Super Bowl

I do love football. My favorite is college especially SEC. I keep up with the NFL when I am watching Sportcenter in the mornings. I like the personal stories that come up and for the super bowl....the commercials.

Personal stories- There are 9 football players in the Super Bowl with ties to the state of Alabama. Justin Tuck number 91 for the Giants and Adalius Thomas number 96 for the Patriots went to the same high school at Central High School of Coosa County. And they are cousins. Each team has an AUBURN player. Heath Evans for the Patriots and Reggis Torbor for the Giants.

A commercial to look for is for Shaquille O'Neal for Glaceau Vitaminwater. He will appear as a jockey. For those that don't know Shaquille, he is 7-1 and weighs 321. He says that he actually rides the horse.

If you miss any commercials you can see them at usatoday after the game.

I think now I am for the Giants because in my humble opinion as I watch the sports news one would think only one team is playing in the super bowl and that is the Patriots. I love being for the underdog.

Manhunt part II

We had our bookclub meeting last night. We discussed Manhunt by James Swanson. I love to hear what everyone else thought about the book. Here are some thoughts from last night.

Often in the book it is the good looks of Booth are mentioned. Betty said that we should picture our favorite Hollywood star* as Booth. The author was born on February 12- Lincoln's birthday. How news travels today and how news traveled then. What if Booth had made it to the 'deep south' could he have escaped.

There is a movie in production. Johnny Depp* is playing Booth. For more info on the movie and about the author Go here

To God be the Glory

I am not sure how many years ago we 'found' Rick and Bubba. They are comedians. They are very Southern, Right-winged,and Bible-believing. They had a tv show for awhile and the tapes I have of it are some of our favorites. They are on the radio and the Internet now. The only caveat I have for their cd's is they talk about EVERYTHING, so you may want to preview one before you give it to a young person or your grandmother.

About two weeks ago Rick's two year old son drowned in the family pool. When Rick spoke at the funeral someone recorded it and put it on youtube. At one time it had the fourth most hits. It is a wonderful talk. Get your kleenex ready and gather the loved ones around and listen Here

If you can't get my link to work you can go to youtube and type in Rick Burgess or go to rickandbubba.com

For Charles and Frances

Here is my plant that my cousin , Vicki gave me for Christmas. It is just beautiful

Baby, It's cold outside!

When I took that last picture of the window I realized what all I was seeing and I wanted you to see it too. Look at the Temperture. Notice the stalactites hanging off the deck. I know you are thinking that it is just ice but I like the word stalactite. Kaitlin and Marisa got home early. Their classes were cancelled. Kaitlin had to stop on the way home because the ice froze her wipers to the windshield and she needed them. Another wave is headed this way soon. We have power and that makes me happy.

What do you see when you look out your windows?

TaDa...my last new window was installed yesterday. It is beautiful. I can highly recommend The Hanke Brothers. They were very profession and polite. We are enjoying our view.

Can't have too many shoes

These are my new crocs. I ordered them online. They are wonderful.

Not Sleet nor Hail nor Dark of Night or Not

I love to read World Magazine.

Well, let me backup and say I live in a tiny town next to a medium size city. The mail delivery here is ...interesting. I should get a paycheck for all the mail I deliver. I once took all the mail I got that wasn't mine to the post office in my tiny town. (The only way I knew I was at the post office is that there was an American flag flying outside the house.) They asked me why I drove all that way to the post office when I could just put it back in my mailbox. I smiled as I said that I wasn't used to getting so much mail that wasn't mine. I'm talking 10 pieces of mail ie bills, magazines, letters. They just took it from me.

I was told when I moved to said town that no magazines or catalogs would be delivered on Saturday. It is true. I love to get the mail on Monday because we get so much.

I say all that to say ...I'm not sure how often World Magazine gets published. Some weeks I get none and some I get two or even three. I hope they are reading them as they peruse my catalogs.

World is conservative news magazine. It is on the web. worldmag.com or worldonthe web.com I like mine as a hard copy so I can read it with my family near. The computer I use is in the living room while life goes on with my family in the den. They all have laptops but that is another story for another day. Carl if you are reading this...Could I get a laptop for my birthday????

When I get my World I read the second to the last article first. It is usually written by Andree Seu. She just writes things that really hit home for me. If I can only get to that one article, it is worth getting the magazine to me. When I have more time I read more. I don't always agree with their view point but it gets me to think.

Check it out

Well duh

why didn't anyone tell me it was The Year of the Rat. Maybe that would help me with my vermin problem. Nah, it wouldn't

Recommended by Andrew

http://www.rabbitroom.com/?author=3 In my thimble full of knowledge about computers I haven't mastered it so that I can send you somewhere from my blog but I am always hopeful that this dog can learn some new tricks. The afore mentioned web address is for Andrew Peterson's blog for today. He is one of my Andrew's favorite artists. Andrew sent this to me today and I wanted to share it with you. Do any of you listen to Andrew Peterson?

When grief is fresh , every attempt to divert only irritates

I am always on the look out for things to read about Grief. I was cleaning off my desk and came across a list that a women's retreat speaker gave on books to help with grief. I ordered Healing After Loss by Martha Whitmore Hickman. I intended to give it away but this one is staying here. It is written as daily meditations. You can tell this author has gone though grief. In the times of major grief I have gone through in losing my parents and a brother and in lesser times like friendship lost or loss of dreams, I find myself thinking "Am I losing my mind?" " Why can't I remember this?" "Will it ever get any better?" This book shares the author's thoughts on those and so many more questions that I have had. The book also has quotes from some famous and not so famous folks at the beginning of each meditation. Some I enjoyed were, " In search of my mother's garden, I found my own." by Alice Walker, "It is the nature of grace to fill spaces that have been empty" by Goethe

This book is not a Christian book per say. It speaks of a Holy Presence. I would highly recommend it for everyone. If you have been through grief it will offer comfort and if you have not, you can know how others are feeling.

Women's Bible Study

My church has a Bible Study for Women on Thursday mornings. I just love it. We share prayer requests and burdens and study the Word of God. Our teacher is LindaS. She is a saint. She keeps us going down the right path when sometimes it is like herding cats.

The study this semester is The Way of Psalms by Kathleen Nielson. We did Kathleen's study on Proverbs in the fall and it was so insightful. The author has been to our church to speak and I met her so I can call her Kathleen.

As an openning exercise we went around and shared our favorite Psalms. Wow! It was powerful. RuthMc says Ps 103 each night before she goes to sleep. She does it as a prayer and it goes something like this. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not His benefits, then she thanks God for all He has done for her.
Susanne says she likes Ps 8 because the chior sings an anthem which is taken from the words and is called Glory and Majesty. I love that song and didn't realize where it came from.
JanP has Ps 34:3 engraved in her wedding band as does her husband...Oh! Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together...how cool is that.

Later in the study Evelyn shared that in Ps 23 when it spoke of' the valley of the shadow of death' that that always scared her as a child but Becca spoke up and said that the way that verse was explained to her was if there is a shadow there is a light some where.

Sonja shared that her daddy died unexpectantly a few years ago at his farm. He was cleaning up some brush. He was by himself and they found him in a beautiful field by the creek. As she was getting ready to go to home her husband read her Ps 23. And they realized her daddy had had a Ps 23 experence. He was in a beautiful pasture and by some still waters. She said that that has brought her some much comfort.

I am looking forward to next weeks study!

Delightful

I finished my first book on my TBR list. Eight Cousins by LM Alcott. It was so much fun. If you need a fresh splash of sunshine from a book get this one and enjoy.

Who is really in control?

One activity I can't do because of my back is change my sheets. The bending and pulling is what I can't do. John asked me last week if he could do something for me and I asked him to help change my sheets. He did cheerfully.

On our bed we have an electric blanket with two controls. I like to turn my on to take the cold out of the bed and turn it off to sleep. Carl like to turn his to broil and bake the whole night.

Friday I went to bed early - 8:30. It was not too cool so I had not even turned on the controls for either side. I woke up at 10:30 and was sweating from the blankets being too hot. Carl was in the room. He had turned on his side to broil and mine too. Then he got to checking. He hadn't turned mine on. His side was chilly while I was in the sauna.

He realized early in the morning that sometime the blanket had gotten turned over ( see paragraph one)and I was under the broiler and he was in the freezer. He jumped up and flipped it back put the covers back on and cranked his side up and fell back to sleep dreaming of something like the earth's core.

John, Dwight Youkem called, He wants his pants back.

Yesterday as we were getting ready for church I noticed John's black pants were not fitting him well. John is slim and the pants are 30 in the waist maybe 32. I couldn't decide what the problem was. Then I realized they had shrunk and were too tight. How was I going to handle it. I didn't want to hurt his feelings but he really didn't need to wear those pants again. Off to church we went. After church we went to an Eagle Court. John went up to the front when all the Eagles were called up. After the ceremony, one of John's friend"s , Cooper, came up to him and said " John, if you wear those pants too much longer, I'm thinking you could dance ballet in the Nutcracker." Well , that got the point across and we got a good laugh too. John's pants are in the pile for give-away now.

John Piper's son

My friend, Sue, at Septemberwhimsy.blosgspot.com has an outstanding post for today. Drop over there and read it.

A good read

I finished reading Manhunt by James L. Swanson last night. We are reading this for our book club this month. Our meeting is January 29. The book is about the 12 day chase for Lincoln's killer. It was fascinating.

A Dr Leale held the president's right hand firmly for several hours after he had been shot and was at the Peterson House. He wanted Mr. Lincoln to know he had a friend.

Several doctors were in the room when Lincoln died. They all realized the gravity of what had happen and had watches out so that we know when he drew his last breath 7:21 and 55 seconds and when his heart stopped 7:22 and 10 seconds.

I have felt sorry for Dr Mudd's family all these years because I thought he was just treating a patient. No, he knew Booth and had be involved with Booth on another plan to kidnap Lincoln.

Booth was shot in the back at about the same spot as Lincoln. Lincoln was almost immediately unconscious but Booth lingered for a few hours.

The book has a map so you can follow all the action and pictures so you know all the players.

I am looking forward to hearing the discussion at book club and what everyone else thought was interesting.

I would highly recommend this book

Thoughts from Michelangelo

Nothing makes the soul so pure as the endeavor to paint something perfect, for God is perfection, and whoever strives for it, strives for something Godlike. True painting is only an image of God's perfection- a shadow of the brush with which He paints.

Vermin and Window update

We are now up to four candles and three Ionic Breezes and it is tolerable. I have a greater appreciation for characters I see on the tv when they are near a dead body that has been dead for a few days and the smell.

I called the Hanke Brothers and my window is not ready yet. They will call me as soon as it is.

Are you Famous???

We ate lunch today at Famous Dave's. It was wonderful. We got the Feast. It is a metal trash can with ribs, chicken, and brisket plus corn around the cob, corn muffins, slaw, baked beans, and french fries. It is pricey but we got to try lots of different meats, we got full, plus John has lots of leftovers We want to go again with Carl.

The wait staff has on name tags that say Famous and then their names. So they introduce themselves as Hello, I am Famous Ellen. That cracked me up. I need to work there and get a name tag.

Four candles are enough

A few blogs ago I told you about Carl's fight with the vermin aka squirrels, raccoons etc that have been enjoying our bird food. Carl has the birdfeeder so well secured that only birds can enjoy it now..... well

Before our Thanksgiving trip, Carl took our minivan in for it's check-up. He had filled up the washer fluid but still we had none. He had them look at it. Their verdict was it was rodents. They had chewed through whatever it is that hold washer fluid. The nerve of them!

In December my pest control expert found that vermin have invaded my house. He put poison in my basement and crawlspace under the house. They throughly enjoyed the poison. The pest control expert showed Carl some places where these vermin may have permeated our house. Carl got steel wool and spray foam. He went to it. He found lots of places where the vermin had chewed. Carl filled in the holes.

He did a good job. Such a good job that one was left in our house. I personally think they knew what Carl was doing and sent in a kamikaze. We heard the vermin on Friday as he scrambled to get out. Maybe he had second thoughts. We will never know. He died soon thereafter.

We have found that four candles when lit cover the smell for the most part. I guess the vermin are having the last laugh. Kaitlin says that we are lighting candles for the vermin's family. She thinks his mama will miss him. I can't wait til we miss the smell of him.

Psalms and Ravi

I enjoy the daily devotional I get every day from Ravi Zacharias. The one for today is especially meaningful to me. You can find it at
www.rzim.org/slice/slice.php
I never realized that some of the psalms are corporate. Ps: 95-100, 122-126 and 132-144.

Another thought about the psalms that I learned when John was in school. When you see of the words- A Song of Ascents before a psalms like 120. These were psalms that were said or sang as they went up to worship because Jerusalem was up on a mount. Hence Songs of Ascents.

Another aside on Ravi Zacharias- One Sunday I got a text from a friend that she wouldn't be in church that day because Ravi was speaking at a local church. She had heard it from an older couple who were also going. Several of us got the text and were sad that we couldn't hear him also. That evening I asked my friend to describe hearing him speak and to tell me what message did he bring. My friend died laughing and told me about her day. She got herself to the church as did several hundred others. There was a buzz of excitment for the guest speaker. She got a bulletin and began reading and realized the guest speaker was Robbie Hezekiah. The older couple had misunderstood. She was so stunned she got up and went home. We still laugh about it.