The Last Homely House is a home in Imladris, from Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Nestled in the mountains, nearly impossible to find unless you know where to look, Imladris is a beautiful haven where elves reside. Music, singing, and storytelling abound, and the peaceful atmosphere is a welcome refuge for a weary soul.
Whether you're grinchy 
or jolly 
,
naughty 
or nice 
,
dreaming of snowflakes 
,
or covered in ice
,
may God grant you this Christmas 
joy and good cheer 
and fill you with gladness 
throughout the new year! 
Merry Christmas and God bless!!
I got tagged for this a while back by Bonnie, so here's my response!
A - Available/Single? Who's asking? :P
B - Best Friend? I've found a lot of trouble before revolving around this question...
C - Cake or Pie? Pie. Cake doesn't produce the same fascinating results when smacked in a person's face.
D - Drink Of Choice? Dr. Pepper! Coke's good too. And Café Mochas from Starbucks are really, really good.
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? My computer
F - Favorite Color? Green, when it's not blue
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Worms, though I'd prefer gummy worms to regular ones.
H - Hair Style? Curly and kinda messy
I - Indulgence? Chocolate!
J - January Or February? January! My birthday's in January. :grin:
K - Kids & Their Names? 12. I haven't named them yet. Though it's getting tiring just referring to them by numbers. Thing one, thing two, and the like get rather old. Okay, okay, I don't have any kids. :P
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? Chocolate!! Oh, well, I suppose some would say that's not exactly a necessity...More seriously, prayer, God's Word, and Christian fellowship.
M - Marriage Date? Tomorrow sounds nice. Of course, a groom would be nice as well, so tomorrow might not work out.
N- Number Of Siblings? 6. What? Don't the dog and cat count?
O - Oranges Or Apples? :sigh: Haven't you learned by now that you can't compare the two?
P - Phobias/Fears? Fingernail files. Touch me with one and I'll hit you.
Q - Favorite Quote? I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
R - Reason to Smile? I'm getting a laptop soon, I've made some absolutely wonderfully fabulous friendships this past year, it's the Christmas season, I have a piece of cake in front of me waiting to be eaten, I have a stuffed otter sitting on top of my monitor, and I got a sweet e-card from a friend today telling me to get well.
S - Season? Christmas
T - Tag Three People? Beka, Mama, and Melissa.
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I can be a bit crazy at times. Oh, you already knew that? Hmm...I can bend my toes back more than 98% of other people can bend back their own toes.
V - Vegetable you don't like? Cabbage...at least, I didn't like it last time I tried it, when I was little. But I just discovered that after years of supposed hatred toward pickles, I actually like them, so who knows what might be possible.
W - Worst Habit? Worrying too much about how others might perceive me.
X - X-rays You've Had? I've had x-rays to my arm/hand/wrist various times. I think I had one done on my foot once, and I must have had one when I broke my collarbone when I was little.
Y - Your Favorite Food? Chocolate!
Z - Zodiac Sign? Capricorn. I'm not even sure how I know that, because I really don't care.
This brings back memories! I remember having a Lite Brite when I was little and loving to play with it. Now you can play online! :)
There's something else I wanted to share after my reading of Galatians. It's not a new thought of mine, really, but something I've been turning over in my mind for a while.
I find it interesting to compare the opening addresses and closing notes in each of Paul's letters. He will often start by naming himself, and a coauthor if applicable, say who the letter is written to, then follow with blessings, thanks, and encouragement toward those people, all the while praising God. Take for example 1 Corinthians chapter 1:
Verse 1:
"Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,"
Paul states who is writing the letter.
Verse 2:
"To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:"
A very specific mention of the recipients.
Verses 3-9:
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Blessings, thanks, and encouragement to the people, as well as praise of God.
His letters will often end with blessings, admonitions, greetings to fellow laborers, and an occasional request for prayer.
Then take this the closing of 2 Corinthians:
"Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen."
He's closing out his letter to them with encouraging notes and blessings, and has an obvious love for these people. I've been thinking for a while now about what we can learn from this, and wondering how, as Christians, we could follow this example.
Often today, relationships are so shallow, and people seem to lack a genuine care for one another. Such encouragement is rare. Part of that is because people don't take the time to get to know someone well enough to know how the person needs to be encouraged. If you don't know what someone is going through, how will you know in what way to encourage him? We should be there for one another, bear one another's burdens, and be an encouragement and support to each other. How can we effectively do so if we don't take the time to stop and truly get to know someone? I think it is also good to let people know how much we appreciate them, and let them know you are praying for them and thank God for them.
Those are just some thoughts I had while comparing these passages, and I mull this over from time to time. What can we learn from this, and how can we apply it to our relationships?
In the words of Paul, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Being kept up late last night with my cold and asthma, I decided to get a bit of reading done. Sunday night, I was skipping around a bit in the New Testament, trying to decide what book to read next. I read a bit of Galatians and a bit of Philippians, then last night decided to go with Galatians. But this time, instead of continuing where I left off, I thought I'd start over and read all of Galatians straight through. It amazed me how much more I got out of it that way rather than skipping around reading a chapter at a time!
When you mentally break it up into sections, where it's divided up in your Bible, you can lose a lot of the context. When Galatians was written, there weren't chapters and section dividers. It was written as one long letter, and that's how it should be viewed. Too often, I think, verses are taken out of context and the overall picture seems to be lost. It's good to divide the Word and break it apart while studying it, but we need to take care not to look past the context and the big picture; don't get so wrapped up in the trees that you lose sight of the forest as a whole. You'll get lost much easier that way.
I've had this cold for a week and a day now, and it just doesn't want to go away! I keep asking it to leave, but it seems quite content to stay. :sigh: It will let me think it's leaving, then announce its presence again, letting me know it hasn't gone anywhere. Today I did wake up not feeling so tired and run down, but the cold seems to have moved to my respiratory system now, which isn't good. I'm rather susceptible to respiratory infections and bronchitis, so I'm hoping and praying I won't get either of those!
This afternoon, I had a brilliant plan for getting rid of my cold: I could bribe it with chocolate! Few can resist the lures of chocolate, so my plan seemed sure to work. I would offer to eat chocolate if only my cold would go away. I proceeded to eat a nice, big piece of chocolate, all for the sake of my cold, you know, telling my cold how mighty obliged I would be if it would leave me in peace once it had its chocolate. But alas, it was to no avail. It would seem that my cold is one of those odd creatures that actually doesn't like chocoate, so my brilliant plan did no good, and the cold is still here. The chocolate made me happy though, so it wasn't completely in vain.
Several weeks ago, I got a call on my cell phone for someone asking if Toffee was here...I didn't have any toffee lying about, so I told them no. Just now, I got a call asking for ATM! I don't know if she was asking for someone called ATM, if she wanted to know if there was an ATM here, or if she thought I was an ATM, but it was rather odd.
And look, two posts in less than 24 hours! That hasn't happened in a while. We're not going to that Christmas ball after all, because it's just too short notice for getting together costumes and all. We're planning for the spring ball though! My hand is improving a lot too. I'm able to use it a lot more now. It's such a relief to have it healing on its own!
i'm rebelling against the rules of grammar and not using any capitalization for this post. in fact, i haven't been using capitalization much today in what i type. i find it rather amusing.
actually, i do have a better reason than just the fact that it's fun. you see, i have these odd ways of injuring myself...i don't get hurt doing things one would naturally see as all that dangerous. i get hurt in weird ways, or doing something rather everyday. last wednesday night, i was sitting here at my desk(which is actually a plastic table), and i had a movie on. i noticed the screen was dusty, so i grasped the edge of the desk and leaned over to wipe off the dust. the desk shocked my hand, leaving my fingers numb, then in a lot of pain, and left it sore all the way up my arm. i certainly didn't think it would still be giving me trouble almost a week later, but it is. sometimes it isn't bothering me much, but if i turn my hand or arm just the wrong way, it sends shooting pains and leaves it sore for a while. it's rather odd, really. i never thought a static shock like that could cause this! i think it must be a problem with the nerves. ice helps the pain, and i'm hoping it will improve soon if i take things easy. oh, and as for the lack of capitalization, i'm mainly typing this one-handed, and don't feel like bothering with the capitals. i can use my right hand some, but it's currently wrapped in a bandage and taking a rest.
this link might be of interest to some of you houston area people who enjoy dancing: conroe christmas ball we're planning on attending, and i'm quite excited!
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a fabulous day! We all have so much to be thankful for. :)
"...giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." - Ephesians 5:20
Tuesday night of last week, I heard a cat fight outside, so I went to see which cat Tumnus was beating up and to try to break up the fight. It was another smaller cat I had never seen before, and once I chased him off, I tried to get the other to let me approach. She started to run off, then as she was about to get over the fence, she let me go over to her. I picked her up, and she was so skinny! She looked like she hadn't been fed in weeks, and she had some scratches and cuts. I took her inside and took her into my room, so she might feel safer than out in the open house, and I fed her and gave her some water. When Mama came in to see the cat, I started explaining how hungry she was and how she was getting beaten up and couldn't fend for herself...and of course all that was followed by, "Can I keep her?" So all of that resulted in the newest member of our family, whom I named Harmony.
This is a fun series of riddles I got off a message board. It has many levels, and makes you really think about things. Be sure to read the rules, and have fun! I'm currently on level 12.
See this post at Mama's blog for a hilarious story about the things that happen when Daddy's out of town.
Last Wednesday, I went to the doctor for my asthma. It had gotten pretty bad, and I was barely up to doing anything because I was having such trouble with my lungs. Last fall I had gotten on one preventive inhaler, and it made me worse and made me very lethargic, and my throat got hoarse to the point I could barely talk. Because of all that, I had wanted to avoid getting on any other medicines. I wasn't sure which drug in that inhaler had caused the reaction, so didn't want to risk it by trying something else. When I went last week, he gave me a different inhaler, Singulair, a pill to take every night for my asthma, and antibiotic for bronchitis, as he could hear the wheezing in my lungs.
After a couple of days, I felt much better, and even felt great at dance Saturday. A bit later that night, I felt exhausted, then by Sunday, I felt like I had a horrible sinus infection and ear infection, a gland in my throat was getting swollen, and I was getting a migraine. Then my throat started getting scratchy. With all the medicine I was on, I was the last person in the house that should be that sick. Yesterday morning when I got up, I couldn't talk above a whisper. Up until that point, I couldn't figure out why I was so sick, but once my throat got so bad, I thought it could be the medicine. I the stopped taking the medicine and started researching it. Sinus infections, ear infections, and sore throats are some of the more common severe side effects that inhaler can cause. Those are actually mild compared to some of the worse things that can happen. Also possible effects include delusions and hallucinations. I read about one woman whose son was hurt jumping off their deck after the hallucinations because he started to believe he could fly. They don't tell you anything like that when they give out the medicine! In the papers from the pharmacy, it does mention the infections, but not the hallucinations or delusions. I'm doing a lot better than I was Sunday night, though still not fully recovered. I can see a definite change since getting off the medicine though. I certainly won't be taking that inhaler again. I am still taking the Singulair, and I'm hoping that will be enough to keep the asthma under control. I think people should be made more aware of the dangers of medicines though. I'm just glad I realized when I did that it was the medicine making me so sick. What if I hadn't known and continued taking the medicine? How much worse off would I have gotten? And I wonder just how many people out there are made worse by medicines and don't realize it. I don't think the doctor or pharmacist believed me last fall when I said it was the medicine making me worse, as they wanted to put me on a higher dosage, though they'll probably believe me now. So how common is it for drugs to be the cause of medical problems, yet not even looked at as a possible cause? Medicine can be good at times, and I don't think it should be avoided altogether, but sometimes it can cause a world of problems. I'm just glad I realized that was what made me so sick.
"If you're ever being chased by a lion, just run under a giraffe, because the lions don't like to go under giraffes, so you'll be safe."
That's an interesting tidbit of information given to me by Rachel today.
I finished reading the book Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, yesterday. It has more language than I would like, but it was well-written and had an intriguing plot. My only complaint about the writing is that the book seemed to end rather abruptly. However, the story is told in first person, and you know from the beginning how she ends up, so at least it doesn't leave you wondering.
I've decided my novel is going to be set in WWII, on the American home front. I'd like to write it in a style similar to Little Women, about the family's life at home and their joys and trials together. I'm doing research now so I can start writing come November and not have to worry about the research then.
I got this in an email forward and thought it was great:
HOW YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY?
1) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like
sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the
chips and dip coming.
Alan, age 10
2) No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to
marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who
you're stuck with.
-- Kirsten, age 10
WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
1) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by
then.
-- Camille, age 10
2) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get
married.
-- Freddie, age 6
HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
1) You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at
the same kids.
-- Derrick, age 8
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
1) Both don't want any more kids.
-- Lori, age 8
WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
1) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know
>each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
-- Lynnette, age 8
2) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually
gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
- Martin, age 10
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
1) I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the
newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
- Craig, age 9
WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
1) When they're rich.
-- Pam, age 7
2) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with
that.
- Curt, age 7
The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry
them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
-- Howard, age 8
IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
1) It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need
someone to clean up after them.
-- Mike Schaffer, age 4
HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
1) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
--Kelvin, age 8
HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
1) Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.
-- Ricky, age 10
RELEASE OF ANY TEDDY BEARS into fish hatchery water IS NOT PERMITTED.
This second one I posted earlier, and even saw the post on my blog, but as Blogger seems to have eaten the post, I shall post it again:
You can now take lipgloss on airplanes again...as long as you place it in a plastic bag before you put it in your carryon. Just how is the plastic bag supposed to help matters any? Will it keep a lipgloss bomb from exploding? I really don't see the logic behind this.
Lately I've really been wanting to start writing again. If I could only get my nose out of a book and start writing instead of reading! But I'm getting inspired in my reading, and will start writing more once I finish this book I'm reading. I'm seriously considering giving this a shot and seeing what I come up with. It would probably be a good way to get me writing again.
Tomorrow it will be one year since we evacuated for Hurricane Rita. It's strange to think back to this night a year ago, when we were packing up to leave. We live in a mobile home and were right on the projected path for the hurricane to hit us straight on, so we didn't know if we would have a home when we got back. A few weeks before, we were helping with some of the Katrina victims, so we got to see a lot of that firsthand and hear stories about what happened to them. It was mind-boggling to realize we were then evacuees ourselves! Here's another post from before we left, then here you can read the log I kept of our trip. One thing I didn't mention there is that it was 102 degrees outside when we set up camp! I love camping, but that was just too much. The lake was a wonderful relief though.
My asthma has been bad the last few days, and I've had a bad headache tonight. I thought I was having a rough night until I realized that one year ago tonight, we were packing up to leave thinking we weren't going to have a house to come home to. It's really all a matter of perspective.
After this post by Katie, I decided to try again to set up a network where our computers could access files from each other. Mama and I are often having to email files from one to the other, or put files on a cd to take to the other, so if we could access the files through the network, that would simplify matters greatly. I gave it a try a little while ago, when I needed a file off Mama's computer, and it was actually pretty easy, much easier than setting up the network system for the internet! This will be so useful.
I've been having really weird dreams lately, I think caused by the sinus medicine I've been taking. One night, I had a dream where I was riding a motorcycle, right after driving our van at breakneck speed to the grocery store. Then in one dream, we were fixing up some big, fancy house for a party, and there were Phantom of the Opera things all around, like a music box playing Music of the Night and a piano that played Phantom songs. In another dream, we lived in an underground house sort of like a hobbit hole(it was an awesome house, btw), and Mama went to some ladies meeting thing where she met Carmon. Oh, and there was the dream where I went to Virginia and Wyoming, and they were right beside each other. I got to see a lot of beautiful fall colors, as well as some snow, but I'm not really sure how I managed to get from one state to the other so quickly. Then last night, I had a dream that Doug Phillips started a church here that was an offshoot of his in San Antonio, because there were a lot of people here who wanted to go to his church, but couldn't make the drive every week. So he was going to have some people he knew well speaking at this church, and he would come up and visit every so often. It was quite interesting. I think Patsy Cline featured in my dreams somewhere as well, because I woke up with some of her songs stuck in my head.
This is a good post that makes you think about the extreme amounts of money people will spend on weddings, and how many other things one could do with the same amount of money spent on a typical wedding.
I'm still dealing with the bronchitis some, but I think I'm on the mend. The worst part of it right now is that bronchitis irritates asthma, so I'm struggling more with that than I had been. But if I could get over the bronchitis this quickly, that would really be wonderful, considering when I've had it before, it lasted several months.
I thought this quiz was interesting:
| You Are Incredibly Logical |
 Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer! |
Mama and I went to Wal-mart tonight, and had a rather interesting shopping list:
Ragweed seems to be in bloom again. I have yet to see any, but I've been fighting bronchitis for the past week, and that comes in with the ragweed. I actually managed to avoid it last year, and just had problems with asthma, colds, and sinus infections. But for the two winters before, I had chronic bronchitis until the cold weather set in and killed all the pollen. I'm hopeful that it won't last so long this time though, and I'm doing what I can to fight it off. I've been taking some decongestants, which seems to help a lot, so if I keep on that, maybe this will go away sooner.
I did make an interesting discovery last week, which I probably wouldn't have made had I not been sick. A few years ago, I got glasses and wore them for a while, then didn't seem to need them anymore. Since then, I've worn them occasionally, but not regularly; when my allergies were at the worst, they would put pressure on my eyes and irritate them, so I'd sometimes wear my glasses while reading or on the computer if I was getting a headache. I would sometimes test them out, and didn't really notice any difference in my vision when reading with my glasses. Well, being sick this past week, I haven't felt up to doing much. There were some crochet projects I wanted to start, so I've been working on my crocheting a lot. Earlier in the week, I was watching a movie and crocheting, and realized it was putting a lot of strain on my eyes to look back and forth between the tv screen and my crochet project. I put on my glasses and felt much better. The next day, I wore my glasses whenever working on something like that, then that evening, I went to the store with Mama and left my glasses on. At one point when we were in the van, I took them off the clean them. I suddenly realized that everything outside the van was much more out of focus, and my eyes really had to work to focus on things. Looking back and forth between various objects, trucks, signs, etc., my eyes had to adjust and work to focus. I put my glasses back on, and I could see ever so much better! I had no idea how bad my vision was because that was normal to me. I think that when I would have any problems with my eyes, I would blame it on allergies; I believe a lot of "sinus headaches" I got were actually caused by strain from my eyes, not from sinus problems. Now when I don't wear my glasses, I'm amazed at how quickly I get a headache. I still forget to put them on sometimes after waking up or taking a shower, as I'm not completely used to wearing them, but I soon remember and put them on. At least I've stopped hitting them. At first, I would reach up to scratch my face or be signing to Sarah, and I would hit my glasses, not used to them being there. But I'm glad I found out I need to wear them!
I'll be tweaking my site layout some today with the new Blogger Beta, so things might look a bit odd from time to time.
Edit: I'm having trouble getting HaloScan commenting up with Blogger Beta, so I'll have to go back to Blogger commenting. However, anyone with a Blogger account who isn't yet using Beta can't use their Blogger account to comment, so you'll just have to type in your name and site yourself. When I first started having trouble with the comments recently, it was right after I switched to Blogger Beta. Blogger Beta has some good things about it, but I am getting tired of all the problems with comments. Anyway, thankfully my mom had the comments from my last entry open on her computer when I lost them all on mine, so I copied them and emailed them to myself and I'll go manually put them back in. Considering I wrote up a very long comment in reply to the long comments already there, I'm really glad I didn't lose them all!
...esa es la pregunta.
As you may have guessed, I've been working on my Spanish. Trying to get my brain around all the to be verbs...It certainly is a lot to take in! Do you use ser or estar, then which form of the chosen word do you use? I'm starting to make some sense of it all though. This is a wonderful site for learning Spanish. They have detailed lessons, then tests at the end.
I'm going to make some granola today, so I thought I'd share my recipe for anyone who might be interested. It makes a lot, but it doesn't last very long around here. My favorite way to eat it is mixed with applesauce. You can bake the granola after it's mixed to make it crunchy, but we all prefer it soft. Soon I'm going to figure out how to make granola bars as well. And the recipe is very adaptable, so use whatever dried fruits you want. I originally was using a recipe from Food Network, but I've changed it up so much that it's unrecognizable now. Now for the recipe. As you will see, it's not an exact science or anything.
Put 8 cups oatmeal and desired amount of sunflower seeds and coconut on two cookie sheets. Toast in oven at 350°, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
While that is toasting, cook the following in a saucepan over medium heat: 1¾ cups honey, ¼ cup molasses, ¼ cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons vanilla, 2 teaspoons salt(only if using unsalted sunflower seeds). Cook until heated.
Put the oatmeal mix in a bowl and add: ½ cup chopped dried apricots, 1 cup chopped dried apples, 2 cups raisins, 1½ cups chopped dates. Add the contents from the pot and mix well. If desired, put back on pans in oven until crispy.
It's a beautiful day! Cloudy, overcast, and only 78°. It feels wonderful! It feels like autumn is in the air. Mama says it's just a tease. However, I shall revel in the gorgeous weather while it lasts! I want to spend all day outside in the lovely coolness.
Today I met a girl from Romania. She is 21, and she was adopted 6 years ago and moved here. We talked a lot about America, and she was telling me how different it is here. I've never talked so much about that with someone from another country, and it was fascinating to hear her perspectives. She said that many people in Romania would say they wanted to come to America where they could be free, but she feels that it was actually much freer in Romania. Here in America, we're so bound to our technology. You can't function in the culture without constant use of a vehicle. Many people microwave meals or order takeout rather than have homecooked meals. Generally, people eat so much fast food and other unhealthy food, then get little exercise, as they don't have to walk to go anywhere, or work in the garden to ensure they have food on the table. She said that in Romania, shopping was much easier. If you wanted cheese, you went into the store, and they'd ask if you wanted goat cheese or cow cheese. You would tell them which you wanted, and that was it. Whereas here, you go into the store, and have to choose between twenty different kinds of cheese. She said a lot of people consider that freedom, to have all these options here, but that back in Romania, people have so much more freedom, because they're not bound by technology and vehicles and all the complications we have here, or so caught up in material gain or making money.
I wrote this post at my old blog last year, and I feel even stronger about it now. How much better it would be to live a life poor in funds, but rich in friends, family, fellowship, and simplicity, than to have all the money in the world.
"'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free,
'Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight."
There are several things I want to write about, and I'm not sure where to start. I think I'll share some now, then write a deeper post later tonight.
We go to a folk dancing group with some friends on a monthly basis, and recently started meeting at a different church. The church building has a timer for the locks, where they set what time the building automatically locks and unlocks. It's supposed to open at 6:45 for us, and lock again at 9:15. Last night, we got there at 6:47 and found the building still locked. We wondered if perhaps our clock was off a bit, but a few minutes later, we still couldn't get in. We then thought that maybe they had just set it for 7, since that's the time dance actually started. 7:00 came and went, and still the building was locked. After going all the way out there, we just couldn't go home again without dancing any, but we couldn't get in the building either. The solution: we danced in the parking lot instead. Thankfully, it wasn't too hot, and there was a nice breeze, so I enjoyed it. There was something lovely about dancing outside as the sun set. While the breeze and scenery was nice, the concrete wasn't so good on the feet. It was harder and shoes didn't work as well as on a smoother surface. I usually dance with my shoes on until about halfway through, then dance barefoot. After about an hour last night, I was starting to get blisters on my toes. I kept on a bit longer, then decided to take my shoes off and dance barefoot on the concrete. It really didn't feel bad at all...until we were finished dancing and I tried to bend my toes. Thankfully, the blisters are much better today. I thought I'd be limping around as I tried not to walk on my toes, but that wasn't necessary after all.
This morning, we went to a new church about 40 minutes from here(side note to the MacDonalds: It's only about 5 minutes from the Fialas!). We all enjoyed it a lot. Everyone there was very friendly and welcoming, we liked the music, and the message was wonderful. They have a potluck lunch every Sunday after the service, which is something we like a lot. It's wonderful to have that time of fellowship. At so many churches, you get there, greet everyone, have church, say goodbye, then leave so you can go eat lunch. When everyone eats lunch together, you can really get to know people much better, and I think the time of fellowship is very beneficial.
Our list of animals just grew! We're now nursing a small rabbit back to health, after a cat attack. It seems to have a good temperament, not being too skittish or withdrawn, and lets us hold it. Then when we put it in the tank, it walks around looking at things, so it seems to be doing well.
Edit: We believe the rabbit must have had internal injuries we didn't know about, as he died tonight. We're glad we got to see him though.
Just got this in an email:
HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY SYSTEM IN THE SOUTH
1. Go to a second-hand store and buy a pair of men's used size 14-16 work boots.
2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo magazine and your NRA magazines.
3. Put a few giant-sized dog dishes next to the boots and magazine.
4. Leave a note on your door that reads:
"Hey Bubba, Big Jim, Duke, and Slim,
I went for more ammunition. Back in about an hour.
Don't mess with the pit bulls -- they attacked
the mailman this morning and messed him up
real bad. I don't think Killer took part in it, but it was
hard to tell from all the blood. Anyways,
I locked all four of 'em in the house.
Better wait in your truck till I get back."
I have a question I've been unable to find the answer to so far, so I'm hoping someone who reads this might know. I want to stitch around the edges of some cloth napkins with embroidery floss. The thread will be red, and I'm concerned about it fading once the napkins get in the wash. Any suggestions on how to pretreat the thread to avoid this problem?
I went to the doctor today, and it went pretty well. I was apprehensive over seeing a new doctor, not knowing how well she would listen to me or if she would want to run tests or put me on all this medicine I didn't want. However, she listened to me well, and it went better than I thought it would. I got on Prednisone, which I took once last fall. It's a steroid, so it isn't something I want to take unless I have to, but it will help me get over this some so I can recover and get back to breathing properly. She actually put me on is for a shorter time than the doctor did before, and I'll only be on it for a week. It's the only medicine that has actually helped, and with minimal side effects. It does cause an increase in appetite though, and last time I was on it, ate about twice as much as usual!
Tonight, I tackled a project I've wanted to take on for a few years now. When I graduated, Mama gave me a hope chest she had gotten for her graduation. The top was covered in upholstery, and I've wanted to recover the top. I settled on a thick denim, as it matches my room and will go with many things. I bought myself a staple gun a couple of weeks ago, then tonight, I set to work. It wasn't too hard, and went well, though it was my first experience using a staple gun. I didn't injure myself though. I'm very pleased with the results, and it looks even nicer than I thought it would. The dark blue looks beautiful against the dark wood, and the chest looks very nice in front of my window. I'll try to post pictures soon.
The night I bought the staple gun, I also bought an apron panel in the fabric department, then type that's already printed on the material. I washed that tonight, and hope to sew that up over the weekend. I'll post pictures of that as well. I love the material.
Tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor for my asthma. I've been having a lot of trouble with it lately, and have reached the point where I need to get some medicine to help me get back to feeling well. The doctor I usually go to isn't there, because his wife just had a baby, so I'll be seeing a new doctor. Hopefully that goes well, and she won't want to try to push too many medicines on me.
I'm currently researching herbs and photosensitivity. This summer, I've developed a sensitivity to the sun, where if I'm out in direct sunlight in the heat, it actually hurts my skin. I've always had light skin and burned easily, but I've never felt this way before. My skin has become more sensitive this year, with me reacting to products I had never had a problem with before; the last time was a few weeks ago, when a body wash made me break out in hives, which started causing respiratory problems as well. I'm using more natural products now. But I'm trying to figure out if the increased skin sensitivity is why I'm more sensitive to the sun, or if it's something I'm taking. I'm taking some herbal pills for my asthma, but haven't yet found anything about those herbs causing photosensitivity. It would make sense that it was something in there, since I've just started doing this over the summer, which is when I started taking these pills as well.
I've been learning to knit this week. I bought a book that teaches the basics, then I found a kit on sale at Wal-mart for $1. I'm enjoying it, but it is hard to get used to after crocheting. I thought it was a lot harder at first, but I just wasn't used to it.
I find these things fascinating. A friend on Livejournal posted this test today, and I thought I'd take it. I'm INFJ. I took a different one of these a couple of months ago, but wondered if I'd get the same results with this now, and I did. It describes me well. Apparently, the INFJ type is the rarest, making up less than 2% of the population.
INFJ personality
INFJ - Portrait of Counselor Idealist
Rachel's 12th birthday was August 6. For her birthday, she wanted a pirate themed party. Our parents took her out for dinner and a movie, while the rest of us decorated the house and prepared for her party. Hannah, Caroline, and I thought it would be fun to dress up as well, to go along with the theme. We dug through our old clothes and material scraps, and set to work putting together costumes. They put on a bit of makeup as well, and no pirate would have skin as white as mine...So here are the results:
We're currently caring for a dove rescued from a neighborhood cat Friday evening. When we found him, we didn't think he was going to survive the night because he appeared to be hurt badly. He had some injuries to his chest that looked bad, but they seem to be healing nicely, and aren't as deep as we first thought. He is missing most of his tail feathers, as well as the wing feathers from one of his wings, and has some cuts. However, he appears to be doing well, and seems even more alert today than he was yesterday. He's hopping around his box, and will step up on my fingers and try to walk up my arm. We have to be careful though, as he's still hurt and he keeps trying to fly, not realizing he can't.
The cat who attacked him was Mr. Tumnus, the cat that adopted us recently. He's been moody ever since, and was mad at us for a while Friday night. He was sitting out on top of the van and wouldn't even look at us when we called him. I think he's getting over it though.
This could really catch on as a fun way to exercise. Much more fun than the boring method of simply walking on a treadmill.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:1-3
So begins what is commonly known as "the sermon on the mount". When reading this passage earlier this week, I noticed something I had never paid attention to before. When a pastor preaches a sermon, he is usually standing on a stage, behind a pulpit, giving an instructive message to the people from a position of authority. But think of the difference in the atmosphere if instead, the person speaking was sitting on the floor, along with everyone else, and speaking to them in that manner? Such a setting is much more intimate and personal, and the speaker seems to be on the same level as the rest, rather than above them. That's what Jesus did, "he sat down".
I know that whenever I've thought of the sermon on the mount, I've always pictures Jesus standing before the people, preaching to them in that manner. But reading this passage thinking of Him sitting in front of the people put it all in a different perspective for me. It felt like Him guiding and advising the people, helping them through their spiritual struggles, rather than Him taking an authoritative stance, exerting His power. He was mighty and powerful and had authority, yet He humbled Himself in coming to the people. In reading these chapters with that perspective, it seemed more real, more personal, and I kept thinking of the love He has for us, so strong that He humbled Himself here on earth to guide and instruct us, and ultimately, to die for us. I think His time of ministry here on earth should mean a lot to us today, seeing how much He gave of Himself and how much love He had for us. We have that example He gave, in showing us how to live and serve others. We also have words He spoke to others, such as the sermon on the mount, telling them how to live and serve as well. It makes God feel much closer and personal, having that account of Christ's life, the written, tangible Word of God. How much He must love us!
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
I got this quiz from Mrs Blythe, whom I found through someone else whom I found through Mama...
You are Anne. Find out more about her here.
Then I got this one off the site the other was on:
I can't remember the first time I read Anne of Green Gables or watched the movie. It seems like I've always loved Anne Shirley. She's one of my favorite literary characters, and I read Anne of Green Gables many times growing up. I'd like to read the books again. I love the first two movies though, but refused to see the third after hearing how dreadfully inaccurate it was with all the characters. They changed them up terribly and messed up everything.
Now a few quotes from Anne:
"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"
"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"
"There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."
"And people laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?"
| You Belong in 1958 |
If you scored... 1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! 1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too. 1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all! 1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day. 1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good! |
I updated my menu with a few more blogs I read. I've been meaning to add the rest since I got this blog, but just never took the time to get the links together and add them. There are some others I read on xanga which I didn't link to because I have them in my xanga subscriptions, and can keep up with them that way. I have a xanga because you can't comment on one if you don't have one, but I don't update there much. Sometimes I'll copy a post from here and post it there, but that often.
The circuit court judge today ruled that Abraham Cherrix would not have to report for chemotherapy, and that his parents should have full custody of him. A new court day has been set for August 16.
This is an incredible story in which some IDF soldiers made a daring rescue of Israeli and Jewish hostages from Uganda in 1976.
Here is an article by WorldNetDaily regarding Abraham Cherrix and the judge's ruling, but I can't find anything about the appeal they made today. The state has threatened to put him in juvenile detention with drug dealers if he doesn't comply, or to put him in a foster home. Whatever happens, they're determined to give him the treatment, if they have to take him away and strap him down in order to do so. I find it astounding that they can take someone away and do that because they don't like the medical decision a person made. I fully agree with the decision Abraham and his parents have made, and I think it's tragic that the government is trying to control this aspect of our lives. Please be praying for them as they continue to fight for their rights. I'm about to watch Abraham on Hannity and Colmes.
I had a lot of fun Saturday. I took a class on Sacred Harp singing, which I enjoyed. I took that workshop last year as well. I love singing the harmony, though we had to hit some rather high notes in the section I was in! I also took a workshop on playing the tin whistle, which I'm learning. Then I took a beginner's flatfooting class and learned a few basic steps. Two of the people in that group were cloggers, so they told us about clogging and its history and taught a couple of clogging steps. I think that was the part I enjoyed most. I also played in a few hours of jam sessions. My favorite part then was when most people were eating dinner; we had a smaller group(about ten people) and we played a lot faster. After all that, there was a concert, which I enjoyed a lot. There was a wonderful autoharpist, Jo Ann Smith, who played the autoharp beautifully. You can listen to clips on her site.
As a lot of you probably know, I joined a traditional music group back in the spring. They're breaking for the summer and starting up again in September. Even before the break, I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep playing with the group or not, but I've decided not to go back. The music is nice and I enjoy it sometimes, but that's not the kind of music I want to devote a lot of time to playing. It would take up one night a week to meet with the group, practice during the week, then possibly performances from time to time. I'd rather spend that time on other things, or other kinds of music.
I've also decided I'm not going to be doing much more running. I haven't been running in about two and a half weeks because it's just so hard on my lungs. Even if I'm not feeling bad from the asthma, if my lungs are bothering me in the least, I can't push myself to run because of the asthma. Even if something like dancing or walking doesn't bother me, running is much harder on my lungs and I can't take a lot of it. The times I can run are so sporadic, I'll start getting my muscles and feet used to it, then I won't be able to run for a while, so by the time I can run, I'll have to get used to it all over again. Then after running once, I might not be able to run for a couple more weeks, then I just have to start all over again. So because of my health, I think it's best not to push it.
Also, I think we have a cold going around the family now. Hannah, Rachel, and I all woke up feeling bad today, and it seems to be a cold. At least, I think that's what I have, and they're having similar symptoms.
You can't see any changes yet, but I'm working on changing the layout of our evangelism site now. I'm hoping to get that up within the week. After that, I'll probably work on changing my other site around and fixing it up.
Friday, a judge ruled that Abraham Cherrix, the boy I wrote about in my last entry, must undergo the chemotherapy. An article about the ruling can be found here, and more information here.
It's sad that the judge can make such a ruling. A girl his age could have an abortion without parental consent. In Virginia, where he lives, someone his age can appeal to be emancipated
from his parents. However, Abraham can't make the decision to treat his cancer naturally, even with his parents' approval. Please be praying for them as they make an appeal to have the judge's ruling stayed.
I think this is a very sad example of both how our rights are being denied and how our lives are trying to be run too much by others. This 16-year-old boy is having to fight for the right to decide how he should be treated medically. He went through chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Disease, and was effected so adversely from the chemo, he almost died. He feels certain that he would die were he to undergo another chemo treatment. He and his family want to try to treat the disease naturally because of the effects the medical treatments had on his body. However, social services have stepped in, charging the family with medical neglect and trying to get a court order saying Abraham must go through another round of chemo, and the family is facing the possibility of losing custody of him. I'm trying to find a more recent update on the case. It is interesting to note that the family homeschools. Here is the link to a good blog entry about the issue, and this article speaks of the possibility of Abraham being put in jail for refusing the treatment.
Though much milder in comparison, I've gone through a lot of trouble with asthma medicines making me really sick, so lethargic I was doing well to walk through the house, and the doctor wanting me to take a higher dosage. I could tell how my body was reacting well enough that I knew the medicine was making me sicker, and more medicine would only make me worse. The doctor didn't think that was it, but it was later proven that medicine could indeed have those side effects, and up to 80% of asthma deaths are caused by those so-called preventative drugs. Sometimes patients can tell better than doctors how their bodies will respond to something, though doctors can think they know everything and should have the right to decide. We should have the freedom to decide for ourselves. It's also tragic that the parents could be threatened with losing custody for simply trying to do the best thing for their child's health. It's not as if they're against it while the son wants the care. It's astounding to me that the doctors and social workers want to be able to tell this boy what to do when it's his life and his body, and he even says another round of chemo would kill him. What kind of "American freedom" is that?
Saturday, I'll be spending my day at the second annual Bayou City Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival(that's a mouthful!). I went last year and enjoyed it immensely. They hold workshops during the day, with jam sessions constantly playing in the main room, and there is a concert that night. Last year, I took a guitar workshop and a class on shaped note singing, and played in a total of approximately five hours of jam sessions. It was quite an experience to play in jam sessions with so many other instruments! You can read more about my thoughts on that here, in the blog entry I wrote afterwards. I'll have to get in a lot of practice before Saturday to toughen up my fingers, but I think it will be a lot of fun.
It's taken me a few days, but I've finally decided I'm going to stick with Blogspot for my blog, and just make my other site for things like my writings, etc. I can be so indecisive at times, so I couldn't make up my mind at first. I like the simplicity of Blogspot, but I do like being able to have the other pages on my site when I want them. What finally settled the decision for me was the issue of spam. I have to delete two or three spam comments off my other blog every day. I get email alerts when someone comments, and I would get alerts each day about a comment being posted on some old entry. I'm getting rather tired of that, and the security step I tried before didn't work so well, as some people weren't able to comment then. At least if I start getting such comments here, I can use their word verification setting to cut back on that. I've been wanting to post some lately, but haven't been able to decide which blog to use! I'll post a notice over there, then only post here after that. My one hangup about not using that one anymore was that I wanted to keep my archive, so I'm going to work on a way to link to them from here. I'm going to be rebuilding our evangelism site soon, and I'm working on other websites for family members, so I've got plenty of computer work to keep me busy already. It feels nice to have something simpler for myself now.
Last night, I practiced my guitar for quite a while, working on my flatpicking. I hadn't practiced much lately, so my fingertips are sore. The metronome I use is on my computer, and sometimes I play along with recodrding I have on the computer, so I play sitting in my computer chair so those things are easily accessible. Well last night, I was working on one of the songs, and had gotten it up to a decent rate of speed along with the metronome. I took it up a bit faster, then I just couldn't get it at that rate of speed. I kept focusing too much on either the playing or the metronome, and that would get me off on the other thing. I had a blog open on my computer, and something caught my attention and I started reading it while playing. After about a paragraph, I noticed I was playing perfectly in sync with the metronome, and having no trouble with the speed at all. I came to realize I try to focus too much on where my fingers are moving instead of just playing. I knew the song well, so there really was no need to think about it that much. I get so caught up with thinking I'm going to make a mistake, I overanalyze everything I'm doing, which then causes me to get off. I set the metronome to go faster, and just played, aware of the metronome, but not concentrating too much on any one thing. That helped me tremendously, and I began to see a great deal of improvement. I got down some of the easier songs, and moved to some with just about all eighth notes. I practiced until my fingers were too tired to keep moving so much, but it was great to be able to see myself making some improvement. :)
I just got part of my site fixed! So now the rest is in the hands of the tech support...I don't know how long that will take though, or even if they will be able to fix things. But at least I've gotten some work done on my blog, and I posted there referring people here and explaining a bit of the problem. I'm about to go fix Mama's now and do the same for hers.
Edit: I fixed it!!!! I'm so excited now! I fixed all the problems! Well, I found the solution and repaired one of the pages, anyway. I still have a few more to do, but I know how to do it now and it shouldn't take long.
I'm not sure what to do about blogs now. I was actually wanting to take a break from working on any website stuff for a few days. I decided Tuesday night to take a few days away from it, then I woke up to all these problems yesterday. I'm going to be completely rebuilding Daddy's site, and part of me wants to stick with the simplicity of this now. So I don't know yet what I'm doing with all my blogs.
Things aren't looking too good for my old blog right now. Because of some of the problems the server is having, I can't use the blogging software. The main page of my blog is run through the software. I had thought about putting up a notice on my main page that the blog part wasn't working, and linking over to here. But the only way I can find to do that right now is to delete all the blog files, which would mean I'd lose my archives, etc. I'm going to try to find a way to back those up, which would be something good to do anyway, but if I can't do that, I'm not sure what to do. I talked to tech service about the subdomain problem, and they are supposed to call me back within 24-48 hours. I didn't talk to them about the blogging problem, as at that point, I hadn't yet figured out what was causing it. I know now, but I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is just one big muddled mess!
I thought of something good today. At least I hadn't made all those big updates on my site before this happened! I would have put in a lot of time on something that would have gotten all mixed up. Maybe I can keep up that Pollyanna-mentality and not stress out over all this anymore...
My first post here! Most of you reading this probably know already, but I had to switch over here from my other blog because of technical difficulties. The server that was hosting our domain has been making some changes recently, merging with another company or some such thing, and that's causing problems for many of the users. Our main site, Master's Key, is working just fine, but our other sites branching off of it aren't working properly. You should be able to see my old blog by using this link: http://lindsay.masterskey.org/index.php, but you can't comment, and I can't add new entries. Mama's blog is having the same problem. I think this is most frustrating because I've just been putting in all these hours trying to fix up Mama's site and get mine ready to switch around, and now I can't do any of that. Ah well. Life goes on.
Since I can't use that blog, I decided to set this one up, but it's taken me all evening to decide what to call it. I remembered I used this name for my old blog a while back, and had a layout for it, so I thought I might be able to use the same layout here. I'll work on it and see if I can
fix that up. I have so much fun fixing layouts, as I like being able to get creative with them and make new designs.
Why The Last Homely House, you might ask. The Last Homely House is a place in Imladris from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Nestled in the mountains, nearly impossible to find unless you know where to look, Imladris is a beautiful haven where elves reside. Music, singing, and storytelling abound, and the peaceful atmosphere is a welcome refuge for a weary soul. Since I love music, singing, stories, and nature, I find all that very appealing. Also, Tolkien's beautiful descriptions in Lord of the Rings are what inspired me to want to be a writer, which is another reason I like using something from his works.