Hello Friends

I'm having fun over at Facebook.

Care to join me?

Anita! I'm talkin' to YOU. =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Love,
Janet

Coventry Carol

We had a beautiful advent service at our church last night. Our gifted pianist explained the history behind the Coventry Carol and then played it for us on the piano. It's dark and yet filled with hope. I hope you enjoy listening to these two versions.


This excellent website is filled with interesting information:

In The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, this gentle lullaby was sung by the women of Bethlehem to their babies, urging them to "Be still, be still, my little child," just before the unwilling soldiers of King Herod came to slaughter their infants in Herod's attempt to eliminate a competitor, the newborn King of the Jews. In the liturgical calendar, those children are commemorated on December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents

The lyrics:

1. Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child.
By, by, lully, lullay.

2. O sisters, too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day;
This poor Youngling for whom we sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

3. Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young, to slay.

4. Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay



The Cambridge Singers:






This is a beautiful rendition by Phil Keaggy:

Merry Christmas Bloggy Friends

Photo shoot 2008.

It was much less painful this year. A certain boy in this family decided to smile. tee hee.

My neighbor is so talented. Just look at the lighting and pay close attention to the fence in the background. Isn't that cool? I'm also happy that (for the most part) we are all smiling and looking like ourselves. Not an easy task with seven people. It also helped that it wasn't 40 degrees outside like last year.

Here is the link to Jen's business web site.

And here is the link to her blog. She is really excited about launching her new blog some time in January. I'll be sure to let you know when she does.

Sisters and bro, yours are in the mail box today.

So Funny!

Fox News is our homepage and this was the headline first thing this morning when I sat down at the computer.


















It's fitting, don't you think?

=)

My 22 Word Story

Abraham Piper at 22 Words is having a contest.

Write a story using only 22 words, post it on your blog and his readers will vote for the best. The prizes are two very nice children's books. I don't have either.

Don't worry, we don't have the flu right now. This is what happened last year:


If a five year old with the flu sneezes on your face on Monday morning, you will have the flu by Tuesday.


Challenging and fun!

I Was Forced To Do A Craft

Oh, you know I kid!

A sweet mom from Lauren's kindergarten class is putting together a scrapbook for the teacher as a Christmas present. We were each given one piece of scrapbook paper and told to decorate it however we liked. Of course, it would have been nice to actually have Lauren write something to her teacher but I procrastinated and did it at the very last minute. I sat there this morning and thought; what would Lauren say to her teacher. Most Kindergartners I know would say "I love you" to their teacher so that's what I decided to write/stamp/peel (whatever). I think it turned out well enough but I didn't see any of the other pages and I am very glad about that. It will be a sad day when I do actually see the others. LOL.

~~~~~~~~~~~


















Donna told us to post a picture of the oldest ornament we could find on our tree. This dates back to 1984 when I was a freshman at the University of Arizona. Do you wonder why a young lady of 18 would receive an ornament of a football helmet as a gift? Ok, I'll tell you. I was an athletic trainer for the U of A's football team, assigned to the defensive linemen. You can stop laughing now. Here I was a naive, 18 year old girl from Wisconsin weighing all of 120 pounds spending all my spare time on the practice field and game day with giant 300 pound linemen. It really was fun and if it weren't for terrible home sickness I would have stayed with the intern program and gone on to great things in the athletic training field. Ha! I'm kidding. The guys were very good to me. They told me who NOT to date. :)

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

Happy Friday!

A Piper Post

Finally Alive, a new book by John Piper (pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis) is set to be released in January.

John Piper:

The term born again is very precious and very crucial in the Bible. So our main concern is to know what God intends when the Bible uses this language, so that by his grace we may experience it and help others do the same. It is of enormous consequence that we know what being born again really means.

The Desiring God ministry is offering the book for only $5.00 in a pre-order sale!

Call 1-888-346-4700 for your five dollar book. I was hesitant to ask if I could buy more than one (didn't want to be selfish, you know) but the young lady offered so I bought five! Oh, and I got the "library shipping" and it was FREE.

Desiring God ministries has a blog too with several contributors.

John Piper's son Abraham has a blog. It's called 22 Words. And yes, his posts are all 22 words short. I counted. Don't think for one minute that they are boring or worthless because they are short. He's very funny and clever.

Abraham's sweet wife, Molly, has a blog called The Pipers. She is a young mommy of 3 (2 here on earth and 1 in heaven). I just recently found her blog and commented (of course) and she emailed me back thanking me for the comment. Isn't that sweet?

One more thing.

The Gospel in 6 minutes.

Listen to it.

"Exceedingly Great Joy"

" This is the donkey with precious load
trudging the long and weary road..."


"This is the Christ child, born to be king
While hosts of heavenly angels sing...."


Lauren is sick today with the stomach flu and this was the first book she chose for me to read to her. It really is lovely.

Matthew 2:9-10 (New King James Version)

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

My "Sweet" Apple Pie

It was delicious!

















Pretty? Not so much.

I need to post this for my own sake/memory and thought maybe someone else might benefit from having these recipes.

I am going to make another apple pie for Christmas. James, my nephew Spencer and I loved it and we must have another one.

Martha Stewart's Foolproof Pie Crust

2 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 C. unsalted butter, cut into 1 T. pieces, very cold
1/4 - 1/2 C. cold water

Put the flour, salt and sugar into a food processor and pulse once or twice. (or put it in bowl and stir it). Add the butter and process until the mixture looks grainy. Then slowly, while pulsing, add the water until you can form the dough by pressing it between your fingers. Decant (I had no idea what that meant but I kept going) the loose dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Using the wrap, fold the loose dough towards the middle and press with the back of your hands to form dough. Split into two pieces (I'm OCD and weighed mine) and wrap each and chill for at least 4 hours before using. Dough can be made ahead for up to one week.

I admit I had a little meltdown while rolling the dough and transferring it to the pie plate. Dave was talking, the TV was blaring, I had music on in the kitchen, children were talking and skipping and singing, the dogs were circling and it was only 8 AM. I screamed at Dave to stop and ordered everyone out of the kitchen. Ugly, I know. :-O I even cursed Martha.

















Classic Apple Pie
America's Test Kitchen

4-6 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3/4 C. plus 1 T. sugar
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 recipe for double pie crust
1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Toss the apples with 3/4 C. sugar, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and spices and set aside.

2. Roll out the top crust to a 12 inch circle. Spread the apples in the unbaked pie crust bottom, mounding them slight in the middle. (I used a slotted spoon) Lay the top crust over the apples, seal and crimp the edges, and cut four vent holes in the bop. Brush the crust with the egg white and sprinkle with the remaining 1 T. sugar.

3. Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet, reduce the oven temperature again to 375 degrees, and continue to bake until the juices are bubbling and the crust is deep golden brown, 30-35 minutes longer. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy with vanilla bean icecream!

~~~~~~~~~~

Here I am being goofy, waiting for my pie to come out of the oven and acting like Ree:

Silly Boys

James and two of his friends (who happen to be brothers) were hanging out in the living room the other night. I thought it was nice that they were visiting and enjoying the newly purchased and decorated Christmas tree.

However. (You knew that was coming)

Mom's can always tell when something is out of place.

Here is what I found yesterday.




































This ornament was removed from the tree and is now hanging on a little nail in the big picture window. And.....






















I noticed something unusual about the top of the tree. First of all, the tree is a little too tall for the room but I will be able to bend the fake branch and make it work. I still won't be able to put a star or an angel on the top though.






















I definitely know I don't want Obi Wan Kenobi to be the topper. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~

And now for some sweet 6 year old decorating.

Wow. I count 9 ornaments in one spot.


















Is your tree up yet? Decorated?

Happy December!

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.