Sunday's Quote of the Day

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. Lin Yutang

Fun Friday

Here is something just to rattle your brain.

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

This is for all you intellectual English Grammar Teachers. If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave. Pursue at your leisure, English lovers. Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1 The bandage was wound around the wound.

2 The farm was used to produce produce.

3 The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4 We must polish the Polish furniture.

5 He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6 The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7 Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8 A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9 When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10 I did not object to the object.

11 The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12 There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13 They were too close to the door to close it.

14 The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15 A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16 To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17 The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18 After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19 Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20 I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21 How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France (surprise!).

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese?

Doesn't is seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

Have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick".

Vacation

I am away this week in Florida visiting my best friend so I won't be updating my blog regularly. The last few weeks have been crazy...we decided to buy a house instead of building one....we put our current house on the market, and we found the house that we want to buy. Here's a picture of the new house! We're hoping to close in the next few weeks...so keep it in your prayers that everything works out!

Fun Friday

The woodpecker might have to go!

Parenting Tips

Elizabeth Pantley has a new book: The no-cry discipline solution. It follows the no-cry sleep solution that has helped many parents get the rest they need! Check out some of her parenting video tips here!

Wordless Wednesday

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Fun Friday

Wordless Wednesday

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Adversity

There are some things that you can know about adversity:

1. You can expect it! No matter who you are, or what you are doing in life, sooner or later, we all will face challenges, hardships and adversities. In Job 5:7 it says, “Man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward."

2. You can learn from it! Sometimes it is the mistakes we make, or the messes we survive that teach us lessons that a smooth life will never teach us.

3. There is opportunity in adversity! Even though it’s hard to know where to look, good can come out of any experience in your life. There is no waste in God's economy. He has promised to bring good out of even the worst of our experiences! Rom 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

Here's a great story about how God uses adversity in our lives:

Some time ago, a few ladies met in a certain city to read the scriptures, and make them the subject of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Malachi 3:3 says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.“

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study group, and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and he let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest, so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, and then she thought again about the verse that says "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that, yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and said, "Oh, that's easy ­ when I see my image in it.“

2 Corinthians 4:8 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Trading Places

I have been going through old files this week, throwing things out in anticipation of our move. I found some of my old college papers and took a trip down memory lane reading some of the papers I wrote. I was in my 30's when I returned to school...so many of my papers were about my husband and kids. Interesting stuff. Most of it wasn't worth keeping, but I found this entry in a journal that I was required to keep for a social psychology class:

October 7, 1990

My kids decided to see how it would be if they were the parents. So for today, my daughter is playing me, and my son is playing dad. They told us that our bedtime is no later than 11:30, so I'll have to finish in a hurry in order to make it to bed on time!

It has been very interesting to see them acting out how we must appear as parents. Jaime, my daughter, really took on my characteristics, and Jon, my son, was amazingly like his father. This has definitely been an eye opening day.

Being a parent is a scary job. Especially knowing that we all fail our children somehow. How can we be perfect parents when there are so many life pressures?

I'm realizing that my dreams for kids are probably very unrealistic. I want them to grow into adulthood un-scarred by my poor parenting. I don't want them to make the same mistakes that I made. I want them to know how to make it in this world as loving, caring adults. However, I'm sure that just as my faults, so glaringly shown by my daughter tonight, have affected them for life, their faults will affect everyone they come in contact with.

How do we do it? How can we teach our kids to be better than we are? How can we keep them from making our mistakes over again? I guess my prayer is that somehow my children catch not only my faults, but also my faith. Faith that although we live in an imperfect world there is a Hope. Not everyone believes in God, however it is my faith that reassures me that although I'm not always the perfect parent, their Heavenly Father will take care of the things that I louse up. If the dream that they come the realization that they have a Heavenly Father to depend on comes true, then I guess I've given them all a mother could ask for.

Fun Friday

Wordless Wednesday

A Sprawling Estate?

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National Procrastination Week

This week is National Procrastination Week...a week made for people like me who love to put off until tomorrow what could be done today! Won't you join me in celebrating by reading the procrastinator's creed?!

• I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
• I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or to find excuses.
• I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.
• I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.
• I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.
• I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.
• I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitely small, is not exactly zero.
• If at first I don't succeed there is always next year.
• I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.
• I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.
• I obey the law of inverse excuses, which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.
• I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.
• I will never put off until tomorrow what I can forget about forever.
• I will become a member of the ancient Order of Procrastinator's Society (if they ever get it organized.)

Sunday's Quote of the Day

“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.”

Stressless Saturday: Reframing

Several years ago I left the church that I grew up in. The church that felt like home to me. It wasn’t because I moved away, but because of some major problems in the church. I won’t go into the gory details, but it was a necessary move for our family. I remember thinking that it would be easier for me to move across the country than to make the move to a new church. It was a painful time. One of the things that I discovered in the move was the psychological technique of reframing. Somehow, if I was going to survive emotionally, I had to change the way I looked at the move.

Interestingly enough, I found that there was a great opportunity that I hadn’t realized in going to a new church. No one knew me there. While that was what I feared, it also meant that no one had any preconceived ideas about who I was and what I was capable of. In my home church I was viewed as “shy little Diane,” a description that no longer fit, but kept people from seeing my potential. I was able to recreate myself in the new church. I took on responsibilities that would have never been offered at my home church. It was an exciting time!

I learned that the way I looked at the situation affected how I felt about it. When I focused on the loss of my home church I felt depressed, lonely, and mad. But when I began to focus on the opportunities of going to a new church I was energized, optimistic, and excited. Same situation…two outlooks.

Reframing is a powerful tool that can help us refocus our attention from the negative to the positive. So, the next time you are going through a stressful situation, try to reframe and refocus…there may be a hidden benefit that you’re not seeing!