I just updated my MySpace page.  I think it looks beauteous, and I love the song on it.  Wanna see it? 

http://www.myspace.com/promise_sing1  

peace...

This is kind of weird, but I am sad today.  Everyone who knows me, knows I am a huge Redskins fan.  On Sunday, I was talking to a friend and we were both saying that "yeah, if Sean Taylor had been in these last two games, he would have been the difference that would have pushed us over the edge"  Not that he is an offensive player, but he is a motivating factor.  He is a leader, he is an amazing player who gets the team wound up...  Hard to describe.  He was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for his last year at the University of Miami, he was in the 2006 Pro Bowl having led the team in tackles for that year, he had five interceptions for this season, but has been out of the last two games with a knee injury.  He had been a bit of a wild child, but in the last year and a half since having a baby, had matured, and settled down (he is only 24).  Sunday night he was shot by an intruder in his home, and last night he died.   And I am sad....because I feel like he was a member of our family....  The whole town is stunned, and the players and coaches can barely speak.  His dad appears to be a Christian who said that Sean was with Christ now.  I guess we can only pray that something good comes from this....but it just makes me sad.  I know it doesnt compare to those who have lost loved ones this season, and I am not meaning to compare it with that...but I am just sharing what I am feeling today....  We are going to miss number 21.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his friends and his teammates and coaches.

I put up a  new post yesterday too, please go back and read that for more happy thoughts....

peace....

So that's over...  Thanksgiving, that is.  It went well.  The turkey was a little bit overcooked, but good.  The experimental butternut squash casserole was delicious eliciting exclamations such as "oh my goodness" and "holy cow" and "oh wow" when people took their first bites.  I took that as a good sign.  The experimental jello salad was good, but not as loudly well received.  The experimental cranberry sauce was okay but not as good as last year.  The experimental stuffing was good, but I want to make tweaks on it for next year....  Hmm, I think those were all of the experiments....  I know, I should try them first, but that is just not who I am.  You eat at my house, you roll the dice!    Also, once I have tried a recipe, I rarely follow the recipe.  I fancy myself to be a chef or a chemist, and I just throw things in.  My mother always tells me that she needs to have my recipe, and I usually shrug and tell her that I don't have a recipe for whatever it is she is looking for because I made it up.  That is frustrating to her, because she is a precise cook--which is why her food consistently tastes the same-always delicious...  My food, however, is a crap shoot   But I enjoy making it.  It's funny...people come to my house and say (with great surprise in their voices) I didn't know you could cook!  It cracks me up, because Ron and I enjoy delicous meals here all of the time.....

I made enough food for about 30 people.  We had 10 people for dinner, however, so we had LOTS of leftovers!  I am definitely not a good judge of quantities.  If it says it makes enough for 8 people, I feel like I should double it, because, what if people are really hungry?  Crazy, I know.  It was good, though, because we were able to send leftovers home with everyone who wanted them. 

I haven't told any Tyler stories in a while, and I have a really good one....  Tyler is 3 now (and still adorable....)  He and his Mom pulled up to his preschool and he had a bottle of water that he had been drinking out of.  His Mom told him to leave it in the car, but Tyler said that he wanted to take it in to share with the other kids.  His Mom explained to him that because he had been drinking out of it, it had germs on it, and germs could cause the other kids to get sick.  She said that as she was talking, he was looking at her intently, and she kept going into more and more detail, and he kept staring at her and listening.  She could feel herself going into way too much detail, but was on a roll....  After she finally wound down, Tyler took the bottle, handed it to her and said, "Wow, that's deep Mom" and got out of the car.  She quizzed everyone who spends any time with him, and has no idea where he got that, but he used it in the right context and everything....it was, in fact, deep  

Last, but not least, I got this from RevJeffrey's site.  This video is a great reminder for this holiday season of what is really important. 

peace....

We had fun this weekend....our old Pastor and his wife  (not that he is old, but he used to be our Pastor before he retired) and their son came in for our school's 30th anniversary....    They are like family to us.  It was such fun visiting with them and with all of our old friends who also returned for the event.

Here is my favorite picture from the event...my very good Hatian friend's children.... I had to take about 50 pics in order to get one good one.  The whole time they were saying cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!  So cute!

\

oh how I love 'em!

peace....

 

This is for RevJeffrey...

Dyslexic Student Expelled Over Toy Gnu

WATERBURY, CT - A fourth grade Oakville student has been expelled from a Waterbury school for bringing a toy gnu onto the property. The action falls under the school district's 'zero tolerance' policy, according to administrators. Officials believe the student, who is dyslexic, tried to intentionally break the policy.   "We're convinced he intended to bring a toy gun." said Meredith Simmons, Principal of Waterbury Elementary. "His reading disability may have confused him about what is prohibited in the policy, but we can't take any chances. That's why it's called zero tolerance." The expulsion received full approval from the superintendent's office. "We support Principal Simmons' decision." said Milton Decker, Assistant Superintendent. "The toy gnu may seem harmless, but we can't ignore the underlying intent. I seriously doubt any of our students even know what a gnu is." The student, who requested to remain amomynous, will be eligible for admission next year following a psychological evaluation and sensitivity training. The toy gnu was confiscated and destroyed by janitorial personnel.   it's all about our intent.... peace...

Okay, I confess...I love Homer Simpson.  He makes me laugh with his quotes.  I know he is not a real person....but the humor...it makes me laugh.  So, being in the need for laughter, I figured I would share some Homer quotes...

Operator! Give me the number for 911!

Oh, so they have internet on computers now!

Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!

Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand.

Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers.

Well, it's 1 a.m. Better go home and spend some quality time with the kids.

Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'Sir' without adding, 'You're making a scene.'

Marge, don't discourage the boy! Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals! Except the weasel.

Doughnuts. Is there anything they can't do?

You know, boys, a nuclear reactor is a lot like a woman. You just have to read the manual and press the right buttons.

Lisa, if you don't like your job you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way.

When will I learn? The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV! 

[Meeting Aliens] Please don't eat me! I have a wife and kids. Eat them!

What do we need a psychiatrist for? We know our kid is nuts.

Marge, you're as beautiful as Princess Leia and as smart as Yoda.

Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

The only monster here is the gambling monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it's time to snatch your mother from his neon claws!

When I look at the smiles on all the children's faces, I just know they're about to jab me with something.

Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races.

It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.

Lisa, Vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and eskimos.

I want to share something with you: The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here.

Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that.

Remember that postcard Grandpa sent us from Florida of that Alligator biting that woman's bottom? That's right, we all thought it was hilarious. But, it turns out we were wrong. That alligator was sexually harrassing that woman.

Old people don't need companionship. They need to be isolated and studied so it can be determined what nutrients they have that might be extracted for our personal use.

How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?

Homer no function beer well without.

Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream?

If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can't speak English.

I'm never going to be disabled. I'm sick of being so healthy.

All my life I've had one dream, to achieve my many goals. 

Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless.

I think Smithers picked me because of my motivational skills. Everyone says they have to work a lot harder when I’m around.

Dear Lord.. The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal.

That's it! You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!

Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.

If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing

I'm in no condition to drive...wait! I shouldn't listen to myself, I'm drunk!

'To Start Press Any Key'. Where's the ANY key?

 

Come on....that made you smile at least once, right?

peace....

I love this video!  It embodies what joy looks like to me!

I have been out of sorts lately...lots going on....  So I am going to just lay low and watch dogs splash into pools....

consider it all joy....

peace...

The longest one-syllable word in the English language is
“screeched.”

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters
“mt”.

Almonds are members of the peach family.

The symbol on the “pound” key (#) is called an octothorpe.

The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.

Ingrown toenails are hereditary.

The word “set” has more definitions than any other word in the
English language.

“Underground” is the only word in the English language that
begins and ends with the letters “und.”

There are only four words in the English language which end
in”-dous” tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

The longest word in the English language, according to the
Oxford English Dictionary,
is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
The only other word with the same amount of letters is
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.

The longest place-name still in use is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimau
ngahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu, a New Zealand hill.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

In most advertisments, including newspapers, the time displayed
on a watch is 10:10.

Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button.It was eliminated
when he was sewn up after surgery.

Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.

Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have
the same pattern of whiskers.

A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses
II who fathered over 160 children.

There is a seven letter word in the English language that
contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters,
“therein” the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are
registered blood donors.

John Larroquette of “Night Court” and “The John Larroquette
Show” was the narrator of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after
Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in
Frank Capra’s “Its A Wonderful Life”

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw
up.The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of
it’s mouth.Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the
stomach’s contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.

Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully
ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.

The male gypsy moth can “smell” the virgin female gypsy moth
from 1.8 miles away.

The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.

The name for Oz in the “Wizard of Oz” was thought up when the
creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z,
hence “Oz.”

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word that is typed with only the
left hand.

To “testify” was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a
statement made by swearing on their testicles.

The combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different
ways.The following sentence contains them all “A rough-coated,
dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough;
after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.

Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct
order, as does arsenious, meaning “containing arsenic.”

Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the
Australian coat of arms for that reason.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have
about ten.

The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase
“Shah Mat,” which means “the king is dead”.

The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days
of lore when the engines were pulled by horses.The horses were stabled
on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight
staircases.

peace....

Okay, I know it has been a long time.....no excuses...just lazy, I guess.

So what has been going on?  Hmmm, Halloween happened!  That was fun!  It was kind of warm here that night.  Ron put speakers out in the woods and popped on the scary music.  Put up the not incredibly scary ghostly thing in the front yard and redirected a few lights in the front yard, and he and I settled in on the front porch in our rockers and waited for the kids to come.  We enjoyed ourselves.  It was fun talking to the kids and their parents.  And we enjoyed talking to each other too!

This weekend we had the weirdest experience...  My Mom has not been feeling too well, so we decided to take her to our favorite diner in Annapolis for Breakfast/Lunch.  The historical place I have mentioned here before where I get my favorite crab omelet and they say the pledge to the flag....  Anyway...  This seems to happen to us a lot....  We go to a place a million times on our own and things are great, but as soon as we take someone else, everything falls apart....  Well....  our food took a really long time, and when we got it, Ron's fries were cold, Mom's food was cold, and my omelet was nonexistent (I saw the waitress send it back because it had no crab in it).  So when the manager finally brought me my omelet....he said, here, how's this....and I opened it up, and.... no tomato, no mushroom, and....once again....no crab.  Anyway, the manager's face got very red and the owner stepped in and I quickly got the biggest, fattest crab omelet known to mankind.  Unfortunately I couldnt eat the whole thing, so it was kind of a waste....  Anyway....  disappointing experience, but that is how it goes sometimes.

Last night I had a Partylite Candle party.  First of all, my wonderful husband helped to clean the house and set up.  I am really lucky.  He always pitches in and does a lot around here.  Also, the night of the event, he always greets people and helps carry stuff.  He is a nice guy.  Last night I got an extra surprise when my bff Rhonda showed up.  I haven't seen her or talked to her for a really long time and it was awesome to catch up.  She was the one who introduced Ron and I to each other, and she was in our wedding at 8 1/2 months pregnant, and she is gorgeous and funny and always the life of the party....and unfortunately, she has cancer....blech.  Stage 4 out of 4.  But God can do miracles, right?!  Anyway, so that made my night.....and Ron's too!  We sat and talked for a while long after everyone else left.  We always just pick up where we left off.....

Anyway....no other words of wisdom for today....just thankful for my friends.....

peace....

Random Stuff:

"Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics" Fletcher Knebel

"Facts are meaningless.  You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." Homer Simpson

"It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another" George Bush Sr.

"The death of one is a tragedy, the death of millions is just a statistic" Joseph Stalin

"I should have been a plumber" Albert Einstein

You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off the calories from a Super Sized Coke, fries and Big Mac

A young teller was new to the job when she was approached by her first robber.  Noticing that the man's grammar was not the greatest, the teller figured that the would be criminal was slightly slow.  She told the robber that he had to have an account to rob the bank.  Disappointed, the man left.

Police in Radnor, PA, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine.  The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth.  The suspect believed the "lie detector" was working and confessed.

Two twin boys in OH were separated at birth, being adopted by different families.  Unknown to each other, both families named the boys James.  Both James grew up, not knowing each other, yet both sought law enforcement training, both had mechanical drawing and carpentry skills, and both married women named Linda.  They both had sons whom one named James Alan and the other named James Allan.  The twin brothers divorced their wives and married other women-both named Betty.  And they both owned dogs named Toy.

Celebrity Baby names...we know of Frank Zappa's kids named Dweezil, Moon Unit and Diva Muffin, John Cougar Mellencamp's son named Spec Wildhorse; Bob Geldof's daughters, Peaches Honeyblossom, Little Pixie and Fifi Trixabelle; Germaine Jackson's son named Jermajesty....  But I think that Bono's son's name takes the cake....  Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q.    I am not sure what the purpose of that Q on the end is, but there you have it.

I guess that is it for today...I have done my part to educate the masses.

peace....