Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.

Several days ago Mama Bear participated in a mug meme, and I thought that was a great idea for Kelli’s Friday Show and Tell.

This is one my my favorites. I believe Jeremy, my oldest, gave it to me.

This is a Dilbert one I got for my husband.

Here is the other side.

The story behind this is that in his job at the time, people could label their requests for the lab “High Priority” if it was indeed high priority and it needed urgent attention. The problem was everyone began labeling their requests high priority in order to get them processed faster, so there was pressure and impatience from every side. I felt bad afterward in that I didn’t want to foster a bad attitude (not that he had one, but I didn’t want to give him one), but we just take it as a joke.

This is one Jim’s mom gave him…

And one from his job. They used to give out mugs for all kinds of things.

This is one from a set that I think my mom gave the kids.

This is one from a set my mom gave Jeremy. It used to have a bowl with a child’s face on it and a plate with feet — when you put it all together it made a little child. This is the only piece left.

This is one I got for Jason when he went in the dorms. I loved the shades in it — they look yellowish here, but it’s kind of a rich milky cocoa shade.

This is another favorite. This is one side:

And this is the other, personalized with my and my sisters’ names. I don’t remember where I got it. It was in a catalog years ago with a choice of the design on a mug, a t-shirt, or a tote bag. I got the mug, two of them got a t-shirt, and two got a tote bag, I think. I don’t use it much any more — the design seemed to be fading and I wanted to preserve it.

This is a mug Jeremy made for Grandma’s 80th birthday last week. This is one side…

And this is the other.

He got the mug from Hobby Lobby and printed a picture from the computer to fit.

And this is from the Pfatlzgraf Tea Rose set that goes with my dishes.

And this is not a mug but my current work-in-progress for Jim’s mom’s room. She likes yellow.

There is no back-stitching yet, which is what really makes the design stand out. I should have it finished next week!

You can see more Show and Tell entries at Kelli’s. I hope you’ll join in! I enjoy visiting the other ladies who participate. Seeing each other’s special things gives us a little glimpse into each other’s personalities.

• Jesse has a tendency to misread things sometimes, and often the result is hilarious. I wish I had written down some of the examples through the years. The other night in the Scripture reading for the devotional book we’re going through, he read “abdominal idolatries.” It usually takes me just a second to realize something doesn’t sound quite right, then it clicked that it should have been “abominable idolatries.” But actually he’s not too far off there…

• Monday I was walking around feeling an immense measure of relief, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, figuring it was because it was the first day in at least a couple of weeks that there wasn’t something pressing to be done that day (though, of course, there are always things to be done.) Then I realized that most of the summer travels were over. I mentioned earlier that we were having a lot of coming and going this summer, and most of it occurred in June: Jim and Jeremy were in Brazil for about a week, Jason left to spend the summer in California, Jesse went to Six Flags with his youth group and then spent a week at camp, Jim went to ID to bring his mom back. All in one month! But that’s it except for Jim’s regular travels for work and Jason’s return from CA in August. It feels like summer is just now beginning.

• Jim’s mom seems to be doing well adjusting to assisted living. The people there are just wonderful, and she’s appreciating the safety features, like the handrails in various places. She interacts great with the staff and with her tablemates at meals, but she hasn’t ventured out for any activities. I asked the activity director yesterday if it was ok if I came with her to some of those things, and she said it was fine. (There is a lot to this situation that is similar to taking children to school — you want to do whatever you can to help in any way, but you don’t want to embarrass them.) I know if I say, “Do you want to go to the craft activity?” she’ll say no, but if I say, “Let’s go…” she might. We’ll see!

• I don’t know if there is anyone who reads here who doesn’t also read Rocks In My Dryer, but Shannon had a great article the other day on Growing Your Traffic for your blog.

• Bet at Dappled Things linked to a compelling article about short-term church mission trips. I am appalled that people mentioned there did things like paint the same building six times or built structures that fell down after they left. What an awful testimony to the nationals and what extra trouble for the missionaries there. Our church has had part in several great mission trips, and I have known several missionaries who have benefited from having a team come over for a couple of weeks, but there needs to be a lot of preparatory work with lots of questions asked ahead of time. No one should just go over and jump in without coordinating with someone there what needs to be done, what materials should be used (according to the country you’re going to, not according to what would be done here), when would be good timing for the missionary, etc.

• Merriam-Webster has added several new words to its newest dictionary. Some I would have thought would have been included long ago (dirty bomb, dwarf planet, malware); some I had never heard before (edamame, Mondegreen); some I knew the definition of but didn’t know there was a word for the concept (air quotes, infinity pool).

• Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage posted a neat book-making tutorial.

• I don’t normally have music playing while I am on the computer — my mind can only handle so many venues at one time, and usually reading and comprehending is all I can do at one time. But sometimes when the house is a little too quiet, I enjoy listing to Abiding Radio. It’s wonderful — beautiful sacred music, no talking, no commercials.

Have a great day!