accepted, and therefore I was “it.” She remarked that that must have been the Lord’s will. I responded, “No…the other ladies are out of the Lord’s will for not accepting the nomination.” I was so spiritually-minded, wasn’t I? 🙄 I think she thought I was teasing, or else she would have rethought my nomination.

I did fulfill that year, and even though bulletin boards are not my forte, I really saw the Lord give some great ideas and some great people to help on the committee. I learned something about leadership. I learned to seek Him when frustrated because I couldn’t find help. I learned about the ups and downs of working with people. I don’t know if I can say I “enjoyed” that year, but I did learn a lot and I grew spiritually and as a person.

A few years later when an opportunity came along that was more scary and involved more work, I was able to face it with the confidence that if the Lord wanted me to do it, He would enable me. And He did, marvelously.

For a while I went too far the other way, thinking that anything that anyone in the church asked me to do must be from the Lord. 🙂 We can get in over our heads really quickly that way.

Since then there have been times I have felt completely free to say no and have seen the Lord bring in someone else for that opportunity who did a wonderful job, much better than I would have done if I had taken it out of a sense of duty.

But the important thing is to pray over it first, before you decide it’s out of your comfort zone or that you don’t have the time or the skills. Sometimes the Lord delights in pulling out of our comfort zone and into dependence on Him for the abilities and the time. Sometimes He wants us to lay something else aside to do what He wants us to. Look in Scripture at people who were happily minding their own business when God came to them with something He wanted them to do (Moses, Noah, Peter, Paul) and think not only what history would be like, but what their lives would have been if they had said no.

I had worked on another WFMW tip this morning, had it all done, pictures loaded, and published, when I felt impressed to pull that one and share this. I hope it is a help to someone. 🙂

To find some great tips or share your own, go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Meme about Mr. Right

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I saw this at Shalee’s and Barb’s today. What fun!

His age: 48, 6 months younger than me.

How tall is he: 6′ to my 5’7″ — a nice match. 🙂

How long have you been together (married): 27 years

How long did you know each other before you got together?: We had known each other about 5 1/2 months before he asked me out. It was another few months before we purposefully decided to make it exclusive (“go steady,” “go together,” whatever you want to call it), though it pretty much was even before.

What physical features attracted you to him first?: His brown eyes and hair — eyes about the color of brown M&Ms.

Eye color: Brown.

Hair color: Brown then, a lot of grey now. 🙂

Hair style: Short, neat, conservative.

Normal Outfit: He usually wears a shirt and tie and slacks to work. In the evenings he takes the tie off but doesn’t usually change. Saturdays or off days he usually wears cargo pants and a polo or golf type shirt. He doesn’t like t-shirts but has a couple of collarless shirts of a heavier knit that he likes.

How did you meet: We both worked at the library at college and met there. The whole story is here.

How serious is it: Very!!

Are you “in love”: Yes!

Do your parents like him: Yes, they did, very much.

Do his parents like you: I know his mom does. I think his dad did.

Do you trust him: Yes.

Would you share a toothbrush with him?: No! Even though we’ve shared all the same germs — that would just be gross for me.

Would he let you wear his pants?: I don’t think so…

Do you have a shirt of his that you sleep in?: No — I don’t think I’d fit. 😦

Do you like the way he smells?: I don’t think he does…..neither of us are into colognes.

Can you picture having kids with him?: Yes, I did — we have 3.

What bothers you the most about him?: I’m going to respectfully decline this one. 🙂 In the spirit of doing unto others as you’d like to have them do unto you — I wouldn’t like it if he posted my faults online.

Does he have a temper?: Yes, but it is not activated easily.

Are you happy to be with him?: Yes. 🙂

Does he embarrass you in public?: Not on purpose. I get embarrassed when he haggles prices with people. It’s amazing, though, how often he gets a lower price or a fee removed just by asking. He would probably love open markets in those countries where they expect to haggle.

Does he smoke or do drugs?: Nothing worse than ibuprofen and Tums.

Does he have any piercings?: No.

Any tattoos?: Nope.

Does he have any scars that you know of?: A few scattered here and there. He is the youngest of 4, and once when he was little, the kids were watching a magic show on TV. They decided the trick of poking knives into a box with someone in it looked like fun, so they tried it with Jim in the box. :O

Is he a Party dude or Stay at home?: We’re both pretty much stay-at-home types.

Is he Outgoing or Shy?: He’s a lot more outgoing than I am, but not life-of-the-party outgoing.

Does he love his mama?: Yes. 🙂

Would he hang out with you and YOUR friends?: He enjoys my friends, but if I am meeting one for lunch or something, he’ll decine to come along.

Sing?: He sings at church congregationally but not much otherwise. When he does, he makes up words in place of the ones he forgets. 🙂

Anyone reading is welcome to do this, too. Let me know if you do: I’d love to come read it. 🙂

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Refrigerator Drawer

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This is an idea that just came to me, so we’ll see if it “works.” I think it will.

The bottom drawer of our refrigerator is deeper than the others. That’s where we keep lunch meats, cheeses, hot dogs, bacon, heat-and-eat breakfast sausages, etc. They were all stacked on top of each other, so you had to dig through it to find what you wanted, which was often on the bottom. Then it was a jumbled mess.

It occurred to me that I could stand all of that stuff up side by side like files in a file folder. Then you could see at a glance what you wanted. And if the lunch meats are placed right side up, then the sometimes not-quite-closed resealable bag won’t leak.

The one thing that was too big to stack like that was the packages of tortillas (we tend to keep some of those on hand for wraps, quesadillas, etc.). But I put them against the back wall of the drawer which slopes.

It looks better. And I think if I can get everyone trained to put the packages back like that instead of just tossing them in, it will be more usable and less frustrating.

Here are a couple of “before” pictures:

From the outside of the drawer:

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“Before” picture of the inside of the drawer:

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After:

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To find some great tips or share your own with us, go to Shannon’s place at Rocks In My Dryer.

Thursday Thirteen #22: Valentine’s jokes

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Some of these are really corny; some are cute. 🙂 There are more than 13, so you get a free bonus today. 🙂

What did one light bulb say to the other?
“I love you a whole watt!”

What did the caveman give his wife on Valentine’s Day?
Ughs and kisses!

What did the paper clip say to the magnet?
“I find you very attractive.”

What is a ram’s favorite song?
I only have eyes for ewe, dear.

What would you get if you crossed a dog with a valentine card?
A card that says, “I love you drool-ly!”

What did the painter say to her boyfriend?
“I love you with all my art!”

What did the man with the broken leg say to his nurse?
“I’ve got a crutch on you!”

Did you hear about the romance in the tropical fish tank?
It was a case of guppy love.

Why do valentines have hearts on them?
Because spleens would look pretty gross!

What did one piece of string say to the other?
“Be my valentwine!”

What did one fir tree say to the other?
“Be my valenpine!”

What did one bell say to the other?
“Be my valenchime!”

What did the boy pig say to the girl pig?
Be my Valenswine!

What did Frankenstein say to his girlfriend?
Be me Valenstein!

What happened when the monster kissed his one true love?
He left lip prints on the mirror!

What did the French chef give his wife for Valentine’s Day?
A hug and a quiche!

What did the pencil say to the paper?
“I dot my i’s on you!”

What did one pickle say to the other?
“You mean a great dill to me.”

What did the bat say to his girlfriend?
“You’re fun to hang around with.”

Did you hear about the nearsighted porcupine?
He fell in love with a pincushion!

What did one oar say to the other?
“Can I interest you in a little row-mance?”

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

Works-For-Me Wednesday: “Love, Sweet Love’

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Today’s edition of “Works For Me Wednesday,” hostessed by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer, is a themed one on the subject of love in honor of Valentine’s Day. We’re asked to contribute relationship advice, romantic tips, Valentine’s ideas, etc. So I present you with various odds and ends. 🙂

♥ One piece of advice: I mentioned this several days ago, but something Elisabeth Elliot wrote spoke to me:

Many women have told me that my husband’s advice, which I once quoted in a book, has been an eye-opener to them. He said that a wife, if she is very generous, may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the eighty percent, and both of them will be happy.

So often we can get hung up on the few little things that bother us rather than putting it into perspective.

♥ Traditions: The only thing I do every Valentine’s Day is make heart-shaped cupcakes using some heart-shaped muffins pans. One year I made a big Valentine sign for the family using candy bars for various words. I forget where I had first seen the idea. I went to the store to get candy bars first, so I could see what was available and make up sentences using those words, then made up the sign writing out my “greeting” and replacing the key words with candy bars. Another year I made a little clue-finding expedition, cutting out a heart and putting a series of clues on the two halves which led to some prize, I forget what now. The kids really loved that and asked for it for the next couple of years, but I had exhausted my clue-making abailities. That was harder than I thought! I try to make a nice dinner that night — not all-out like Thanksgiving, but not hot dogs or fish sticks, either. I also usually buy or make cards for everyone. When the kids were little we made cards with them for each other, and I loved that — those are some of my treasures.

♥ Resource: Family Fun magazine and its web site are wonderful resources for neat, fun, and simple holidays ideas (crafts, foods, ways to celebrate). It’s Disney-owned, so there are a lot of ads for Disney stuff, and I wouldn’t agree with every philosophy or product they recommend, but the holiday and party ideas are great.

♥ Book: There are many great books on marriage, but I think my all-time favorite is The Ministry of Marriage by Jim Binney. It reall emphasizes that aspect, that marriage is a minstry to the other person.

♥ Funnies: This is something from my files I thought you might enjoy. I received it in an e-mail years ago, author unknown:

Pearls of wisdom from Grandpa on having a long, happy marriage…

Whether a man winds up with the nest egg or a goose egg depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries.

Many girls like to marry a military man – he can cook, sew, make beds and is in good health, and most importantly he’s already used to taking orders.

Too many couples marry for better or for worse, but not for good.

When a man marries a woman, they become one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

Trouble in marriage also often starts when a man gets so busy earning his salt that he forgets his sugar.

If a man has enough “horse sense” to treat his wife like a thoroughbred, she will never be an old nag.

On anniversaries a wise husband always forgets the past, but never the present.

As I did for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day, over the next few days I want to post some quotes, jokes, and such for Valentines’s Day.

In related news, as most probably already know, Shalee is sponsoring a “50 Cheap Dates” event where folks can link to their ideas for fun and inexpensive things to do for two. 🙂 I don’t have anything to share for that one, at least not that I can think of yet. I tend to be a homebody, and most things that we do involve the whole family. But we probably should do some of that kind of thing — I’ll be looking forward to gleaning some ideas from there and from this week’s Works-For-Me Wednesday. 🙂

(Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng)Â