Praise God for Christian schools!

I just have to say that as I am now in the depths of a class at a secular (and rather liberal) institution, that I appreciate as I never have before the chance to learn in an environment that is not hostile to Christianity. There's a lot of pressure that comes with being the only one who is willing to stand up and say that the favored world-view of a class and/or teacher isn't necessarily the right or even the best way to look at life, and I am so glad that I did not have to fight through all of my high school and college classes the way I'm fighting through this class!

Falling

It was chilly on the way to work this morning. The air had that extra little bit of edge that foretells the end of lush green days and the beginning of nights cool enough to spend with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book.

It was a happy realization. It made me remember how nice it was to snuggle up with my newly acquired hubby on the first cold day after we were married. It's nice to know, going into this winter, that I won't be enduring the cold on my own. I got out my terrycloth robe (that I originally bought for Chris) last night, and we snuggled and watch a little TV. Nice and cozy.

Our new living room is all cleaned up now, and we're starting to feel settled in. We can generally find what we're looking for, and soon we'll get all the books out of their boxes and line them up on the shelves. That's Chris's project; he enjoys organizing them just so. He didn't work in the library for nothing. :-)

Life is happy in our little town house, and we thank God for all of His blessings.

Today be the day!

Arrr! Me hearties!









Take yer pick o' the pirates below, but whatever ye do....











































Be ye piratical!!!

For my wonderful hubby

A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.
Andre Maurois

I love you!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

She be coming!

Oh happy day!

Rebecca's kitty has a name now! Cute kitty....

Just for the record...

Putting politics, Christianity, and lots of emotion together is never a good thing.

Ever.

Everybody comes out looking bad.

Argh. Stuff like Jesus Camp makes me so mad! I feel like I need to watch it, but I don't want to. I know I'll spend the entire movie yelling at the screen. People persist in lumping every little group of people that call themselves Christian together as if everything that called itself Christian really was. Even within what could properly be called Christian, there is a huge variety of practices and beliefs. You can't lump us all together! STOP BEING SO CLOSED MINDED!

Sigh. Guess it'll never really stop...

Shoutout

Please find for your continuing edification and general delight new links on the sidebar. My own dearest brother is now at the top of the list, and I have added my good friends from college Tim and Ashley and Lincoln as well. There is also now a special section with breaking News from Abroad.

And of course, now that the school year is back in progress, much fresh meat has landed on the Frittering Away platter.

May a good time be had by all!

Caught me!

OK, Camille. You caught me. :-)

1. One book that changed your life: VanVonderen’s Tired of Trying to Measure Up

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: The Lord of the Rings trilogy (so I was a speech major, not a math major!)

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: The book of Psalms

4. One book that made you laugh: The Paper Bag Princess

5. One book that made you cry: The Atonement Child

6. One book that you wish had been written: Hmmmm... (I may update this later.)

7. One book you wish had never been written: Anything by Robert Rector (grrr...)

8. One book you’re currently reading: Selling Women Short

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Broken Mirror

10. Now tag five people:
Becca
Mel
Ben
Joanna
Laura

Marvellous Miscellany

Well.

Now that I am mostly done tinkering with Blogger code, I can breathe and catch up on posting.

Prais the Lord, Chris has a job! The firm he worked for this summer called him back one week after his internship ended and offered him a spot for next fall. We are so thankful for that offer! It takes a lot of pressure off of this next year, and it allows us to start making plans in advance instead of at the last minute.

Equally exciting is that there is a university about 45 minutes from where Chris will be working that offers a Master's of Social Work. So, Lord willing, next fall I should be able to make some serious progress towards that degree. I'm a long way behind on prerequisites, but I'm taking a class this semester on Family and Society, and I'll take another class next semester as well. Then perhaps I can do the remaining 10 or 12 credits that I need to be accepted next fall, hunt up an internship or some kind of work experience, and then get going full time on the degree in the fall of 2008, with completion in May 2010.

DeWitt is merrily gaining weight. I thought that was a good thing (just a growing boy!), but now the doc tells me that we have a pudgy budgie. :-( I'm not sure what to do with him since he won't touch the food that the vet recommended to replace the seed, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that my family raised four or five birds on seed, and they all did just fine. He has recently recovered from a mite infestation on his beak and feet. Non-transmissible to humans, but they can do some serious damage to a bird's beak. They're all gone now though, and he's going to be just fine.

Under Construction

Well, I have finally taken the plunge.

After two weeks of tinkering with Blogger code on a test blog, I think I'm finally ready for a test run of a new and improved (I hope) blog.

Please let me know if you run into anything strange so that I can fix it.

Coffee as a Health Food

Can the world get any better?

Coffee as a Health Drink?

Happy day!

Happines is...

...waking up and seeing your husband next to you.

...climbing over all the boxes in your kitchen and being rewarded with a glimpse of your vegetable plants growing serenely on your deck.

...watching your bird hanging upside down on a new toy.

...having a few extra moments in the morning to thank God for a beautiful day.

...seeing your church family after two months away.

...pretending your car is a spaceship.

...going over to a friend's house for popcorn and a movie.

...grilling supper on a huge charcoal grill that God provided for free.

...watching a friend get married on your wedding anniversary.

...finalizing plane tickets to go see your family at Christmas.


For all the beautiful little things in life and all the little things that make life interesting, I am thankful.

We are a bright one, aren't we?

So.

Pamela Anderson is getting married this month, but she's having four ceremonies to celebrate. (Sounds like fun to me! *roll eyes*). Someone asked her how she's "coping with her nerves," and the Associated Press has kindly recorded her stress reducing remedy for posterity:

I have two words for you: champagne.

Marvelous.

Remember the workers!

You know, Wal-Mart has been trying hard to look less exploitative in the last couple of months, and I was beginning to think that maybe public pressure just might have worked this time. But here's the ruling that knocks down the Maryland bill that would have forced Wal-Mart to meet a minimal standard of corporate decency, and the news is not good.

Rollback Ruling Favors Wal-Mart

Maryland wasn't asking for much, and they weren't unfairly picking on Wal-Mart. The big box store dumps thousands of workers onto public health roles while other large corporations do their part to take care of their workers.

Excellent advice!

I just got the first of my GRE study materials in the mail. Prominently displayed on the Algebra I review chart is the following:

Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during Algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.

Thank you, Fran Lebowitz, for the validation of our educational system. Great. That one really motivates me to study for the GRE.

*roll eyes*

So much for peace in the Middle East

As I got ready this morning, I was thinking about all of the military actions going on between Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. Without being willing to blindly support Israel in every action, in this case, at least, it seems like they've been aggravated beyond all reason. Kinda reminded me of a cornered animal being poked with sticks. At some point, that animal is going to come out of the corner and inflict some serious damage.

Israel isn't asking for much. Just give them their soldiers back, quit shooting at them, and take the guns away from Hezbollah. Doesn't seem unreasonble. You've gotta feel bad for the Lebanese people, though. It stinks for the Lebanese to be the ones getting blown up when it sounds Syria and Iran are the ones bankrolling Hezbollah.

It's so sad. There's so much suffering going on.

BIRD FLU COMES TO FLORIDA!!!!

HEAD FOR THE HILLS!!!



{My thanks to Becca over at The Mercied for this crucial breaking news.}

Zinedine Zidane

Absolutely unbelievable. I could hardly believe my eyes when he headbutted Materazzi in the chest. Completely unacceptable behavior for any participant in any sporting event, but so much more unacceptable in the captain of team in a sporting event broadcast worldwide. And in light of the extreme liklihood of penalty kicks, his boneheaded temper is incredibly irresponsible. How could he possibly do that to his team?

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrre you ready?

As the commercial says, "Get your booty..."




"...To the theater!"

Absolutely cannot wait to join the unwashed masses in enjoying what should be a delightful little piece of brain candy. :-)