Snow and Hair

Well, we got quite a bit of snow but not as much as they said we would get. Another wave is coming but it sounds like it will mainly be in the central and western part of the state. I got the driveway and sidewalk shoveled this morning and already a lot of the snow has melted elsewhere. This is my backyard. We don't have any trees in our yard - which I hate because I love trees, but it sure makes for not a lot of raking in the fall! The orangy looking pic was taken with the night flash. You can see flakes of snow falling. They look like little white shiny specs. The second pic I took with the regular daytime setting. Huge difference, huh?

I am debating on what to do with my hair. I think I am too old for longer hair and when I look in the mirror, I feel like I look like this old bag. So, I have been debating on whether or not to cut it off. Everyone tells me not too but I am so sick of it. I love it when it's short short because then I don't even have to blow it dry. However, one of my friends hates really short hair on women. What I don't like about it is that I have to use all this hair product and I hate the stuff. If I keep it a little longer but still short, then I have to use a curling iron. YUCK!!!!! What should I do?

Murmuring, Grumbling, and Complaining

I just got home from church a little bit ago. Had to stop and pay an arm and a leg for gas for my car. (sigh.....). What a drag. I wish God would have made us so we didn't need food, have to go to the bathroom, or sleep. Now, I know you are wondering what that has to do with gasoline. Well, it's like this...it's a waste. Eating, going to the bathroom, and sleeping is a waste. Paying for gas is a waste. It's what I call "paying for a dead horse". You get nothing tangible for your money. Eating, sleeping, etc. is a waste of time and food. Have you ever thought about that? Stuffing food into one hole only to have it, in a few hours (sometimes minutes!) come out another hole? I know that sounds gross but it's the truth. Think of how much stuff we could get done if we didn't have to stop to eat or sleep? Think of all the money we would save not having to go to the grocery store. If you stop and think about all the places we waste money, it can drive you crazy! Like haircuts - your hair is never going to quit growing (til you die). So, it grows, we spend $20-$30 to cut off an inch or two only to turn around 6 weeks later and do it all over again. I think I am going to grow mine out and wear it in a french twist like Olivia on the Waltons. So what if I trim the ends myself and they aren't even? No one will see them anyway. I can tell you, I'm really starting to get cheap. Oh, I like nice things but I hate to spend the money - especially when it's so hard to come by. I can't even enjoy buying fabric to quilt anymore. It seems like another waste of time.

Enough of that. Now I want to gripe about the weather. Just when it's starting to warm up a tad and the snow is all melted, we get another storm. My backyard is nothing but a slop hole. No problem if you don't have dogs. However, mine like to dig and the lab likes to run the fence line. He has the grass wore off into nothing but dirt. So........when they come in, all they do is bring in mud. We managed to get all the dog do-do picked up but now that the yard has thawed out, we can't get out there to pick up all the latest additions. Now, we are supposed to get 8+ inches of snow tonight. Yippee. When I left church, it had already started in. I guess I can look forward to going out in the morning before the grandkids come and shovel that long driveway and sidewalk. Wish I could just let it melt but I don't think my mailman would like me very much.

I guess that's enough of my growling for one evening.

Potty Training

I need help. I can't believe that after potty training all 3 of my kids and 4 of my grandkids that I am stumped at what to do with my 3 year old grandson. He absolutely WILL NOT cooperate. He screams, clamps his legs together, stiffens up, bawls his head off, hits me, and just absolutely REFUSES to go to the toilet. Sawyer, who is not even 2 loves to sit on the potty and actually does his business! Jaxson, on the other hand, is beginning to look like he might be 30 years old before he is potty trained. I honestly don't know what to do with him. I know it's a battle of wills but he actually told me today that it's scary. He likes to flush after someone else uses the toilet. It doesn't bother him to get close to it or even sit on it if the lid is down. But, he won't stand next to it to go pee and he won't sit on the seat - with or without a child's potty ring.

Any suggestions?

Resurrection Sunday

Last Sunday was typical for Easter - cold, windy, and cloudy. Our church doesn't call it Easter. We call it Resurrection Sunday. Actually, it's the feast of First Fruits - which I like too. The name Easter comes from a pagan goddess called Ishtar, so for Christians, it's fitting that we call it what it really is - either Resurrection or First Fruits.

I don't like things like the "Easter Bunny", and all that malarky, but we did hide plastic colored eggs for the grandkids. We had to do it inside at my sister's house because it was just too yucky outside. The ground is all soft and mushy too and they would have gotten all wet and muddy. I did make up buckets full of candy, blow bubbles, balls, stretchy reptiles, and things of that nature - along with the candy. The whole family got together for this occassion (we had it late Saturday afternoon). We had ham sandwiches, potato salad, a fresh veggie salad, chips, dip, and two kinds of deserts. The kids had a lot of fun. Jamison and Jaxson ended up staying with me all weekend. That saved me a drive to Marion the next morning to pick them up for church and the drive back to Marion to take them home. The kids didn't have school on Monday so the boys stayed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Of course, when the boys stay, Mallory always has to stay too.

Ongoing Sicky Sicks

Noel now has sinus infection. Mallory doesn't feel good and neither do I. Went to church this morning and many were absent - in fact, whole families suffering from the flu. Pastor was surprised we had as many as we did because he figured there would many be only be about 100 or so. He thought about half the church was sick.

I didn't realize that today was Palm Sunday either. Easter is really early this year which I don't understand because it seems like it should be the same time every year like Christmas or the 4th of July.

Concert and Stage Production

April is going to be an exciting month. On the 15th, Noel, myself, Mallory, Sawyer, Jamison and Jaxson are going to the stage production of the Backyardigans. They are cartoon characters. The kids love the Backyardigans. Then, on the 29th, Central Baptist is going to have David Phelps. He sings with the Gaithers. He has an incredible voice and a set of lungs that it's hard to match. I can't wait to see him. My favorite song of his is called Virtuoso but you may know him by the songs The Book, No More Night, and Behold the Lamb.

Illness and Dog Do Do

Just when we think MAYBE, JUST MAYBE everyone is done being sick, it starts all over again. Sawyer is just getting over double pneumonia. Now, Noel has a horrible case of viral bronchitis. She looks horrible and she said her chest hurts so bad that she can't stand up straight. I sure hope I don't get it. Seems like just about everyone else has had some kind of illness or other. Even all the ready cares are packed with people.

The weather has finally gotten nice. I looked out my front door today and was shocked to see that all the snow on my plants had disappeared leaving an unsightly mess. I have to get some of that black mesh stuff and mulch down this year. Last year, we replanted all those plants from our previous home and never got anything put down around them. Needless to say, the weeds were horrific and I swear the roots must have gone clear to China. There was just no way I was able to keep up with it.

Speaking of keeping up with it....this is going to sound terribly gross....I am in the middle of trying to rake up and scoop up about 6 months or better of dog poop (for two dogs) in my back yard. It is so bad that even the dogs won't go out into the yard to do their business anymore. They are making their way to the back door just because there is no yard left to poop in! I hate to think what it would be like out there if I had more dogs. I can remember at one time (at another residence many years ago) when I had 5 full grown collies! They even all came in the house at the same time. I can't imagine how we ever moved around them. I can barely move around the two monster dogs I have now. Anyway, getting back to poop....hubby and I were out there the other night raking the yard. I was trying to use the pooper scooper but there was so much of it that I just wasn't making any headway at all. In fact, I couldn't even move my feet. All I could do was stand there and pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up. It takes awhile to use a pooper scooper. Of course, the ground was wet and so was the poop - making it all the harder to scoop. We decided the best way to get rid of all of it is to just rake the yard and use a shovel. I don't know about any of you, but I would rather muck out a horse stall (which I did all the time when I was a kid). Ah well....the joys (or should I say trials) of owning dogs. At least one corner of the backyard looks pretty good now. We still have a lot left to do, but with the weather so warm and all the snow melting, it's just too wet out there to continue until it dries up a little bit. By then we will have to start all over. And of course, it's supposed to rain and snow this weekend. Yippee...... :-(

Miscellaneous

First of all, if you find any typos, it's because I cut my little finger open and it hurts to type.

Mallory got to go to a fancy dinner/dance with her grandpa on Daddy's side. Grant had a tux he was going to wear but found when he tried it on, it had "shrunk" so he was forced to wear a suit coat. He was really looking forward to the event and Mallory had a blast. She won an aquarium fish so Noel had to go buy a fish tank. Sawyer is OBSESSED with the fish and screams and bawls if he can't stand right in front of it and watch them. The tank was temporarily on the kitchen counter in these pics. Not sure where she moved it to in order to keep Sawyer away from it.

Noel found this great Amazing Grace plaque in Hobby Lobby. She actually saw a lady holding one in the checkout and asked her where she got it. Noel got the last one and gave it to me. Hope you can see the barb wire for the crown. It really blessed my heart.

Remember all the fog we had a couple of weeks ago? Well, I tried taking pics with my camera. I was on my way to Marion to pick up Jamison and Jaxson for church that Sunday morning. The pics don't really show just how thick the fog was. If it wasn't for a bit of brush sticking up out of the ground, you wouldn't have been able to tell where the snow ended and the sky began.

New Age Deception

I'm going to get on my high horse again.

There are two movies in particular right now that are coming out with the new age deception and blasphemy. You can view one of them at www.humanityascending.com. The other one is actually on YouTube. The movie is called The Moses Code. This movie has everyone speaking just like satan did when he was cast out of Heaven by saying "I Am" God. They even suggest that it's time for us to say about ourselves, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". You can also go to the web site www.themosescode.com. This one actually has a movement scheduled for April 5 to pray or meditate or "whatever" to get this energy or whatever they call it, moving.

These movies are straight out of the pits of hell. If anyone reads my blog, please spread the word on these two movies.

Snow in Jerusalem

These are pics of when in snowed in Jerusalem this year. Aren't they beautiful?

Observations

Remember my obsession with Bibles? Well, I found another Bible I wanted to buy - until today. It is called a Dake's Annotated Study Bible (KJV, of course). I checked out the excerpts online through http://www.cbd.com/ and it really looked like a great Bible. However, I went and googled it today and found much to my horror, some terrible things about Dake and his beliefs. Good thing I hadn't invested in the Bible.

I have done some research on several different Bibles and I have found some very scary stuff on some of them. It's frightening because it's gotten to the point where a person doesn't know who to trust anymore. Even big name Christian people (Rick Warren, Beth Moore, and others) have gone by the wayside in their beliefs and have embraced a "darker" side. The devil is truly sending strong delusion and deceiving even God's elect. That is a scary place to be. I have come to the conclusion that the only book worth reading is the Bible - KJV only and forget all these Bibles with their high falluting study notes. You know why? Because those notes and all those other translations come from MAN. Man is not perfect. Man makes mistakes. Man sets up his own ideas and conclusions.

I have to admit, I do have other versions of the Bible but I don't read them. I could actually get rid of them but somehow, throwing them in the garbage seems almost like blasphemy. I have gone through other versions and compared different verses of scripture to the same scriptures in the KJV and they don't always mean the same thing. So....all those versions just sit on my shelf and someday when the Rapture occurs and I am "home", someone else can get rid of them and do whatever they want with them.

I would just warn everyone out there to be very careful in what you are reading and "who" you are reading. I never thought I would see the day when certain Christian leaders and/or authors would have fallen for a lie.

Achievements and Hair

First of all, I have to congratulate my granddaughter on her achievements in Tae Kwon Do. She is a blue belt now and will be testing again on March 29 for her next level belt (senior blue, I believe, which carries a black stripe in the middle). She also made the Tiger Team which means that she now carries the red stripe around the edge of her tunic top and wears a patch saying "Tiger Team" . Being on the Tiger Team means that you have been successful in all your levels and are qualified to teach the younger classes. Mallory is teaching the cubs, which is the little guys, since that is the level she wanted. She can also teach the white, yellow, and green belts. I took some pics of her uniform and patches for you to see.

Also notice her hair. Poor thing. Her mom took her in and had her hair chopped off just above her shoulders. Well, the salon did a horrible job of it and it was all uneven so today, she took her to another salon and they did an even worse job! The front is shorter than the back, it's crooked and mom didn't want any length cut off other than to even up the original cut. Needless to say, the salon today took off about 4 inches. I told her I wouldn't have paid for the cut. Next Friday, Mallory is going to a very formal dinner/dance with her Grandpa on Daddy's side. It's a formal banquet and her Grandpa even rented a tux to take her! Mallory is wearing her formal long dress she got for Christmas but now we don't know what we are going to do with her hair since it's so screwed up. All we can do is wait til it grows out, I guess. You can see how short it is in her Tae Kwon Do pics.

Bibles

How many Bibles do you have? I don't want to think of how many I have had and as I sit here, I can see a whole shelf full that I currently have. However, Bibles are like an addiction for me. I love them. I love the smell of a new Bible. I love the feel of those soft smooth pages stuck together before they have all been separated from each other through use. At the same time, my very favorite Bible is the one I have had for many years. The cover is worn, the binding mutilated on the edges. Some of the pages have torn through use and are scotch taped. I have lots and lots of highlighting and markings (notes) in it. My sister calls that Bible my Velveteen Rabbit. If you have never read that children's story, you really need too because it is a wonderfully touching story about a little boy and his stuffed rabbit that becomes badly worn from all his love. Anyway, if I had to try and recopy everything from my velveteen rabbit Bible into another Bible, it would take me forever. But, that's exactly what I am trying to do right now. I'm trying to copy everything over into my KJV Matthew Henry Bible. Now, this particular Bible is huge. It has all this commentary in it for all the verses. It's a heavy thing to pack around but I love it. Well, I decided the other day that I wish I had not highlighted all the stuff in it that I did and made up my mind that I wanted to buy another one and only use ink. That has proved to be a difficult project. This particular Bible has gone out of print. I have searched and searched the internet for 3 days looking for another copy. I finally found one last night and emailed the seller with a couple of questions. He responded today and I sent him a payment for it, knowing that I had probably purchased the last real treasure. I then get an email from him letting me know that he had sold the Bible two hours prior to my payment. I was heartbroken. I cannot get this Bible anywhere in the world in a leather soft cover where it has not been used. I can find it, but it's in hardcover and the highest price I have seen on this particular Bible is $955.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, knowing that I could get a price like that for mine makes me really really wish I had never made any markings in mine, but then I wouldn't sell it anyway. I have seen this Bible for $300 but the $955 is the highest I have seen it selling for. Guess I will have to be content with the copy I have because I am probably never going to be able to find another one. Even the publisher was bought out and I can't get a copy from them either. The expensive copies that I can find are through rare and antiquated book web sites. Wish I had known a long time ago how rare this Bible would become because I might have bought a few more of them!