Picture This

A while back Stacy over at Catholic & Crunchy had a giveaway and I was lucky enough to win.  It was for a $25 gift certificate at Efavors.  It came in really handy as this past weekend I hosted a baby shower for my sister and new niece.  I chose a bunch of different, pink frames and Himself printed a selection of pictures of baby Sara.  Everyone had a little gift to take home with them.  Thanks Stacy!

AMDG

Opposite Ends of Life

To say the last month has been eventful is a bit of an understatement around here, so much is happening and is changing.  I do love our good Lord’s timing, however.  It is so perfect.

My job hunt is going well and opportunities, some unexpected, are presenting themselves.  I pray for discernment and to make good and wise decisions in that matter. 

I am grateful now for the timing of this all.  My last contract ended at the end of July and the time between jobs could not have come at a better moment.  That was very apparent yesterday.

Early Sunday morning my father-in-law was taken to the emergency room by ambulance and was later admitted.  Although what ails him isn’t life threatening, it has him down and out for a while.  Yesterday we needed to take care of some business for him and afterwards we went to visit him along with my mother-in-law.  We saw up close how age and frail health can beat a person down. 

But, in the evening, we were witness to the opposite end of life – the start.  We watched our niece and soon-to-be God-daughter while Sis and BIL went to baptism class. 

Baby Sara is just four weeks old and seems to be growing and changing right before our eyes.  Everything is new and her life is full of endless possibilities.  Who will she become?  How long can we protect her so she doesn’t have to know the feeling of being beat down by life’s difficulties? 

I know already, especially after yesterday, she has reinforced one lesson Himself often tries to teach me.  Be fully present in the here and now.  Enjoy who she is at this moment.  Enjoy who I am, too, at this moment. 

AMDG

Shampoo Warning!

Hello Friends:

I don't know WHY I didn't figure this out sooner!
I use shampoo in the shower!
When I wash my hair, the shampoo runs down my whole body, and printed very clearly on the shampoo label is this warning,  "FOR EXTRA BODY AND VOLUME."

No wonder I have been gaining weight!

Well! I got rid of that shampoo and I am going to start showering with Dawn dish washing liquid instead. Its label reads, "DISSOLVES FAT THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE."

Problem solved!

If I don't answer the phone I'll be in the shower!



Gotcha!  ;-)

AMDG

You say tomato . . .

. . . I say tomahto.  It's too late to call the whole thing off!

Back in June we put in our vegetable garden with the help of my father-in-law.  The last few weeks we have been seeing the fruits of our labor, literally.

We put a nice variety of plants: squashes, potatoes, peppers, beets, carrots, cabbage, egg plant, green beans, and, of course, tomatoes.  Lots and lots of tomatoes, nearly forty plants in all.  We have quite a mix: beefsteak and early girl, red and yellow, cherry and Roma. 

We've been able to pick a few and, wow, are they good!  There is nothing like a home-grown, vine-ripened, juicy tomato to scream summer.  They also will be yelling "Can me!  Can me!" fairly soon.  Looks like my week or so off is going to be busy.

AMDG

I wanna talk about me

I wanna talk about me

Wanna talk about I

Wanna talk about number one

Oh my me my

What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see

I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally

I wanna talk about me (me, me, me,-background singers)

I wanna talk about me (me, me, me,-background singers)

No!  I don’t!  Not anymore, really.

My consulting contract is coming to an end so I am hot and heavy looking for my next “opportunity.”  The resume has been updated, uploaded and activated on the appropriate job boards. 

The e-mails have been flooding in, even for positions I’m not remotely qualified or are much too far away to even consider.  Come on, people, look at a map!  Just because the job is in the same state doesn’t mean I would want to do drive 120 or 200 miles every day, one way.  And, no, I don’t want to relocate for a job that will only last 18 months.

Then there are the phone calls.  Are you looking for a new job?  No, I just put my resume online because I’m lonely and want to talk to someone.  Tell me about yourself?  I was born a poor black boy in Appalachia and through the wonders of modern medicine. . . . What is your current position?  Umm?  Sitting.  Oh, you mean job!  Didn’t you read the resume you said you found online?

Once we’ve gotten past all those preliminary questions we move on to the interview.  I’m finding there to be a broad range of interviewing styles and manners.  One place made a decision based on a 15 minute phone conversation.  And, on the opposite extreme, I spent a glorious four hours (yep, your read that right - four HOURS) talking about yours truly earlier this week.  The most fun, though, was the Skype interview last night where my video went out so they could see me but I couldn’t see them.  That was a little disconcerting!

With any luck this will be over soon.  Or maybe I’ll go buy a lottery ticket.

AMDG

For you we have prayed

Thank you for all your prayers!  I am most certain they were heard and they helped.

I would like to introduce you to my niece & God-daughter, Sara Roisin.

AMDG

Prayers for the next 72 hours please!

If you would indulge me and keep my sister and brother-in-law in your prayers I would be so grateful.  If all goes as planned, Friday I can tell you more.

AMDG

It is finished

It took exactly two months, which was about 6 weeks too long, but it is done.  Finished.  Gone.  At least for this year.  Six yards of double shredded hardwood mulch dominated my driveway and my time.

And there was much rejoicing!

AMDG

Something old is new

It’s no secret that I love to read.  I always have.  When I was little I used to sneak my Winnie the Pooh or Nancy Drew or Trixie Beldon books into bed with me and read under the covers with a flashlight.  We were frequent visitors to the library and I would often save my birthday and babysitting money to buy the latest edition from the Scholastic catalog at school.

Recently I have been reading some oldies but goodies and found a great source for these for free.  Project Gutenberg offers over 40,000 ebooks, which are free in the United States because their copyright has expired.  They have a number of formats including HTML, EPUB, Kindle and text.  You can search by author, title, keywords or just peruse categories or lists. 

Here’s a collection of old books, by some of the world’s greatest authors, that can be accessed by today’s latest technology.  How cool is that?

So far I have read The Velveteen Rabbit, Chesterton’s Manalive, and Belloc’s Bad Child's Book of Beastsand I started Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels.  

From Hilaire Belloc’s Bad Child's Book of Beasts The Lion The Lion, the Lion, he dwells in the waste, He has a big head and a very small waist; But his shoulders are stark, and his jaws they are grim, And a good little child will not play with him.

When looking through the cooking category I found this book.  I can’t wait to read more of it!  (italic emphasis mine)

TWENTY-FIVE CENT DINNERSFORFAMILIES OF SIX. BYJULIET CORSON (1878) PREFACE. TO ECONOMICAL HOUSEWIVES: The wide publicity which the press in different sections of the country has given to my offer to show working people earning a dollar and a half, or less, per day, how to get a good dinner for fifteen cents, has brought me a great many letters from those who earn more, and can consequently afford a more extended diet. In response to their requirements I have written this book, which I hope will be found servicable in that middle department of cookery it is designed to occupy, where we begin to look for more than the absolute necessaries of life; it is a practical guide to the economical, healthful, and palatable preparation of food, and will serve to show that it is possible to live well upon a very moderate income.

When I checked yesterday’s top downloads, I found an interesting and eclectic collection:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle(audio book)

The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana – not what you would think

How to Analyze People on SightThrough the Science of Human Analysis: The Five Human Types

by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Happy Reading!

AMDG

Funny Foto - #4

I saw this sign near a couple of our community's schools.  Really?  A whole center just to remove lice?