Morning Cigarette: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Go on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge link-up!

 

Something on your October calendar that makes you smile?

If budget allows, the Janney Furnace 5k on October 17.  I've never done this one before, plus I've only driven on Highway 144 through Ohatchee; I've not gone off the main road to visit any of the town.

Food for the soul or music for the soul...which camp are you in? Tell us why?

Food for the soul is what's gotten me in the shape I'm in.  I prefer music for the soul; it's less fattening.  An audiophile before I knew how to play or sing, music has been an integral part of all my living memory.  Whether it's an 80's rock anthem that gets my fist pumping in the air, or a powerful worship chorus that brings me to my knees, music has the power to motivate, comfort, and lift me up.

What are two or three things you've learned recently as the result of an online search?

My housemate and I have started doing a daily online crossword puzzle together.  I've had to research what some of the clues mean.  For example, yesterday we learned what a Jack in the Pulpit or Arum plant is.  It's akin to a Calla Lilly.

I've now entered into the world of the Smart phone--Lord, help us all--and I've learned how to use some of the features by doing an online search.

I'm always looking up words on dictionary.com.  Got to avoid those word crimes you know. No, I'm not posting the song again...at least this week :)

Share your favorite game day recipe. You can describe it, post the how-to, or add a link to the actual recipe.

I don't have a game day recipe.  However, I would like to learn how to make Rotel dip.

What are your five essential steps for creating the perfect morning routine?

1. Wake up feeling well and with prayers of thanksgiving on my lips.
2. Coffee or Earl Grey tea in my favorite mug.
3. The Scriptures to comfort and guide me.
4. The sound of nature from the open windows is all I hear.
5. All of this is happening, of course, because it's the WEEKEND.  unfortunately, my weekday mornings are nothing like this.

What small thing have you taken note of today?

My doctor gave me a compliment today.  She congratulated me for being the only patient she saw today who didn't smoke.  Yes, I know I have other issues, but that isn't one of them...and it could have been.  Both of my parents were smokers.  My mom quit when I was in high school.  Unfortunately, my father didn't stop until he was on oxygen and my mom told him that he wasn't going to blow up her house.  Even then, he kept trying to find a way around it.  Smoking ultimately took his life 11 years ago. 

Sum up your September in seven words or less.

Can I get a mulligan for this?

Insert your own random thought here.

My new favorite song...

Five Minute Friday: "Doubt"

Our Mistress of Ceremonies for the Five Minute Friday is Kate over at Heading Home.  Hope you link up with us and join the fun.

GO! 

Mark 9:24 - "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. "

Doubts, we all have them. Yes, I know for a Christian to say he has doubts is akin to blasphemy, but hear me out.  To say that you have absolutely no doubt is to say that you "have arrived,"  which, of course, is a flat out lie...unless you're dead, then you have "arrived" (hopefully at the right destination).

Take a page from this father.  He was in desperate need of a cure for his son.  What did he do with his doubts?  First, he admitted them.  Second, he stuck with Jesus until the answer came.  His doubt wasn't that Jesus was capable of preforming the needed miracle.  He was more than able.  If that had been the case, he never would have come to Christ and His disciples in the first place.  No, his doubt, like ours who will admit it, was whether Jesus would help him.  Yes, it's easy to believe when you see the Lord's miracles in the Scriptures or see miracles among your church family.  Satan brings doubt when you want to believe that God truly is "no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34).  The key is to do what the father did:  Admit your doubts and stick with Jesus until the answer comes.

STOP!
 

Comma Chameleon: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Go on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge link-up!

What have you 'fallen for' recently?

The free Windows 10 upgrade.  I hate it so far.  For it to be such an "upgrade," I sure have to fix a lot of issues myself.  I've been wearing out Google and the Windows 10 forums trying to figure this mess out.  Can you say "frustrated," boys and girls?  I knew you could.

What's something you're 'squirreling away' for later?

Nothing at present.  Hopefully, I can soon start squirreling away a little Christmas money.

How do you like your apples? Sweet? Tart? Crisp? Cooked? Apples are one of the superfoods for fall...how often do you eat an apple either plain or as part of a favorite recipe? What's your favorite variety?

My favorites are of the sweet, crispy variety like Gala apples.  I like the occasional tart Granny Smith. I include raw apples in my diet when the price per bag is reasonable.  Otherwise, they stay in the store.

According to Fodor's the ten best fall foliage trips in the US of A are-Aspen Colorado, The Catskills New York, The Berkshires Massachusetts, Columbia River Gorge Oregon, Green Mountain Byway Vermont, Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway New Mexico, Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, Upper Peninsula Michigan, Lake of the Ozarks Missouri, and Glacier National Park Montana. Which would you most like to visit this fall and why?

If I get to see the view at Mount Cheaha or Noccalula Falls this autumn, I'll be most fortunate.  So let's just leave it at that, shall we?

The topic of legalizing marijuana was raised in the most recent televised political debate so let's wade in too. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Four states have legalize marijuana for recreational use. Your thoughts?

If a pill form of an extract of the portion of cannabis that helps with chronic pain, seizures, or glaucoma can be obtained only by physician's prescription, then leave it in the hands of medical professionals.  However, legalizing it for "Pookie and 'nem's" recreational use is only creating more of a mess.  It's not as "harmless" as people believe it is.  Do people truly believe that society will improve by legalizing this drug?   

Are you okay to watch a movie already in progress or do you need to always see it from the beginning? How about jumping into a TV series somewhere in the middle? Is that okay?

With TV series, I prefer to "begin at the beginning" so I'll know what's going on, especially if a TV series has an ongoing plot.  If the episodes are stand alone, then I don't mind just jumping in.  I need to see a movie from the beginning, otherwise, I'm totally lost.

Thursday (September 24) is National Punctuation Day. What rule of punctuation trips you up most often? What rule of punctuation, when broken by someone else, bugs you the most?

For me, remembering when to use colons versus semicolons.  My pet peeve is with others putting apostrophe's where they dont go and no't putting them where they belong. (See what I did there?)  Also, swapping your and you're and to, too, and two make me want to slap somebody.

I'll just leave this here.  :)

Insert your own random thought here.

This was my Facebook status exactly 5 years ago:

Went to a health expo at FBC-McClellan and got some good news...and some not-so-good news. Good news? Bone density: A-ok. Hearing: Perfect, Also won a couple of canvas chairs (will pick those up during lunch tomorrow). Not-so-good news? BMI - readings were "beyond the capabilities of the machine." Blood Pressure: 170/118. Oh *@*&&!! This is getting serious. 

This was my status today:

Exactly 5 years ago today, I found out that my health was in serious jeopardy. Though I'm not where I need to be, I'm not where I was--totally unhealthy and working at a job that was killing me. Today, I checked my BP, it was 113/61. I'm one step closer to being off my BP meds. ‪#‎KeepPraying‬ ‪#‎DontStop

Here's the latest project from the Workshop:

A fellow stitcher on the Crochet Crowd Facebook forum had something similar with scrap squares.  She had no pattern, so I traced it off on graph paper and made a smaller version of it for World's Largest Stocking project (which, by the way, I need to make another couple of squares for and get them mailed in).  Well, I couldn't stop, so I stitched up a larger one in baby colors. 

I asked for prayer last week for the depression that was creeping in.  It got so heavy this weekend that it was all I could do to get out of bed for church.  Even then, I only played for the worship service went back home, and went to bed.  To top it off it was Communion (Eucharist) Sunday.  However, your prayers are working.  Circumstances have not changed, but I'm feeling somewhat better.  Pray that I can get away for a day or two to relax and spend time with God.  The next three months are going to be busy and I want to enjoy them rather than dread them.

Kiss of Autumn: The Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today:  Sunday, September 20, 2015
 

Note:  I finally found a new digital camera that didn't cost a whole month's pay, so I have pictures.  Yay!

Outside my window …  

Well, this is actually outside in the churchyard.  Autumn is kissing the foliage to let us know it's coming.

I am thinking...  

• I'm thinking that I'm running out of people who really care.  I don't have much, but I may have to start paying people to give a rat's butt.
• I'm considering quitting everything except going to work and going home.
• "Some of us learn from other people's mistakes and the rest of us have to be the other people."- Zig Ziglar.  I think I'm kind of tired of being the "other people."
• With the onslaught of depression trying to take hold way before winter, I'm considering doing another 40 days of gratitude series.  I think I need it. No, with what I just wrote, I know I need it.

I am thankful...  For rest.  For a new week to try to get it right.

In the kitchen...   

From the Workshop...   
 

I made another puzzle afghan --this time in baby colors.

 



I'm also trying a new sewing project, but more on that later.
 

I am looking forward to...  heaven.

A favorite quote for today... 

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought that they seldom use." - Soren Kierkegaard 

One of my favorite things... 

Bill Gaither - "What's your favorite animal?"
Mark Lowry - "Fried chicken."
#ShoNuf

A few plans for the rest of the week:   Work, errands, nothing exciting that I know of.

A peek into my days...

Playing with my new camera to get used to it.

 

And now for something totally different...

From Twitter:  @HonestToddler tweeted:  "'Avocado is nature's butter.'  BUTTER IS NATURE'S BUTTER, IDIOT."

"The only sport I really know much about is football.  I played it in high school and thought I was pretty good.  I played one year of junior college and found out I wasn’t.  So, I became a spectator." - Hardy Jackson, History Professor at JSU and Humor Columnist for The Anniston Star.

On being in Louisiana:  "We're so far out in the woods the Presbyterians are handling snakes." Rick Burgess

From Facebook:  D.Havens shared:

From Twitter:  @GregBQuotes tweeted:  "How 'bout The Honkies? You'd have that guy down there with a mullet…we got The Redskins, we can have The Honkies. 'Give 'em hell, Honkies!'" on mascots.

From Facebook:  K.Griffin shared:

From Twitter:  @ChrchCurmugeon tweeted:  "Next pastoral search, we'll ask, 'Would you plan a church work day on a Saturday during football season?'

and another

"My prediction: There will be some sleepy, happy & sleepy, angry people in church tomorrow. #BamaOleMiss"

From Facebook:  K.Johnson shared:

From Twitter:  @Will_mcgee tweeted:  "Just received $0.75 change in nickels from my laundromat. The last place I expected to ever be out of quarters."

From Facebook:  R.Powers shared:

From Facebook:  D.Havens shared:

Five Minute Friday: "Celebrate"

Our Mistress of Ceremonies for the Five Minute Friday is Kate over at Heading Home.  Hope you link up with us and join the fun.

GO! 

The church's worship team gathered to celebrate the comeraderie and joy of worshiping the Savior together.  There she sits in a full room, yet alone.

The festivities includes delicious party food, games, prayers, and laughter.  Yet she cannot celebrate with them.  She feels like an outsider. People speak to her as they go by, yet she feels in a fog.  She cannot celebrate.  She leaves the festivities early in a depressive, oppressive stupor.  She writes a letter of apology to the hosts of the event in case she ruined other's celebrations.  She should have stayed home.

She stands before the congregation every week, instrument in hand, playing songs celebrating the love of the Almighty and His loving sacrifice of His Son for us all.  She plays with passion in her spirit, which pours out of her hands and voice, yet her heart aches with the feeling she is only there because someone better isn't.

What can she celebrate?  Is her purpose in life merely to show others how not to live?  If so, my God, what kind of life is that?

STOP!
 

Chicken Pot Pie: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Go on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge link-up!

Last thing you did on the spur of the moment?

I took a different route home from Anniston just for a change of scenery.  I took a Sunday drive on a Saturday.  I may do it again and go see the pretty spot on Cane Creek in Weaver.

How well informed do you feel about the current Syrian refugee crisis?

Because of the media's propensity to sensationalize rather than report, all I know about this is the horrible picture of the little boy who drowned.  And I'm not absolutely certain how the two are related.

What have you changed your mind about?

Recently?  I'm not sure.

Over the years, I've drastically changed my mind about money.  I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University classes almost a decade ago.  The sound advice in those lessons caused a complete paradigm shift in my thinking.  I saw the it was possible to live without debt.  Those lessons still bring me comfort when I want to throw up my hands and quit. 

A medium sized non-poisonous snake found it's way into the pool trap this weekend. If you'd been sitting poolside would you have fished it out? Gone running? Called for help? Pretended not to know? Continued swimming?

I'd go get a glass of iced tea out of the kitchen and say, "Hey, I think there's a snake in your pool.  You might want to get that out of there."  **drinks tea and waits**

September 10th is National TV Dinner Day...what's your idea of a great TV dinner? (Or at least a pretty good one!) 

A Banquet brand chicken pot pie.

 

Samuel Johnson is quoted as saying, "Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other." Would you agree? Where have you seen that played out recently? What's the second greatest virtue?

I disagree.  Love is the greatest virtue to which all other virtues spring.  The Bible says that the greatest virtue is love (I Corinthians 13:13).  One who does not walk in love cannot display any other excellence of character.

What are three words you have trouble remembering how to spell?

You want me to narrow it down to three?!  My problem isn't so much a set of words I always misspell, it's words I've heard pronounced incorrectly.  When I try to spell them like they sound, the letters are so far off that I have to look them up.  Dictionary.com is my friend and boon companion (as author Jan Karon would say).

Insert your own random thought here.

If you read my Daybook from Sunday, you know that depression is rearing its ugly head again, and it's not even winter.  Just keep me in your prayers.

Under Pressure: Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today:  Sunday, September 6, 2015
 

Outside my window …  Shades drawn to hide the beauty of another late summer sunset.

I am thinking...  

I'm thinking about the pressure and when and if it will ever let up. Financial pressure and financial institutions that play dirty...very dirty, health pressure, the pressure to be who God designed me to be instead of what I am now, the pressure to live up to a standard of womanhood that I can't even begin to live.  There so much pressure on me that I nearly can't stand it.

I'm thinking about how to conquer the pressure of depression that's wrapping its dark fingers around my heart once again.  It started out as just a bit of the blues that comes around "the week of woman."  Now, it has expanded into the painful ache of needing the love and touch of other people but finding nothing but isolation in a room full of people.  This is where I wish I was more like a lion instead of the old dog on the porch.  If I were a lion type personality, I would feel like my attempts at friendship and fellowship were an interference into someone else's life.  I'd been looking forward to today's get together.  I knew the moment that I embarrassed myself by knocking at the wrong house that I should have turned around and gone home.  But no, stupid me stayed.  The pain was almost unbearable.

I'm pondering the pressure of being "a living epistle" (II Corinthians 3:1-3)--a good example to others.  After being taught that I'm supposed to be a good example and that the way I live my life may be what determines whether or not someone chooses Jesus, now all I hear is that I shouldn't live for man's approval.  Wait.  It's got to be one or the other; it can't be both.  Am I to be an example, or am I to not care what anyone thinks?  I really don't like for the rules to be changed in the middle of the game.  This confusion is one of the reasons I feel pulled to isolate myself.  I freely admit that I'm a horrible example, but I also keep trying.  That must count for something.  Or not?

I am thankful...  for a day off tomorrow. 

From the Workshop...   Still have many projects going, but also still have no camera so I can't show you.  Sorry.

I am reading...  Finished The Interceding Christian by Kenneth E. Hagin.  The review is here.  This book was part of my Bible Correspondence Course curriculum, so I'll be sending my exam off this week. I got 100% on my last test; let's hope I do as well on this one.  True/False tests look easy, but one little word can throw one off.

New off the shelf:

 

 

I am looking forward to...  Practicing swimming.  I found out my swimming isn't as bad as I thought.  With a little fine tuning and a lot of practice, I should soon be able to swim with ease. 

I'm also looking forward to having my own house.  I know I've mentioned it before, but got a glimpse of what it will be like to have my own piece of paradise.  The get together I mentioned earlier was at the Patterson's, a couple on our worship team.  Only a couple of miles from town, their home is tucked away in what feels like the middle of nowhere.  The house is a beautiful cabin surrounded by trees.  The have a pond with mini waterfalls; the sound of the water was refreshing.  I wish I could go back out there and just sit alone and listen to the water for a while.  Like the pretty spot off Cane Creek I drive by once in a while, this is another spot I can admire from afar.  I'm ready for my own sanctuary spot that I actually have access to.
 

I am learning… to swim properly.  Yeah, I know I just talked about it, but that was all I could think of.

A favorite quote (or two) for today... 

"Our churches are the Saviour's golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil.  Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches that they may never lack oil for the light." - Charles Spurgeon

"It's difficult to love something [or someone] that makes you feel stupid" - Cresseda Cowell

One of my favorite things...  Favorite Psalms:  Psalm 51 and Psalm 150

 

A few plans for the rest of the week:   I'm off for Labor day, so I've got a four day work week.  I've got a doctor's appointment Wednesday.  I wish I didn't have to go.  I'm nowhere near where I planned to be and my doctor will be very disappointed.  I'm supposed to be getting together with some friends to watch the JSU Gamecocks play Auburn on Saturday.  Not sure what else I've got going this week.
 

And now for something totally different...

After our summer concert, I had decided that I needed to leave the Community Band alone for a while, plus I couldn't spare the gas to attend practice.  Fast forward a few months and our leader puts out an APB saying that they had no one in the percussion section and that they desperately needed someone to play because we have a concert coming up.  So I foolishly went to practice Tuesday night.  The first person I saw was Mr. Alpha Male sitting at the drumset.  WTH!?  I thought we had NOBODY to play. Why am I here?  Why do I get the feeling I'm being punked?  I won't be at practice this week because of work, but why should I even bother showing up at all?  This is getting ridiculous.
 

 

From Facebook:  J.Young shared: 

 

 

From Rick and Bubba's YouTube channel:

 







Auntie's Full Shelf Challenge 15

Book: The Interceding Christian.

Author: Kenneth E. Hagin

Info: Copyright 1971, 1983, 1991: Tulsa, OK:  Rhema Bible Church

Where acquired: Part of correspondence course curriculum.

Rating (on a scale of 1-4 hashtags): # # 

What it's about:  Did you know that First Timothy 2:1-4 gives an order of how we should pray?  This book was first published in the early 70's, yet believers still don't understand the importance of praying for those in both civil and spiritual leadership.  Hagin offers a brief discourse on the subject.

Favorite Quotes: 

"People usually think that all praying is spiritual, but it isn't." - p. 45

"Some people are waiting for the Holy Spirit to make them do something.  They are waiting for something to overpower them.  However, we don't need to wait for some special feeling." - p. 72

What I Liked:

• The examples he gave about Charles Finney intrigued me.  Now I want to read more about the man.
• The book was a quick read.
• After reading this, I'm more committed to praying for my leadership rather than complaining about it.

What I didn’t like: 

• The author tended to ramble a bit, especially in chapter three.
• Hagin starts out strong on the subject of interceding for the nation and its leaders, veers off into something completely different, and never gets back to the original subject. 
• Part of what he veers of into is "travailing" in prayer.  Yes, it is a scriptural concept--Hagin cites many Bible passages--however, his wording gives the assumption that one must "work up" a travail in order to receive answers to prayer.  I see no biblical evidence of this.  Yes, we must pray, but any travail or groanings must come from the Spirit of God (Romans 8:26), not showboating or working something up in the flesh. 
• I was disappointed that there weren't more scriptural and practical examples of the type of intercession he was originally dealing with.

To sum up:  The Interceding Christian is an OK read, but Hagin's book The Art of Prayer was better.  I'd recommend that one over this offering.

Five Minute Friday: "Yes"

Our Mistress of Ceremonies for the Five Minute Friday is Kate over at Heading Home.  Hope you link up with us and join the fun.

GO! 

"Yes men."

"Yes to the dress."

The band Yes, which I'm not fond of.

"Yes" is the opposite of "no."

Actually, when I saw the prompt, the first thing that came to mind was a marriage proposal.  I know, sick right?

There's the man and his unsuspecting lady.  He's nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but he pops out the ring, gets down on one knee, and says, "Will you?"  I've only seen proposals where the lady says yes.  Some have ended up saying no later, but under the pressure of the crowd, she says yes.

I don't think I could do it.  First, no man in his right mind would ever date me, much less ask for my hand in marriage.  Second, even if he was that foolish, I don't think the pressure of the crowd could make me say yes.  My yes would be the end of his sanity and nails in the man's coffin.

So, I suppose I can't say yes to the dress.

STOP!

 

Not Going Natural: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Go on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge link-up!

 

What's on your September calendar? Anything fun? 

Yes, something fun.  I'm taking swim lessons at the Y this month.  I hope to train hard this month and hit the 5k races in October.

You might be described as a natural born _____________________?

Not sure how to answer this one.  As a kid, I was completely talentless and had no natural aptitude for anything.  Until I came to Christ, I had no gift or talent to offer anyone.

September is National Courtesy Month...what one act of courtesy would you most like to see more of in your home, town, or the world at large? 

Courtesy and manners, like common sense, has become a superpower, even here in the South. I'd like to see parents teach and be a better example to their children of how to act.  Funny, I recently wrote about this very thing here.

Eager beaver, chicken out, clam up, or let the cat out of the bag...of the phrases listed, which one have you related to most recently? 

Clam up.  In the words of Greg Burgess, "Know your role and shut your hole."  I'm learning.

What's your movie theatre snack protocol? Do you chow down on snacks during the previews or wait until the movie begins? Do you buy snacks or refuse to pay those kind of prices? What's the last movie you saw in a theatre? How many thumbs up would you give it?

The last movie I saw in the theater was Home Run.  I would give it two thumbs up.  It could have been better, but it was still very good.  With that being said, I don't go out to movies very often, but when I do...I prefer Dos Equis...no, I would like to snack, but because the snacks cost more than the ticket, I most likely will abstain or bring my own.

Henry Ford is quoted as saying, "Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind." Agree or disagree? Why?

I agree.  True laziness shuts down the creative thought process.

What's the last job you completed or task you performed where you had to 'work like a dog' until it was finished?

My last painting...

The idea didn't come to me until a day before the senior dance.  I finished this painting in only two sessions.  I'd much rather take my time, but I was in a time crunch.

Insert your own random thought here.

My fellow blogger, Annie Rim, invited me to write my very first guest post.  It's here.  It was such an honor.