Blog That!

That is what Janice said to me last night when I said something she thought was funny.

She also gave me a high five, which is a really big deal for Janice because I didn't know she knew how to give one.

And then she said, "we are such twins, I didn't know that about you and I couldn't agree more".

I offered to loan/give her a DVD off our shelf.

So, what did I say??














I said, "Here Janice, watch "The Bipolar Express"*.

And that's all I have to say about that. :-P

* James gets all the credit. He's witty like that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Steph was just talking about this hymn a few days ago in the Quiet Life comment section. We sing it regularly at our church and it is one of my favorites.

Listen and sing along here.

"This song of praise was originally written in 1597 to celebrate a Dutch victory."

We Gather Together
Adrianus Valerius

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!


~~~~~


Thanksgiving
by Edgar Albert Guest

Gettin’ together to smile an’ rejoice,
An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice;
An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they
Are growin’ more beautiful day after day;
Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men,
Buildin’ the old family circle again;
Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer,
Just for awhile at the end of the year.


Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door
And under the old roof we gather once more
Just as we did when the youngsters were small;
Mother’s a little bit grayer, that’s all.
Father’s a little bit older, but still
Ready to romp an’ to laugh with a will.
Here we are back at the table again
Tellin’ our stories as women an’ men.


Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;
Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there.
Home from the east land an’ home from the west,
Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.
Out of the sham of the cities afar
We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.
Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank,
Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank.


Give me the end of the year an’ its fun
When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.

~~~~~



















Happy Thanksgiving my friends!

It's Risky

1983 Tom Cruise




I showed James this clip so he could understand the context of the new commercial and then told him that he should never watch the movie because it's inappropriate. You have to love this scene though.

Fess up. Did you love this movie in 1983? And maybe now you hate it. :-P

~~~~~

2008 Micheal Phelps, Tony Hawk, Kobe Bryant and A-Rod for Guitar Hero, World Tour.





How cute are they??

Micheal has a more hip hair cut. Yea, Micheal.
Tony Hawk on his skateboard and wearing a helmet. How funny is THAT?
Kobe in his long basketball shorts! Maybe his wife made him wear those. teehee.
A-Rod. I knew it was him because of his eyes. Not kidding.

Fall In Arizona

It is cold and rainy today and that is very special for those of us in Arizona! It really feels like Fall and especially Thanksgiving. The big kids are off to school and my little Lauren is still sleeping soundly in her warm bed. Poor baby, we really wear her out at times.

I would crawl back in to bed but my conscience would get the best of me. I have plenty of work that needs to get done today. I will make my Sweet Potato Casserole and Apple Pie this afternoon. I need to pick up 4 dozen homemade dinner rolls at a wonderful, local kitchen store. And this morning, I will get caught up on house cleaning and of course several loads of laundry. I'll sneak in a shower too. WooHoo.

Here is a lovely poem I found at The Common Room. It describes our day perfectly.


The Fall

I like the fall
The mist and all
I like the night owl’s
Lonely call
And wailing sound
Of wind around

I like the gray
November day
And dead, bare boughs
That coldly sway
Against my pane
I like the rain

I like to sit
And laugh at it
And tend
My cozy fire a bit
I like the fall
The mist and all

Dixie Willson

The Funny Pages

Click to enlarge.

Good point, eh?

I'm looking forward to my free gas and no mortgage payment. ;-)

Old Navy Jeans

I gave up on them years ago!

You know, after I gave birth to five giant babies. :)

However....I did not want to spend $165 on jeans from Macy's or $65 at Coldwater Creek so I decided to try Old Navy again.

This is the first pair I tried on.





















Three words;

Muffin Top

and

Ew

I marched out to the girls (who organize and straighten jeans) and said "I need some jeans that will fit a real person, a Mom."

And she pointed me to these:






















Women's Classic Rise Boot-Cut - "The Sweetheart" Clean-Front Jeans

Size 8

Yea, whatever. ;-)

Seriously though, they fit quite well and Hannah said they are more hip than my Coldwater jeans. She also added that my Coldwater jeans were, you know, too short, and that the style now is just a little longish. My kids approve and that says a lot because now that they are teenagers they have volumes to say about what I wear.

More importantly, they were only $34.00

My Mad Skilz

One of our secretaries takes Wednesday's off so my husband got the big idea to bring me in to help out a little bit.

My job was to answer the phone.

I haven't worked down there since our secretary was on maternity leave 2 years ago and since then The Boss changed the phone system and is using a new walkie talkies. 10-4 big buddy.

I walked in the door, put my purse down and the phone rang. The Boss looked at me and said "Well, what are you waiting for? Answer it." I almost threw up a little bit but I obeyed the mean ole Boss and answered the phone.

I am, like, sooooo good at answering the phone.

"Good Morning, Interstate Batteries" :)








I've got skilz my friends. Skilz.


The rest of the day went something like this:

"Ma'am? Can you please help me find a battery for a 2004 Kia Rondo"

Me: "No, not really"

~~~~~

"Hello, what is your address"

Me: "Um. Just a sec."

~~~~~

"Yea, what time do you close?"

Me: "Hey, Dave. What time do we close?"

~~~~~

"Yea, lady, I need an xyzpdq 123 battery. Do you have those in stock?"

Me: "Warehouse line 1. And quick."

~~~~~

"Can you give me directions?"

Me: "Ha! Whatever you do don't go down Grand Ave. I always get lost and turn the wrong way down Grand. And what is it with those 3-way intersections? They scare me."

~~~~~

Besides the phone calls, I had to work the walkie talkie and poor J had to show me 12 times how to page someone.

I also made The Boss get me a refreshing drink from the refrigerator. He's not used to the hired help getting bossy.

One other thing I did in my spare time was roll enormous wall calendars and wrap them with a rubber band. I told you I have skilz. :-P Our guys will keep them in the trucks and hand them out to our accounts for the new year.


Speaking of calendars. I have a feeling you'll like this beautiful calendar over our Interstate Battery calendars. Go have a look. You'll be pleasantly surprised. They make lovely gifts, you know, so buy a few.

Over and out.

Literally LOL

How about you?

Does this kind of humor make you laugh?

I think it is hilarious. Especially since my least favorite part of Thanksgiving is dealing with and roasting the turkey.

Blessed

There are some traditions I absolutely love.

Here are two of them.

Doxology

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Listen

We sing the Doxology every single Sunday after the offering is received. It never gets old.

~~~~~~~~~~

Glory Be To The Father (Gloria Patri)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, Amen.

Listen

I wish we'd sing this more often but it is always a joy when we close our service with Gloria Patri.

Have a blessed night and a great Monday.

New Music

A big shout out and thank you to BooMama for always recommending the best music.

This time she out did herself because today it involves old, soul, R & B music sung by the very talented Seal.

You can go to his site or iTunes and listen to a sampling of each song.

So far, my favorite is "I'm Still In Love With You" which was originally done by none other than Al Green. I have my sisters to thank for even knowing who Al Green is and for knowing every word to this song.

Here is Seal singing "Change Is Gonna Come":




I can't resist. Here is Al Green singing "I'm Still In Love":




For the record, Seal and I don't see eye to eye on politics but I do appreciate his music abilities.

Also for the record, the Rev. Al Green is a Jesus loving, preaching the Word kinda man now....and I agree with that. :) Can I get an amen?

Prayer Request

Will you please pray for dear friends of ours who do missionary work overseas. I need to be vague as the situation is very sensitive. God knows exactly what I'm referring to and He will hear our prayers no matter how vague. Thank you.

Fun Fieldtrip

We spent the morning at Tolmachoff Farms in the middle of Glendale (AZ). It's family owned and has been in the family for four generations. (We know some of the cousins). It is a special spot surrounded by housing and other development. I'm glad they haven't sold off the land to developers! The new Arizona Cardinals stadium is only a few miles away from the farm and the area is being built up like crazy. It was a beautiful morning and the kids had a great time.

Here we have the kindergartners:

















Lauren pulling carrots from the ground:


















A corn maze:






















Me trying to be an artistic and creative photographer. HA! It's chives:


















Here is what happens to corn in Arizona during the very hot summer months. It pops. It's not a joke, I asked:

















Oreo the kitty followed us all over the farm. What's wrong with her nose? Isn't she cute:


















My favorite picture!! MOOOOOOOO.

No Bake Cookies

Can you believe this is the first time I've ever made these delicious cookies?

Donna has written about them and probably posted a recipe but I was too lazy to look for it in her archives.

I found my recipe on Food Network. (I love that place).

No Bake Cookies
Food Network

1/2 C. butter
4 T. cocoa
2 C. sugar
1/2 C. milk
1 T. vanilla
1 C. peanut butter
3 C. oats

Melt butter, add sugar, cocoa and milk. Stir and bring to boil. Boil for one minute, stirring often. Add peanut butter and vanilla and mix well until blended. Add oats, stir. Drop on to wax paper using a cookie scoop or icecream scoop and let sit until firm.

Enjoy. Unless you're on a strict diet. And in that case just admire from afar. :)

Godly Wisdom

I've tried several times to post some thing today but each post was depressing and snarky so I deleted all of the posts.

I just received an email from a dear man at our church and it had this excellent article by Dr. Mohler attached.

Now, this is worth posting and reading.

America Has Chosen a President
By Albert Mohler

Still, we must press on as advocates for the unborn, for the elderly, for the infirm, and for the vulnerable. We must redouble our efforts to defend marriage and the integrity of the family. We must be vigilant to protect religious liberty and the freedom of the pulpit. We face awesome battles ahead.

America has chosen a President. President-Elect Barack Obama is that choice, and he faces a breathtaking array of challenges and choices in days ahead. This is the time for Christians to begin praying in earnest for our new President. There is no time to lose.

Here is the entire article.

Argh

If I don't get off the internet and stop reading about this election I am going to have a stroke.

One more thing before I go.

A 38-year-old Montana man has come under fire after parking a trailer load of manure across the street from a Democratic campaign office to protest Barack Obama.

I'm ok with this.

Hello Beautiful

I used to just swear by my New Balance.

Until I tried these Asics on the other day.

They have so much more arch support and are incredibly comfortable.

My shoes are light pink and silver and they are very cute. I couldn't find the exact picture but these are the shoes I bought and love. Asics Gel 1130.

PS. I don't run. I walk.

Wise Words from John Piper

It's almost seven minutes long but please take time to watch the whole video.




Here is a blog post by John Piper written today. Again, it's worth your time.

Dress-Up Fun

Much to my sister's dismay my kids have never been trick-or-treating. :) We have always participated in a Fall Festival at one of two local churches. Last night we went to the church where some of Dave's family members attend. They have a very nice, safe festival and our kids have a blast! I haven't always allowed them to dress up but this year I was feeling feisty. teehee.

Lauren:





















Sarah recently re-watched Holes and was inspired:





















Things went downhill quickly:


















Snow White, busted!

















Aw.





















We have a ridiculous amount of candy in this house right now.

The Baby Ruth's are just calling my name.

Keep callin' Baby Ruth. I dare ya.