Friday, January 13, 2017

Something For Everyone (Or, This and That City)

1.) So this year, rather than making a yeah-riiiight resolution to eat healthy and lose weight, I'm determined simply to become physically stronger. 




The exercising 5 days a week, using weights, taking walks--I can promise to do those without crazy major doubts. Really, I've got a good feeling and who knows? This might even lead to a healthier eating lifestyle. 

Making one right decision often leads to making another.


2.) Have you ever sent me an email at GladOne4@yahoo.com, but received no note back? Well, last month I discovered two emails from a blogging friend in my spam folder(!) and, horrified, thought, "Oh no! Maybe folks out there think I'm a hypocritical ol' meanie because I sent no email reply."

So seriously, if that's happened to you, please try again. I answer all email (that I actually see) from people commenting about my blog/certain posts. I never just ignore them.

Which reminds me--hopefully, if nothing else, being online is teaching us to communicate better, more concisely, patiently and to believe if someone, say at Facebook, ignored our question or comment, it was only because they didn't see it. Not because they hate us.  :)


3.) So I collect bookmarks, but you'd never know it. 

Oh, the times I've grabbed a nearby kleenex, ripped a corner of a newspaper, used a spoon or even my reading glasses to mark where I stopped reading! I keep my bookmarks upstairs, but it seems I mostly read while downstairs.

Well, this week I discovered a solution. And be still my paper-crafts-loving heart! These are just a sampling of what I found here at Ebay (darn! I took the photo correctly, but Blogger flipped it. Oh well, you'll have to turn your head. Click to enlarge--it'll help.) --






Gorgeous, gorgeous things. My bright idea is to place one inside each book I'm likely to read this year. (The Valentines, though, I'll send out to friends.) No more using (boring) found objects to mark my place.


4.) Doesn't your heart become so encouraged by each January day's lengthening of light outside? Mine surely does.


5.)  What's my very favorite thing(s) about Winter? Not having to mow the lawn or trim our miles of hedges. Oh, the luxury!

And my favorite way of using my gained time (and traveling, too) in Winter is, of course, reading. Especially the books I set aside from Summer's yard sales and ones like Gladys Taber's (I prefer hers written prior to 1963) which make snowy winters sound like the warmest, coziest things, ever.

Oh, and of course, Laura Ingalls Wilder's series, especially The Long Winter, which always reminds me I've got it remarkably easy, so stop complaining already!


6.) Have some extra time? You may enjoy Vee's post like I did. Sounds like we've both been walking around our houses making changes to things which annoyed us or simply can be made prettier. It's more a matter of attention to detail than needing lots more money.


7.) After something like 20 years, I finally ordered a nice old copy of A Lantern In Her Hand. Want one for your Kindle? Here's a copy for just .99 cents--but it's annotated, which, when I see that word on any older book, makes me run, screaming. But hey. Maybe that's just me.


8.) Oh, and yay! Netflix added their original series, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events today. I really enjoyed the email Netflix sent to me announcing this series last week--what a hoot!  --


Hello Debra,
Please forgive this intrusive message, but I thought email was the best way to send you a dire warning about Netflix’s dreadful new show, A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s not something you ought to view, even for a second, as you can see below.
Lemony Snicket


9.) And lastly, here's an excerpt from another obituary from my old home town in California. "Honey" Bunch and her husband, Gene, passed away only 4 days apart(!)


"Honey Bunch, (Marie Johanna Bunch) ... was born to Swiss immigrants, Joseph Gnos and Johanna Schieber, on April 1, 1928, in Sacramento.
The eldest of six siblings, she worked on the family dairy farm and often looked after her brothers and sisters. During high school, she was trained in opera and made a couple of albums, later making an album of Swiss yodeling in Mill Valley.
She managed restaurants, a motel and even ran the Graeagle Frosty for a time. Both Marie and Gene were excellent cooks. She was an outstanding seamstress, even making her own wedding dress without a pattern. Most notable, of her many skills, though, was furniture refinishing. She loved the outdoors and many walks in the woods with her loyal dogs. To the end, she was positive and grateful for each day and loved her family and friends dearly."

Aww... right?



Gratitude turns what we have into enough. ~Author Unknown

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope..."   ...Psalm 130:5

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The Pirates At Our Door




“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand."  ...  Matthew 12:25


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The other day I stood in our kitchen and looked across our dining area and living room to the front door and thought, "I am the captain of this ship."

Well, ok. Co-captain technically. But when it comes to vacuuming, dusting, straightening and washing, well, I'm certainly the captain. Heh. It's ol' Debra's responsibility to keep things orderly and this 'ship' sailing smoothly.

Remember how Tom and I recently watched Captain Phillips? Well, I got to thinking.  Pirates board ships so to kill, steal and destroy, very much like satan is said to do in John 10:10--


"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; (but Jesus says)'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.'"


And good grief. Today's world looks rather like Pirates Gone Wild. Everywhere-- tv, online, in our own towns, etc., there are people (and divisive spirits) screaming, totally obsessed with, for example, aborting our soon-to-be-administration before it's birth, even. Before being given a chance to breathe, for goodness sake.


Obsession:  the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.


And this morning I'm picturing all this strife, confusion and division like pirates marching right up to our front doors demanding to come in to plunder our peace. To worry us, take over, even entering by way of the 'windows' of our tv's and computers.

Uh-oh.

So please, remember:  only we (and back-up sent from God) can keep the peace and unity in and the pirates out. Only we can keep our home, head and heart strong rather than crumbling due to division.

And only we can choose to do this:


"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."   ... Proverbs 4:23


And well, may we all watch out for those pirates who would enter and plunder the peace which is rightfully ours in Jesus!








"Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone."   ... Romans 12:18



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"There are six things the Lord hates,
    seven that are detestable to him:
17         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
18         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community."   ... Proverbs 6:16-19



"How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!"   ... Psalm 133:1








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Speaking of houses, here's a local one for sale (only $69,000) which I thought was quite cute--





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Another Ebay find on its way thanks to the gift card Tom gave me for Christmas--





The colors are perfect for my kitchen!


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Free Kindle Books:


Middlemarch

Murder in the Rose Garden

August



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Saturday, January 07, 2017

What Kind of Day Will You Create?



Spiffy, right? May we never believe the I'm Just A Helpless Victim Of My Past (Or Present) lie. With God, all things are possible, remember? Even a darn good life (or day), even if yours began badly.

Like yesterday. Earlier, I'd had Ebay send something to a friend and I imagined her smiles when she receives it.

But outside my windows? Brrr ... 14 degrees. And it's not even mid-winter yet, so we've got ages (and tons of this coming) before Springtime. Yet inside, I had blindingly, quick!-turn-away sunshine and pink flowers, even, for I'd brought these up from the dark basement where they winter-over --



Oh, that sunlight and those pretty pink cactus flowers on a frigid January afternoon!

Then I climbed upstairs and searched for a Happy New Year card, penned a note, changed clothes, touched up my make-up, grabbed my extra copy of this book--





--put on my black wool coat and carried both the card and book across the street (gingerly, recalling my fall weeks ago) to Sally and Sue's. Of course, Fern and Olive The Dogs barked like crazy when Sally opened the red door, but I tried Cesar Milan's trick of not looking at the dogs and they stopped barking. Nice.

Sally and I had a good visit, catching up since it had been awhile. And the 14 degrees and not even being at mid-winter yet, didn't make a difference. All felt very well, even so.

Always, I'll believe most days are what we make of them, not what they try to make of us. 

No, really. And when tragedy strikes as it did later that day in Florida, I had, even still, the comfort of God, and prayed for those touched by such unfair sadness.

Still we must go on and how thankful I am that we can do it with a type of joy which none of us really understands. Because of Him.



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Here's how I make Ebay shopping easier:

 After clicking 'search' for what I want, I look on the left side of the page and check-mark 'Buy It Now', and also, 'U.S. Only'. That way I never have to get into bidding wars, I can buy what I like immediately, and my items only come from the United States, often in just 2 to 6 days.

Which reminds me -- who else recalls the days of catalog shopping when they'd tell you, "Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for your order to arrive." Can you believe we ever had that kind of patience?!!

What a different sort of world is ours now. Perhaps that's why it shocks us older folks. Why we often can't believe what our eyes are seeing.




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"You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’"   ... Acts 2:28



"The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him."   ... Psalm 28:7


"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."  Elisabeth Kübler-Ross


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Free Kindle Books--


Hazardous Duty

Ride With Me








"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy..."   ... Colossians 1:11


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