A Totally Frivolous Want

I just posted this at DiscussCooking.com and thought it would be a good topic for today.  :)


There are things we all need and things we want, but what is the one thing that you have always wanted but have never gotten? This has to be a "want" and not a "need."

For me it is a pool table. When I was around 10 my mom and dad, Aunt Janet and Uncle Ted, and my Uncle Glen all went together and bought a pool table. It was kept in Aunt Janet's and Uncle Ted's garage, and we spent a lot of time there. It was mostly the adults who played, but we did get a chance now and then. When my aunt and uncle moved, no one had room for the pool table, so it was sold. It has been over 40 years since then, but the strong desire to have one has never gone away.

What is it that you have always wanted?

Tiredness + Thirst = Yuck!

Wow, did I do something stupid the other night.

I have been waking up at night not only very thirsty, but also with my mouth and throat as dry as cotton. I try to keep a bottle of water next to the bed for those occasions.

The other night I woke up incredibly dry and thirsty. I was also still very tired. I grabbed the bottle that was next to my clock, sat up, and opened it. Then, for some reason, a still small voice inside of me said, "What if it's not water?" I barely gave it a thought, but instead of gulping and swallowing almost in one fluid motion as usual, I just poured some of it into my mouth and held it for a second. That was definitely long enough to realize that what I had in my mouth was not water, but witch hazel (with rubbing alcohol). I spit it out and rinsed my mouth a lot, then drank from the water bottle that had been sitting right behind the witch hazel.

YUCK!

Fortunately, even if I had swallowed the mouthful of witch hazel solution it would not have killed me, but it scared me to think of what could have happened if it had been something more dangerous. I will definitely be more careful about what I leave near my bed!

Thank You God for that still small voice.  :)

To Pluck or Not to Pluck

A while back I wrote about God speaking to me. Sometimes I recognize when He is speaking to me, but I'm sure there are times that I am too "busy" to listen. I really hope not, but I'm human, and fallible, so I'm sure I have. Today though, God spoke pretty clearly to me, in a direct answer to something I asked Him.

For the last 20 years, give or take, I have had a few gray hairs pop up on my head. There were only about three of them the first ten years, and I routinely plucked them, but they have slowly been increasing. I still pluck the obvious ones, but I know that if I continue to pluck all of them, I won't have a lot of hair soon! There are not enough gray hairs to warrant dying my hair, and since I love my hair color, I don't want to take a chance on ending up with a bad dye job.

This brings me to my conversation with God this morning. Right after my shower, as I was plucking a couple stubborn gray hairs that were standing straight up toward the back of my head, I remembered hearing some time ago a verse in the Bible about gray hair being a crown of glory. I told God right then and there that I would love to be able to find that verse, and that if gray hair is a crown of glory, I wouldn't mind going gray so much.

After my shower, it was time for my daily devotions and Bible time. I read two short devotional pages, then I am working on reading the Bible through in a year. First I read the devotion in my Daily Guideposts (a gift from my dear friend Maxine). Next I read today's entry in "Open Windows" (a small periodical published by LifeWay).

For today's devotions, "Open Windows" had me read Proverbs 16:27-32. The main focus of today's devotions focused on verse 32, but imagine my delight when I read verse 31. Remember my question to God? Well, here was His response to me:

The silver-haired head is a crown of glory,
If it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31.

I asked God to show me the verse, and there it was. I didn't have to go digging through the Bible. I didn't have to look at the concordance. I read the "assigned" verse, and there it was.

Now I just have to keep working on the righteousness part.

The Strangest Dream I Have Had in My Entire Life!

In my 53 years of life, I have had some crazy dreams. In fact, normal dreams are not the norm for me. Fortunately I love my crazy dreams, as they keep me well entertained. In my dreams I have been stalked by large wild animals, I have been lost, I lost my toddler grandson on a walk, and once I dreamed that I walked into a 7-11, grabbed a frozen pizza, folded it, stuffed it in my purse, and walked out. I don't often dream about people I know, and in fact, I'm not usually myself in my dreams.

I had one dream that I woke up from, crying. When I dream about my mom, who passed away over ten years ago, I wake up feeling happy. Last night's dream however, was without a doubt the strangest dream I have ever had.

I don't remember most of the dream, although it was all strange. The part I do remember is still very vivid to me. In my dream I felt something heavy hanging from my left eye. I could see that there was something hanging, but I couldn't see what it was, so I looked in the mirror. Woven into my eyebrows, and hanging about to my chin was some kind of soft woven nest. I looked inside, through the reflection in the mirror, and inside the nest were two baby voles! I have never seen a vole in my life, other than in pictures many years ago, but I remember in my dream saying that they were voles, and not moles. I had my husband cut the nest out of my eyebrows, and that is when the dream ended.

The strange thing is, I know what caused me to dream this strange dream! I don't know why the nest contained voles rather than moles, but the mind works in crazy ways.  To see a vole, you can check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vole,

Where did the dream come from? I believe it came from the skin tags my husband has on his eyelids. I have a small one as well, but his were large enough to bother him and we have been working on removing them. The doctor told us we could tie a thread around them and they would eventually fall off. We have removed a couple that way. Unfortunately, before they die and fall off, they double in size, but that's another story. :)

The reason I believe the skin tags are behind my dream is that for years before we knew what they were called, James called them "floppy moles." So in my mind, I transformed floppy moles on the eyelid into a nest of voles hanging from my eyebrows.

Well, it is time for bed. I wonder what crazy world I will visit tonight?!

Sweet dreams!!

Giggling Doggies!

James and I were acting silly with each other not long ago. Cubbie was just lying down and relaxing. I noticed that when we would act silly, Cubbie would wag just the tip of his tail. That is when I realized that dogs can giggle! 

When Cubbie is happy or interested in something, he wags his tail. When he is all-out excited, he wags not just his tail, but his whole body. But sometimes, as he did the other day, he just giggles!! 

When Cubbie giggles, I can't help but giggle back!

Don't Let Christmas Destroy You

I just saw yet another commercial for a title loan company. In the spring and summer they tell you to take out a title loan to take a nice vacation. In the fall and winter they tell you to take one out to buy Christmas gifts. Credit card companies tell you the same things.  They make it look like free money.  They all make it sound so appealing.

How appealing does losing your car sound to you?  Is losing your car or going deep in debt with credit cards worth buying a lot of presents that many won't even remember by spring?

Why do so many people feel that they have to go into debt to buy Christmas gifts? Are they afraid their family will no longer love them if they don't give them lots of gifts? Are they afraid they will look like cheapskates to others? Well, I have news for any of you who think that.  If it takes gifts for your family to love you, they don't really love you. And who cares what others think of you?  We, as a whole, tend to think that others have it so much better than us financially. We see others with nice houses, nice cars, expensive clothes and jewelry, taking cruises, etc., and we want that too.  What we don't see is that most of those people are drowning in debt. Many of them worked for many years to be able to afford their lifestyle--they've earned it.  We live in an "I want it now" society. Where people used to scrimp and save, most of us want the nice things without having to go without. I'm no less guilty than anyone, but I am learning.

I am definitely not against giving gifts for Christmas and other holidays.  I love to receive gifts, and I love giving them even more.  However, I refuse to go deeper in debt to buy gifts.  It really isn't even an option for me, since I have gotten rid of all credit cards.  It is totally laughable to me to even consider a title loan on our car. I'm sure they make it sound like a no-risk deal, but have you ever seen the parking lot at many title loan places?  The title loan place here in my town has lots of used cars for sale.  Where do you think they got those cars? They got them from people who were not able to pay back their title loans. In case you haven't figured it out yet, when you take a title loan, you are signing a contract saying that if you do not pay them back, on time, they get your car. That's it, plain and simple.

Ok, so what do you do if you don't have the money to buy all the gifts you would like to buy?  First of all, you might want to explain to the people you give gifts to that you just aren't going to be able to be as generous as you would like to be this year, and that you need to limit gift-giving to immediate family.  You may be surprised.  Oftentimes others would like to stop exchanging gifts because they can't afford it either, but they did not know how to bring it up.

If you have any talents you could make gifts.  Can you sew, do woodworking, cook?  A lot of people love these kinds of gifts.

One of my favorite hints is to not try to do all your shopping at the same time.  I like to buy gifts throughout the year. Many times I will see something that would be perfect for someone, so if I have the money I will buy it right then and save it for Christmas. Usually all I have left to do by December is to buy a few stocking stuffers.

Finally, you are much more important to your family and friends than any gifts you can give.  Don't feel like you are less of a person if you are not able to buy Christmas gifts.  I'll never forget Christmas a few years ago.  We had no money to speak of, but it turned out to be a good Christmas.  Our Christmas dinner was turkey TV dinners.  Our gifts were "Mom" and "Dad" grab-bags that we bought at Dollar Tree.

Christmas is a time to remember the birth of our Savior, and to spend time with those we love and who love us.  Presents  are nice, but not nice enough to go in debt for.

What Makes My Daughter the Great Mom that She is?

Something Nancy's friend Bree said reminded me of this. There are so many things, big and small, that make Nancy a mom any kid would want to have, and I can't cover them all, but I will mention some of them. Tonight the subject is pink.

Nancy is not a true tomboy, but she is also not a frilly girlie-girl. She doesn't like lacy clothes, and she hates pink.  Her daughter Hannah, on the other hand, loves lacy and frilly things, and she adores pink.  I know a lot of moms who would discourage this love of pink, but not Nancy. Hannah has tons of pink clothes and accessories. Pink and all the other girlie colors abound in Hannah's room and wardrobe.

So, what makes Nancy a good mom? She is not afraid to let Hannah's love of pink thrive. :D

Not Hannah's best side!

Oh, in case you were wondering, Hannah does have a healthy dose of tomboy in her as well!  And she doesn't always wear pink! (Yes, she is making a wild face! She is absolutely gorgeous!).