Free Tacos, anyone??

Date: Tuesday, October 30th
Time: between 2 - 5 p.m.
Place: Taco Bell
Cost: Free!

During the World Series, if any player steals a base, Taco Bell will give away a free taco to anybody who goes to their store and asks for one as part of the promotion. Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Red Sox stole the first base of the series in game 2, meaning that everyone in America is entitled to a free taco on October 30th between 2pm and 5pm local times.


You *knew* there was a good reason to read my blog. :)

Favorite Commercials

Josh recently asked his blog readers what their favorite commercials were. So i went hunting for my 2 favorites. Thought i'd share them with you, too. Even though we record our tv shows & fastforward the commercials, I make chris stop when i see these two. They make me giggle every time. :)

Musical Cars


Milk Shake


What are your favorites?

If I owned an art gallery...

i've been uploading my photos to flickr for awhile now, & have really enjoyed viewing other people's work. I've learned a lot by looking at their techniques & styles. But now I've joined a new photo group that's done by JPG Magazine. for this one, people are submitting their work to be published by the magazine. And it's got quite a different style than the pictures on flickr.

anyway, as you look at photos, you can mark your favorite ones, & they're displayed on your "favorites page". So... I thought I'd share some of my favorite photographs with you. I just found a photographer whose work I *love* so the first page, right now, is all her work. But there are others if you click on other pages. I'll add this page to my links on the sidebar, so you can go see my latest favorites whenever you're bored. :)

So... if I owned an art gallery, this is what you would see. :)

Pardon our mess... we're remodeling

well, i started a new blog because of the technical difficulties, and....to make a long story short, I noticed that it was the new template that was causing me problems. So... i'm switching templates, & keeping the same URL. but... i don't have time pick the perfect template & all the colors etc. that go with it. I'll get to it sometime.

in the meantime, i'm just going to shout out there into the deep space of internet-land that i'm *so* unimpressed with blogger.com ' s technical support. they didn't even try to help me figure out my problem.

for those of you who told me that you couldn't click on the links etc. either, please let me know if it's working for you, now, or not.

Photo contest

just posted a couple pictures in a photo contest. If you want, you can click below & vote for me. (I don't think you have to be a member to vote) If they publish me, I win $100. :)

Shaving Cream

we had a fun time playing with shaving cream the other day. :)

2 cans of shaving cream! very fun 'til Evy's rubbed her eyes with her creamy hands & they got pasted shut. :)

A New Favorite

okay... THANK YOU ALL for recommending "The Lake House." Watched it last Sunday during naptime and LOVED it!! oh my gosh!!! i have to say, I was getting a bit disillusioned with romance movies lately. Haven't seen *true* romance in AGES. But this one... WOW. SOooo romanic!



more movie reviews to come. :)

Technical Difficulties

Ever since I changed the format of my blog, i'm unable to click on any of the links. that means that i can't reply to your comments. So... I just want to let you know that I love receiveing all of your comments, & the reason i'm not responding is not because i don't like you. :)

i think i'll start looking for other blogging websites, & change my page when I've got some extra time.

"Little Green Apples"

I browsed the Roger Miller songs on itunes today & found this song. Hadn't heard it before now, but really like it. I esp. like the guitar accompaniment. could't find the song on youtube for you to hear, but here are the lyrics. So sweet!

And i wake up in the morning with my hair down in my eyes and she says hi
And i stumble to the breakfast table while the kids are going off to school, goodbye.
And she reaches out and takes my hand and squeezes it and says how you feeling hon?
And i look across at smiling lips that warm my heart, and see my morning sun.
And if that's not loving me, then all i've got to say,

God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in indianapolis in the summer time.
And there's no such thing as dr. seuss or disney land and mother goose, no nursery rhymes.
God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't rain in indianapolis in the summer time.
And when myself is feeling low, i think about her face and go and ease my mind.

Sometimes i call her up, at home, knowing she's busy.
And ask her if she can get away, meet me and maybe we can grab a bite to eat.
And she drops what she's doing and she hurries down to meet me, and i'm always late.
But she sits waiting patiently, and smiles when she first sees me, because she's made that way.
And if that ain't loving me, then all i've got to say,

God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't snow in minneapolis when the winter comes.And there's no such thing as make-believe, puppy dogs or autumn leaves, no bb guns.God didn't make the little green apples, and it don't snow in minneapolis when the winter comes.

Are you qualified?

I just got an email (spam) w/ a long subject line that was cut off half-way through, so it read:

"You could qualify for a compliment"

i've always wanted to qualify for a compliment. :)

More favorite books!

I have some more books that I'm adding to my recommended reading lists:

These first ones are all picture books...probably good for elementary school ages.
The Squire and the Scroll by Jennie Bishop similar to "The Princess and the Kiss", but for boys. --and I like this one better because it has more depth. :) A parable about a young squire who survives many trials by keeping to the words of the scroll. "A tale of the rewards of a pure heart."

The Princess and the Kiss by Jennie Bishop The story of a little girl who is given a precious gift (a kiss) from her parents, when she is born, and how she grows up and has to choose which, of many suitors should be the one to receive her kiss. A sweet story that teaches girls the value of their purity.

God's Wisdom for Little Girls and God's Wisdom for Little Boys by Elizabeth George The girl's book is Proverbs 31 explained in simple language, and the boy's book is the same, except it uses different verses from Proverbs. A great character-building book

The True Princess by Angela Elwell Hunt A parable that teaches girls what a true princess is like. My favorite line: "It is love that marks a true daughter of the king."

Mama Love by Kathy Mallat (preschool to younger elementry) a book about the love of a mother. Don't much care for the illustrations (it's a monkey & her baby) but love the words: "My mama loves me. I'm the twinkle in her eye, her heart's pitter-patter, her star in the sky. My mama loves me. I'm her absolute delight. She guides me and protects me through each day and night...I love my mama. She is everything to me, the rays of my sunshine, the roots of my tree. I love my mama. She's the twinkle in my eye, my heart's pitter-patter...my star in the sky." so sweet!!!

Too Many Frogs! by Sandy Asher cute story about a rabbit who tries to have a nice evening to himself, but a frog keeps interrupting. hate the illustrations. love the story.

I'm also adding the Narnia Chronicles to the chapter book section.

And for parents: The Heart of Anger bye Lou Priolo. I *love* Lou Priolo. Heard him speak at the homeschool convention in July. He has a passion for the life-changing power of scripture that catches. This book is for all parents --not just the one's with angry children . :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Costco been selling Christmas items for about a month now. The kids & I have taken to singing Christmas carols through the aisles every time we go. But the rule is that it's only Christmas when we're on those aisles, so we have to stop singing as soon as we walk out. :)

Remodel

you can probably see that I've changed the appearance of the blog. What you may not have noticed is that I added a little tidbit to the sidebar. if you scroll down a bit, you can see my new quote section. I'll add more to it, as i find more great quotes. :)

What are your favorite quotes?

Da Da Da

okay... this is a bit of an oldie, but i've only just discovered it. love the beat.

by Trio

The Problem With Namesakes -or- The Psychology of a Name

we, in America tend to reserve The Middle Name as a place of honor. If there's someone you admire, but don't really care for their name, you just stick it in after your child's first name, and whenever your child asks, you can tell them all about the great person that they share names with. In theory, this is a great idea.

But here's the problem:

All you moms out there know that the only time you really use a middle name is to give you some more syllables to say when you're child is in trouble & you're trying to get their attention. So the only time your child hears this name of honor is in a negative context. This certainly doesn't go very far to nurture feelings of admiration for The Distinguished Person.

And the other problem, which I'm facing now: We gave Evelyn the middle name of Jan, after my mom. Not only does she have a place of honor in my life, but she's my MOM. --you know, like the person you never talk back to, no matter how mad you are. So there's Evelyn, getting into trouble, and I'm snapping, "Evelyn Jan! you stop that this second!" (or something to that effect) And every time i use that tone of voice with the name, *JAN*, something just grates on me. And instead of feeling strong and authoritative, i feel like *I* should be getting in trouble for talking to my mom like that. It's very disturbing. It even bothers Chris.

So I have a new idea. Instead of naming our children after the people we love & admire, we should name them after someone bad... I think if I said, "Evelyn Jezebel!" it would add a little extra umph to my "mean mommy voice". And every time she heard, "Jezebel," she'd think "man, I don't want to be like that!"

OR, we could only say their middle name at positive times, "oh, Evelyn Jan! it was so thoughtful of you to give all of your candy to your brother." and then when they get in trouble, and we need a lot of syllables, we can just throw in as many middle names as we need to, to make an impact. like: "Evelyn John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt don't you ever throw scissors at the cat again!"

Famous for a Day?

This morning, I got an email from the "Assistant Online Editor" of Christianity Today. She would like to use one of my photographs to go with their lead story tomorrow (Thrs) !!! It's going to be on www.christianitytoday.com/ct/ and www.christianitytoday.com/ (smaller square) for one day. Check it out. :)



Update: here's a picture of the webpage:

Movies!

okay... this is what I rented last night:

*Evening
*Keeping Mum
*A Good Year
*Evan Almighty

It looks like just about everybody who left a comment mentioned "The Lake House" so i'll have to go get that one. And Mom told me I have to see "The Ultimate Gift", so i'll probably look for that one as well.

I'll let you know how they are. :)

Other movies that were recommended that I haven't seen, but will wait for another day are:
*Noises Off
*Opportunity Knocks
*Sweet Home Alabama
*The Devil Wears Prada
*Just Like Heaven (saw it, but would love it again)
*Kate & Leopold (saw this one, too, & loved it... just don't remember...)

I loved "How to Lose a Guy..." So fun! Also, Chocolat. one of my favorites!
and i'm *so* not watching City of Angels! no tear-jerkers allowed. :)

Thanks for your help, everyone! Let me know if you have more. :)

Glenna & Ruth, call me when your plane gets in! :)

Quick! i need your help

Chris is going away on a men's retreat this weekend, & won't be returning til Monday evening. That means I have three whole nights to watch all the mushy girl movies, & quirky comedies that I want. so... i need suggestions. I went to Blockbuster & got a few movies, but I'd love to hear some more great ideas, incase these ones bomb. so.... who wants to help?

And: who wants to fly out & spend a girly weekend with me? :)

Bubbly

Just heard Colbie Caillat on the radio. love this song!! anybody else know her music?

Hat fun

the biggest tattletale

Yesterday morning, when the kids & I were praying, Gideon said, "And satan, stop making those people do those bad things, 'else I'm telling God." :)

pachelbel bedtime

For anyone who ever thought they would die if their child wouldn't go to sleep. :)

love after one semester..

my brother josh posted this on his blog. too funny!

A love song, after one semester of Spanish:
(Ruth, i think you'll get a kick out of this. :))

no remembro how to say eleven. :P