My Absence

'nuff said.

Sigh...Mr. Darcy!

I just finished watching the A&E presentation of Pride and Prejudice, (for the 100th time, I'm certain) and I just gotta say, "Will I ever stop loving this movie? uh...no. No, I will not." And you know what....I'm a little concerned about myself. Maybe, just maybe now, I am sort of a romantic. MAYBE. A little. Because lately I find myself saying this ALOT:

"I'm not usually a fan of romance, but I'm so loving this sort of romance book by, blah, blah..."

Twice now I've read a romance novel thinking, "OK, I'll read it because I trust the person who recommended it, but I'm not a romance gal." Twice, I loved loved LOVED the books!
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. What a gushy title! And the cover even had the typical "lady-in-the-fancy-red-dress", so when my mother-in-law handed me the book, I didn't think I was even going to make through my usual 5 Chapter Commitment. HA! I read the whole book in 3 days. Now I'm reading the first book in The Gresham Chronicles by Lawana Blackwell. My sweet friend Patti loaned them to me. She's my pastor's wife. I had to at least try. I love it. I'm PITIFUL! Get me out of this genre! I was very content in the classics, thank you very much! Historical fiction, suspense, a little light comedy maybe. But romance?? ew.
And it's not just books...how many times did I rewind the piano scene in Pride & Prejudice, when Elizabeth is playing the piano and singing and Mr. Darcy is just gazing at her, completely lost. How many times? No WAY will I tell you! This is wrong on so many levels. Somebody stop me.

Friend

Dictionary.com defines a friend as "a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. "

Who are your friends? Are they family members? Some of mine are. Some aren't. Some of my friends are people I talk mostly with online and have only known for a short time. Some I've known since childhood. Some I see every week, some I haven't seen in years. Some have made so mad I could spit nails, others have never been anything but wonderful. Are you married to your best friend? Some are. I think alot of people say that because it sounds nice. What is a best friend? What makes one friend good, one better and one the absolute best. Can you lose "best friend" status? If you bestow best friend status on someone, and then you find another "best friend"...what does THAT mean? Must you then make new catergories for best friends? Like "best friend from home" or "Best friend from college" or "or Best work friend". Then there's "best Christian friend". If you've moved alot, you've got more categories. "Best fFriend from Texas" "Best Friend from Mississippi". Why do we ladies do this? Men don't have best friends, do they? I don't know. They have buddies. My husband had 300 "buddies" he invited to our wedding. If ask a man who their best friend is they will look at you funny or dumbfounded and probably say something like, "What, like a person?" They're probably thinking, "Sex. Yeah, that's a good friend" or "Hunting. I like hunting." Maybe sports. A dog. I'm not sure if they seperate activities very much from people. I recently saw a billboard for Healthy Marraige Mississippi (or some thing like that). It had a picture of a man in bed with a deer, and had some slogan like "Hunting won't keep you warm at night." Now, as my husband stated, this is just plain stupid. That means NOTHING to a man. A man will look at that and think," I hunt in the morning or day time. What does one have to do with the other?" If you tell a man they are not your best friend anymore, they won't care. "what? best friend?ok.uh....hey, gotta dip?"
What about God? Can He be a friend? Shoot, He made you didn't he? Do you think He doesn't know what you're really like? Yet, you're still here. Chances are you haven't been zapped by lighting for the last bad thought you had...there's still time to fess up and ask forgiveness. And He would grant it. The bible tells me so. I'd say that's a friend, wouldn't you?

I could just keeping going with this... all day.....flappy flappy flappy flapping my pie hole... but my mud mask is way too dry. My kids are asking me questions and it's hard to talk with this cement like stuff on your face. There's really no point to this post other than to get you to ponder friendship.It's not the same for everyone.

Here is how you say "My friend" in a bunch of different languages:

Spanish: Mi Amigo
French: Mon Ami
German: Mein freund
Greek : Ο φίλος μου (That's helpful isn't it?) Try "philos"
Portuguese: Meu Amigo
Italian: Il mio amico
Dutch: Mijn vriend
Japanese:I don't know,
but here is how you say "Don't touch me!" "Sawaranaide!"

And Check THIS out! In Swaziland, Africa, friend is "nkhosi"...
pronounced "in-koe-see"...the same name they use for the Lord!

On a lighter note...

Man , I just LOVE this song! It's been a while since I've heard it. I've just visited a friend of friend's blog and while I'm not sure why, I'm inspired to post this song for her. So, for the Ragamuffin Diva, (who apparently went through some nights consumed by the shadows, but Jesus was waiting)... Enjoy!

Coming soon....Compassion Sunday

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Compassion – Make a Donation – Sponsor a Child

These children are not suffering the consequences of bad choices. They've not done anything that one might think of when considering victims of AIDS. They are innocent, but are still victims of AIDS, because they are orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. Think about that for a while... I'll be back later.

Happy Birthdays to Y'all!

Two people I love very much are celebrating a birthday today... my father in law and a very best buddy from high school. I probably won't see my father in law until Saturday, and I won't see Wendy till the fall, but I'll be thanking God for each of them and celebrating their lives all day today. Both have been wonderful blessings to me. Love y'all!

GASP!!!!

Ever break the camera? I don't mean dropping it and breaking it, but someone takes your picture and the camera breaks. Ever happen to you? Well, it happened to me once, on my wedding day. That's a whole other story, but suffice to say we have plenty of wedding pictures anyway.
Anyway, if you've ever "broken the camera", you're aware of the joking and jesting that comes with it. Now imagine, if you will, breaking the scale. Oh yeah, that's BIG fun, pun intended. I know because I did this. Our bathroom scale is broken (oh so sad boo-hoo) and I'm the one who did it. I know this not because springs came popping out of it when I stepped on. If that happened I might con myself into believing it was broken before I got on it and I just didn't know it. I know I broke it because it is STUCK with the pointer thingie pointing at my weight. I stepped on the scale, the dial moved to the "correct" weight. I stepped off the scale, and apparently, the little dial stayed put. I didn't notice this at time, but rather the next day when I raised my foot to step on the scale. Before I even touched a toe down on it, there was my weight, glaring back at me. (Sort of like, Don't bother honey, we both know how much you weigh.) Great. I stepped on it anyway, thinking I could jar it into becoming unstuck. uh-uh. Instead, it just kept on trucking, adding an additional 100 whatever pounds. So now, instead of reading my true weight, it read my true weight DOUBLED! eeeeek! I jumped off the scale and quickly looked over my shoulder. I then tried messing around with it, tried bringing it back to zero, but nothing worked. My husband tried fixing it. No dice. Well, I must confess, although I am slightly emabarrassed, I'm not at all sad about the broken scale. Pfh! To it, I say "Hasta!" "See ya!" "Good ridance, little square mechanical liar. I never believed you anyway."
I'm grateful it wasn't one of those hateful scales that talk to you, saying your weight out loud. Oy vey, what a nightmare that would be, hearing your weight over and over and OVER again! It would be like the Scale version of Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. ew.... creepy.

Sickness

I've been sick for the last few days. In fact, yesterday, when Second-cup-of-Coffee- Time rolled around, I drank Sleepy Time tea with honey. As a matter of fact, I drank it all day, as I have today. Hot tea with honey and ice water with lemons. I can't decide which feels better. I have still been drinking coffee, but mostly to keep my body from just going beserk on me. I'm not even really craving coffee. Hey, maybe now's good time to quit! (pfh! As if!)

Warm Thoughts of Winter.

Hot Cocoa* Snowball trees* Cardinals * New footy PJs* frost on the windows* Snow day!*Red and green* Chistmas* Jingle bells* New Year's resolutions* new calendars* Valentines* Red white and pink* "I'm not your Sweet Baboo!!" * Thigh high snowdrifts* Quilts* Tea and honey* Superbowl Sunday* Black and white movies* wearing 2 pairs of socks* The Supremes, Dean Martin and Robert Goulet Christmas ALBUMS* Butter mints at Memere's * Gorton* Warm sweaters* A large army duffel bag filled with mittens, hats, scarves* Playing in the garage* eating icicles * Cutting out snowflakes* Rice Pudding* Sledding* Snow forts* Snow angels * Smelling the heater come on*

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

For Wyatt, A day late!

The best part of waking up...

I love coffee. My children would correct me if they read this, and tell me that I can't love a food, and they are right. Love is a verb. You love something by how you treat it. So technically, you can't love a food. But semantics aside, I love coffee. I love the way it taste and smells. I like it hot and cold. I remember, as a child, seeing pitchers of Iced Coffee in the fridge and knowing summer was offically here. This was long before Starbucks (which I also love) and Seattle Drip (yep, love them too) came along and started charging people a small fortune for a glass of iced coffee plus caramel and calling it a Latte.
Anyway, back to my affinity for coffee. Coffee is not only a favorite beverage of mine, but it's also a favorite pastime. I enjoy sitting down to my computer with a big ol'mug of jo and blogging, surfing, reading, whatever. I have a daily ritual at 2:00...Second cup of coffee time. Second-cup-of-coffee-time sometimes happens alot earlier than 2:00, and that's ok. It's the spirit of the Law folks, not the letter. Today, for example, I had my second cup immediately following my first. However, I will still sing the "Second-Cup-of-Coffee-Time!" song at 2:00 after I lay my youngest down for her nap and start the coffee maker. The coffee police won't come knocking on my door saying, "Ms. Roberts, we all know it's your third cup. We're going to have to take away your brewer." (eeek...scary thought)
Another favorite coffee moment is the after dinner pot-o-java. Yes, after dinner, and no, it's not decaf. That's right, Baby, I'm all that. Just clear the path to coffee maker....the kids are in bed and I have books to read, blog posts to write and beading to do. My husband way want to have a discussion about evolution, atheists, the egocentric gospel or NT Wright. Bring on the coffee! I'll drop over by 11:00 anyway, so c'mon with it...I ain't skeered.
Of course, I would be remiss not to mention the first cup of the day. Do I dare even move in bed before I hear the coffee brewing? Nooooooooooooo. If I move first, my husband will know I'm awake and then I will have to get up and make the coffee. AAAAAHHHHH!!!! Now, every blue moon I do get up first, but honestly folks, I could count those times on one hand. I probably got up first the day after my husband had his kidney operation. Can't make coffee from a hospital bed. I'm sure I made myself some coffee in the hotel room, but I don't remember doing it so I must have blocked it out. The first cup is truly nectar from Heaven.
I often have pondered the possibilites of a coffee IV, but lately, I've reconsidered this. First of all, you can't taste an IV. I love the taste of coffee. Second, you'd have to lug the IV bag around. And with kids constantly jumping on me, someone is bound to pull the IV out of my arm. ouch. Third, an IV would have to be relatively cool...at least not hot. A fellow blogger can testify that hot coffee should only enter the body through the mouth. (click here for the nasty details) And cold IV's are strangely disturbing. I had one once (not coffee, unfortunately) during the labor of one of my children. Coldness creeping through your veins is downright, well...creepy. Makes your hair stand on end. And you can't get warm by piling on the blankets, because you're getting cold from the inside out. So cold coffee wouldn't work in an IV anymore the hot coffee. Which leaves you the unattractive option of room temperature coffee. yuk. The only one on the planet who likes that is my 2 year old son, who always manages to find a cup somewhere in the house.
Then there's the social aspect of drinking coffee that would be gone if you had an IV. No more lingering at the table with your girlfriend, smiling as you lift the mug to your mouth. What would you do with a IV? Massage the IV tube? That's not soothing. What is she's telling you something that freaks you out and you squeeze the tube. You could cut off your own supply!!
And lastly, there's the whole needle thing. Who wants it? Not me.
So, after much consideration, I renounce the whole coffee IV idea. Let's just leave well enough alone, shall we?

Has It Really Been THAT Long?

GUESS WHAT??!!?!! I just received an invitation to my 20th High School Reunion! How on earth did 20 years go by so quickly? Now, I wasn't at all popular in HS, but I did have a few very good friends that I still keep in touch with today and would LOVE to see. I even have connected with one I didn't know too well in HS, but really enjoy talking to now and would love to see her too. I've not been to any other reuions for HS or college...but this is the 20th. Aren't I obligated??? I think maybe I should at the very least give a healthy try! It's not till November, so that gives me plenty of time to save money for me and my husband to go, enough time to find a sitter (or 2) and plenty of time to loose about 20 pounds. Ok 30. Whatever. Plus, it's New England in the fall!!!! So completely beautiful and romantic. Yes, we need to go. Don't you think? Honey? Please?

Will I Never Learn??

Why, why, WHY do I continue to do this? Here I sit with a fuzzy headache and dry, sore eyes I can barely keep open. How did this happen? Well, don't blame me, blame Lisa Samson, author of Tiger Lillie. After I finished reading another yummy book by Ms. Samson, Quaker Summer, I immediately went to the library to search for the next tasty morsel. I walked, (ok, skipped) away with Tiger Lillie. It sat on my bedside table for a week until I finished Ann Tatlock's I'll Watch the Moon. Yesterday afternoon, during an unusually quiet 45 minutes, I started Tiger Lillie. I closed the book at about....ohhhh...1:30...maybe 2 ish? Sounds about right. That's 2 AM folks. Yeah, I'm an idiot. I did put it down a few times to eat dinner and put the kids to bed, but I promise you I didn't close the book until 2 AM. And let me tell ya, it wasn't easy. I REALLY wanted to finish it last night. And since tornadoes had ripped through Tennessee earlier in the evening and were in our forecast, I had a valid reason for burning the midnight oil, right? I had to keep watch! Well, I'm happy to report that any nasty weather missed us. But, despite my efforts, I only got 3/4 of the way through the book. I'm getting weak in my almost middle age. I guess...37..is that middle age? In any case, one day I'd like to grow up and write as well as Lisa Samson. But then would I ever sleep? Would I feel compelled to stay up all night writing? Probably not, I'm way too lazy. Anyway, ladies, read Tiger Lillie. It's about sisters, friendship, loving God and letting go. At least, I think it is. I'm not finished yet, so maybe everything turns around in the next few chapters!Maybe it's about not letting go! Man, I knew I should've finshed it last night. Gotta go.

One more to go...

OK. It has been almost 7 years since we have had only one child in diapers. Ever since Lizzie was born in Februaury of 2001, we've had 2 children in diapers. But today is the start of something new. This morning, our youngest son who will turn 3 at the end of this month, woke up in his underwear instead of a Pull Up. His dry underwear, thank you very much! He is completely potty trained. So, now it's just Abby in diapers. And that, my friends, is big news. It's really big. It's party-worthy. I just might come up with a new dance to mark this occasion. Or not.