Friday Feast

It's been a few week since I've done one of these. I'm such a crybaby but it's hot again (106) and our overnight low was 80, which broke a record. The photos I had intended to use for a post are on Kodak's site which just happens to be down right now, so feast time it is!

Appetizer:

Who is the easiest person for you to talk to? Most things, my husband; girlie things, my cousin.

Soup:

If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose? I love history and have often thought about this question but then I think about the lack of sanitation and deodorant and my enthusiasm wanes...maybe somewhere in England or Scotland before the Industrial Revolution.

Salad:

What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed? Definitely the birth of my kids (in the mirror the doctors would tilt so you could witness the actual birth. The husband wasn't allowed in the room! Remember, this was the dark ages!!!) My daughters and their husbands wanted me in the room when my grandchildren were born, and since I wasn't all drugged-up, it was even more exciting!

Main Course:

If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt? This would go down in tabloid history: I would be caught in public reading a book!

Dessert:

What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child? Certainly not 18 like I was! My brother and his wife were in their thirties. They had more patience, understanding and nurturing skills at that age.

Here's the link to other Friday Feast participants.

Thursday Thirteen - Movie Cliches

1. When a girl is in a house all by herself in a horror movie, it is always raining or thunder and lightening outside.
2. In all junior highs, the popular girls have big boobs, while the geeky girls are flat-chested.

3. In movies when a character is brushing his/her teeth, they never get toothpaste on their mouth or rinse out the toothbrush when through brushing.
4. Anybody eating chinese food always eats it out of the box with chopsticks.

5. If you try to get your ex-partner back by going out with someone else in order to make your

ex jealous, you will succeed but by the time you have achieved what you set out to do you will have fallen for the other person.

6. A good guy will never, ever, shoot a bad guy in the kneecap, even if it would be incredibly helpful to him.

7. In any musical, no matter how tough the gang and/or bad guy, they/he can always belt out a heartfelt melody in a deep and lilting baritone voice.

8. A woman´s shoes always make high heel clacking sounds, regardless which shoe type she wears.

9. Whenever at a bar or dance with loud music cranked up on high, the couple the audience sees talking have perfectly audible voices and can talk as though there is no music playing.

10. In most 80's action flicks, business men and security guards look like Huey Lewis or Bruce Springsteen.

11. The villain will always have thousands of henchmen working for him or a small army that follows him.

12. There is always a full moon when people go to bed. When the lights are turned off, a delayed light turns on, causing a blue cast in the room they could read by.

13. If you are going to be killed it has to be at a time when you are alone and it has to be at night and raining.

Here's the link to more Thursday Thirteen participants!

A New Award...

Comedy Plus is one generous lady! She's very busy, handing out awards. Here's the latest:

She is one of the biggest and brightest stars on the blogs and I wish I had a badge to honor her with. She's everyone's friend and supporter and always has a kind, gentle word. Thanks, Sandee (I love your photo!)...

Thank You, Shaz...

I've never been able to accept a compliment graciously. I always stammer and stutter and never know what to say! Whether it's someone telling me my hair looks nice or my boss telling me I did a good job - I always feel like a nitwit, never having the right words.

Now, these awards...I'm really in a stew! People have taken the time to do something nice and have written especially complimentary things. I am very flattered and sincerely honored. My mom always told me the best thing to do is just say, "Thank you," and mean it.

This is from Shaz, at Us Danes:

"It's been a while since we gave an "Us Danes Dig It" away mainly as there were so many awards flying around. A quick reminder of why we do the "Dig It" is because we can! Yup, there's no criteria, it's just a way of appreciating someone elses Blog, friendship, humour or character. So, "Dig It" number 5 is going to . . . . . .
This lady's blog title entices us in with the phrase "Little Echoes of Light, Life & Love; Life at it's Best & it's Worst". She loves her animals & owns this beautiful little pooch . . .She shares so much of herself with a warmth that makes you glow after visiting her blog & leaves the most encouraging comments on other people's blogs."

In Loving Memory...

Ubee

Loving Mo did his best to rescue this little angel - my heart goes out to you.

We need more people willing to reach out to critters that can't fend for themselves.

To all of you who have furry friends waiting for you on the bridge...

Wordless Wednesday

Here's the link to visit other Wordless Wednesday participants

The 19 Rules for Good Riting

THE 19 RULES FOR GOOD RITING

1. Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent..

2. Just between you and I, case is important.

3. Verbs has to agree with their subject.

4. Watch out for irregular verbs which has cropped up into our language.

5. Don't use no double negatives.

6. A writer mustn't shift your point of view.

7. When dangling, don't use participles.

8. Join clauses good like a conjunction should.

9. And don't use conjunctions to start sentences.

10. Don't use a run-on sentence you got to punctuate it.

11. About sentence fragments.

12. In letters themes reports articles and stuff like that we use commas to keep strings apart.

13. Don't use commas, which aren't necessary.

14. Its important to use apostrophe's right.

15. Don't abbrev.

16. Check to see if you any words out.

17. In my opinion I think that the author when he is writing should not get into the habit of making use of too many unnecessary words which he does not really need.

18. Then, of course, there's that old one: Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.

19. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

~~~~~~Dedicated to Miss Bee~~~~~~

I "Heart" Your Blog, Too!!!

Everyone's favorite "Funny Girl," Comedy Plus, has really given out a nice award! I am truly honored to be on her reading list. Not only is she full of funny stuff, she's got a heart of gold!

Thanks, Sandee!!!

I'm going to attempt to pass these along to the people I can't live without on a daily basis; those who give little gems of wisdom, delight and pieces of themselves away with perfection.

Manic Monday - Faith

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"

(Hebrews 11:1)

I was raised in a family of faith. Would I be a believer if things had been different? I truthfully don't know. I do know that faith has provided a lifeline during times in my life that I wanted to lie down and cease to exist, to give up. Faith has sustained me. I do know that faith can falter and that I have had my dry spells in the valley. I do know that faith does not exist in temporal things. I do not place my faith in science or man. Faith stems from a stream of living water provided by a loving God.

It is not fashionable to be a believer these days...thanks in part to the TV charlatans who prance and perform vile acts of shame for their own glory; upon whose wrists dangle Rolex watches and heavy gold bracelets; who own jet airplanes and more than one mansion and TV stations and bilk elderly folks from their savings. I wouldn't want to be a part of that crowd, either!

Book stores are full of best sellers telling us again that belief in God is for the unwashed masses and those whose IQ is sub par. I guess Nietzsche didn't get it correct. I thought he already said that "God is dead." We need newer, smarter people bringing us that message, I guess. It's cool to be an atheist nowadays.

King Solomon said that "there is nothing new under the sun," wise man that he was. All things come and go in cycles and this trend of non-belief will reverse itself when the next crisis comes. All I know is "I believe." Faith has been given to me - it is outside of myself. It's that "still, small voice that convinces me to keep putting one foot in front of the other and encourages me to hush, and listen for the sound of angels' wings...(Psalm 91)

Be sure and visit Mo for more Manic Monday~~~

Sunday Blessings

August, 1954

My mom was 37 and had just given birth to my little brother.

I was seven and couldn't have been happier, although you

sure couldn't tell it from either one of our faces!

Photo Hunt - Happy

Technically, I didn't take this photo - my hubman did, but I was more than "happy," - I think hysterical covers it.
In the photo of Katie, I call her "Katie Simmons," because of the tongue action she's got going on. Reminds me of Gene Simmons from KISS - should he ever be so cute! But she looks SO happy...

Please visit other Photo Hunt participants and our host, TN Chick!

Happy Birthday, Daughter Dear!

Happy Birthday, Dear Daughter!

***I dedicate this to you, baby, along with many birthday wishes!***

Corinne has been through a very rough two and-a-half years, having lost her husband in April 2005, leaving her with a couple of teen-aged sons and a cabinet shop to run. She had never had any hands-on dealings with the business and was tempted to sell, but was too concerned about what would happen to the employees. So, with the help of a newly-made office manager, she continued the business and is now a successful business woman!

She has chauffered boys to soccer matches all over California, and even England! She hasn't had a weekend to call her own in ages. She's gone through car accidents with beginning drivers, guitar lessons, garage bands and all-boy swim parties; with a lot more patience than her mother showed her.

Girl, you've come through the valley, and you're starting to walk on the mountaintops once again. We love you more than you can possibly know and wish the very best for you.

Love,

Mom

Thank You, Lord!

Miss Bee's surgery went well and I am giving thanks!

Thursday Thirteen - Games

Before I learned about the wonderful world of blogging, I used to spend a lot of time in the evening playing games. I soon tired of Solitaire and stumbled on "Real Arcade." I've been on board with them for a couple of years and have about 100 games loaded but these are the ones I play the most frequently. Besides word games, I love the shoot 'em up stuff, along with matches.
I've read all sorts of information that tells me that as we age, we need to learn new skills. Well, this is mine! Be alert. The world needs new "lerts." Okay, I know it's old but it's still funny!

Age of Japan
The Rise of Atlantis
Phlinx to Go
Mahjong Escape - Anchient China
Mystery case Files - Prime Suspects
Aloha Solitaire
Scrabble
Word Mojo Gold
Big Kahuna Words
Wonderlines
Glyph
Luxor
Inca Quest

Be sure to visit other Thursday Thirteen players!

Wordless Wednesday

Manic Monday - Deal

It was officially one minute until midnight when I started this...so Mo, I made it!!!

I've been having problems with my internet and I almost didn't make it at all!

It seems as if every time I thought of the word DEAL, the most vivid connotation I got was to "deal with it." A lot of people I know right now are dealing with health issues. What are they doing? They're "dealing" with it. My cousin's son (yes, he's my cousin, too) is still in the intensive care unit after, I think, six weeks? They're trying to wean him off of the ventilator but they had to do a tracheotomy. The doctors predict that he'll be fine but he'll be insulin dependent the rest of his life - he's forty one. His illness stemmed from the pancreas. His wife and daughters, mom and dad - they're all dealing with it.

I have a friend whose brother has pancreatic cancer. I've known him and his wife for at least 35 years. He's dealing with it... A friend from church died yesterday. He was 78. His family will deal with his loss.

Old age, aging parents, moving, grandchilden in the armed forces; tornadoes, floods, fires, hurricanes - people deal with them. A love gone cold, death, divorce - people deal with this, too.

All in all, we humans are a fairly resilient bunch. We manage to pick ourselves up and keep plodding along, telling ourselves things will get better. Some sooner than others. I'm one of the slower ones.

Sunday Blessings, Everyone...

Painting by Juno Galang

Photo Hunt - Two

KATIE (Shih Tzu) and ZOE (Mini-Schnauzer)

"Well, it's about time you got home!"
We got them a week apart so they'd always have a buddy
but they're very close to their people, too!
Ha, ha! You have to take a bath! (But Zoe's next!)

Please visit TN Chick and join the Photo Hunt and have fun!

Disco IS Dead

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Really, Really Stupid Criminal!

This photo provided by the Ashland Police Dept. shows Kasey G. Kazee, 24, of Ashland, Ky.,who was charged with first-degree robbery, according to Ashland Police Sgt. Mark McDowell. Kazee had his head wrapped in duct tape to conceal his identity when he tried to rob Shamrock Liquors Friday, Aug. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/ Ashland Police Dept.)
All I can say, is "PLEASE DON'T PROCREATE!!!"

Thursday Thirteen - Phobias

You've probably heard of arachnophobia, thanks in part to the movie with the same name, and claustrophobia, but what about Gephyrophobia or Mysophobia? I was surprised to see that I suffer from several of these! What about you??? Leave your phobias in the comment section and we'll all compare. Thanks!

1. Ailurophobia: Fear of cats

The only cats I'm afraid of are the ones on "America's Funniest Home Videos" who can talk!

Remember the cat who repeatedly said, " Mama, mama!" Freaky!
2. Cynophobia: Fear of dogs

You guys know I love dogs; it's the dawgs I'm a little leary of, and anything that foams at the mouth.
3. Entomophobia: Fear of insects

I am not inordinately afraid of "bugs," but we went camping one year where they took on prehistoric dimensions! Something landed on our picnic table that sounded like a helicopter coming in for a landing! Some scary stuff!!!

4. Ereuthophobia: Fear of blushing

Now, this one really surprised me! I have a strange fear of the "old lady applying too much blush" syndrome. I saw a photo of myself and I realized I had a heavy hand with the blush and knew the time had come - to buy a mirror with better magnification so I can see what the heck I'm doing without my glasses on! I looked like "Raggedy Anne." Gag...
5. Gephyrophobia: Fear of crossing a bridge

This one has a lot of us nowadays, especially after the tragedy in Minneapolis.
6. Gymnophobia: Fear of seeing a naked person

Uh, yeah! Especially myself in the bathroom mirror! It's worse than Texas Chainsaw Massacre!
7. Ichthyophobia: Fear of fish

I'm only afraid of fish that have fins and swim while this eerie music plays in the background: ta-dum, ta-dum, ta-dum...(Technically, is a shark a fish?)
8. Mysophobia: Fear of dirt

I'm very afraid of any dirt that may get dished out about me. It could be juicy! (Sure...)
9. Nostophobia: Fear of going home

My first husband had this but only when he and Jack Daniels had gotten together.

10.Ophidiophobia: Fear of snakes
Only the vipers and those in the humanoid group.

11. Phobophobia: Fear of phobias
Does this mean some people sit around being afraid of being afraid? Scary!

12. Psychrophobia: Fear of the cold

Nope, not me! I have the opposite. I have "Gehennaphobia," and an extreme fear of weather systems over 75 degrees! (Notice the spelling of this phobia - awfully close to "psycho!"
13. Spectrophobia: Fear of mirrors

This fear goes hand-in-hand with No. 6. Sometimes I can be walking about and glimpse this person who sort of looks like me but yet, doesn't look like I ought to look. She scares me. I think it's my reflection. Shiver....

Be sure to check out all the other Thursday Thirteen participants!

Wordless Wednesday

"Nice Matters" Award

How do you thank someone for being nice? "Crazy Working Mom" is one of the blogosphere's best! She is married to a wonderful guy and has two precious munchkins that she is head-over-heels in love with; yet she is like a lot of you - she works full time outside of the home, too! Hence her blog name!

She has honored me with the neatest award: Nice Matters Award, and here is what she said:

"Gracie from Echos of Grace is such a kind hearted person. I love her quirky posts. She is so heart felt about everything she says. She doesn't hold anything back and that is my favorite part of Gracie. She tells it like it is! Thank you, Gracie...for being YOU!"

In some circles, being nice is not the "in" thing to be, but in my little world, I'd much rather be known for being nice than rich! Thanks, CWM!!!

Now comes the hard part: I have to choose people to pass this along to and right off the bat, I can think of at least 50! Okay, deep breath. I hate this part...

Crazy 4 Pink This is my youngest blogging buddy. She's just getting started and doing a real good job. She's getting ready to move and it's right before school so drop by and let her know she's gonna be just fine!

Asara This lady has one tender heart and took some pretty difficult steps recently in her life. She works hard and is a full-time people-pleaser. People gravitate to her because of her warmth and wittiness - all in one package!

Katie's Reading... Katie's is one of the first blogs I found when I started out. She is a voracious reader and is a writer, as well. Her reviews are wonderful and I actually placed a book in my Amazon wishlist based on her review! She's one of blogdoms brightest and is sure to go places...and on top of that? She's a nice as heck!

Mel This young lady has seen more heartbreak in her tender years than most of us will see in a lifetime, after losing her fiance to the war in Iraq. But she continues on, attending a wedding tonight, where her fallen hero will be honored. If you want nice with an edge, go visit Mel's blog. She is one strong young woman who would love to share her hero's story with you.

A Laugh is Good for the Soul

What Kind of Leader Are You?

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I don't think this will go in my resume...

A Thoughtful Blogger? Hmmmm....

Katie wants me to give this award to Daphne, Chloe, and Jazper, at "Purrchance to Dream," on behalf of their "bean," who does so much good work for all the kitties who need forever homes. So dear Kitties, please give "Not the Mama" a big purr and a lick on the chin along with this award!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This award is for a blogging family who sacrificed a whole lot on behalf of our country. Sgt Dub spent many a moon in Afghanistan while Miss Dub and Mrs. Dubb kept the home fires burning. Now that Sgt. Dub is home, he is fighting a different enemy - he is a policeman in Oklahoma City! To a courageous family!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jannaverse, Jannagraphics , Jantrails This creative lady just had her first anniversary in the bloggosphere and hates summers as much as I do, or maybe more since she suffers without the luxury of an air conditioner. She is a very talented graphic artist and extremely funny person, as well. You will enjoy her sense of humor!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have found a new inspirational blog - "A Friend, at Hearts and Homes. She's a hospice nurse and takes care of those of us who are close to stepping into eternity. She is an extremely compassionate person - which certainly helps in her line of work! But it is so sincere and you can feel this in her posts. She's someone I feel I would want at my side during a crisis. I would dearly love to meet her someday...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vic Grace, Cariboo Ponderer

I always come away from Vic's site with a new bit of information. She lives in the great northwest and shares her land with all sorts of wild creatures and you will learn a lot about them. She also writes about different things and I guarantee you'll never be bored!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thanks to Sarge Charlie, everyone's hero, for giving me the "Thoughtful Blogger Award." Here's what Sarge had to say...

Amazing Gracie, that is a name that fits the person, she is one amazing lady, when I had a problem understand a UK blogger, Gracie posted this: just got back from visiting Claire at "A Little Piece of Me." I treasure my friendship with Claire but being a Brit, she uses some unique phrases that leave me bumfuzzled, such as relating that she is "cream crackered." I found a neat blog by a Brit who does his best to explain some of the "Britishisms" for us dunderheaded Americans. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Oh, by the way, we're taking up a collection to send Claire to Podunk for a week so she can learn some real doosies!
How is that for a thoughtful.....

Now, I have the pleasure of giving these five awards to people I admire and it's not an easy task! So many of my blogging friends have received these already so I want to try and give these to people who don't have one yet and are really deserving, too.

Award Rules
1) If you have received an award simply choose
either the dark or light background image and save
it to your files, then post it proudly on your blog!

2) Pass the award on to five other people, you can
choose any of the awards from the series, you do not
have to pass out the exact award you received.
Choose whichever of the awards below that you'd like
to give out. You can give out one of each or five of
the same one, whatever you prefer.

3) You can change the size and color of awards to
suit your blog, that's up to you, it's your blog,
just leave the titles the same.

4) Please link back to this post so that people can
read these rules and so that the meanings of the
awards will not be lost.

5) If you feel that you or a friend are deserving of
an award and no one has given one to you yet then
email me at sayhitochristy(at)hotmail.com and tell
me about your website.