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Random thoughts, inconsistent posting |
 My meandering thoughts |
| What treasures do you display? It depends on the season. From March 1 or so-October, there isn't much on display but my Hutch. China, Waterford glassware, assorted glass (probably not valuable) glass dishware and my knife rests. On the walls are my joy. I have a collection of Charles Peterson Nostalgia prints. I love them. They show a scene with the past activities and people as ghost like images overlaid on the picture. They are so beautiful and depict a time long ago. See my port for the Contest entry called THE ARTIST. My husband has a collection of Terrence Fogerty sports (MN/Hockey) prints, some I have in my Office at work because my boss is a Huge MN Hockey aficionado. He was from Staples, MN and played in the first High School Hockey Tournament. The center piece is a Thomas Kincaid painting (Artists studio proof and highlighted by TK) of Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior. ( If you know anyone that would value it, I'd sell it.) When I decorate for Christmas, out come all the garland for every window and stair rail (if there is one) There are picks and bows for each garland to match the theme for that year. The Family tree is filled with momentos that are the kids ornaments. Well, they would be if they wanted them, but they like them on this tree. Stuffed Fivel, Sabastion, Bernard and Bianca, from the Rescuers and a Burt and Ernie. There are number of Cola bears, and Starbucks ornaments. The rest are yearly ornaments from Hallmark or ones from the Twins, Hershey's, MN Gophers, and Vikings. If I were in a driven mood I'd set up my Dept 56 Dickens Village. We have a 4'x9' sheet of plywood with cutouts for cords. On top of that goes a special made Styrofoam cutout city landscape. Holes and numbers are there where to put the 23 different houses. PW cut the holes for each house and hot cut the streets, rocks and cliffs. I painted it all. Then the hundreds of people, carts, horse and carts, skating rink and lights are put into scenes. Once all the vignettes are arranged, it snows! PW will scoop out cupfulls of Baking Soda into a sieve and shake it over the entire 4x9 village. When he thinks he has enough (at least 6-8 pounds of "snow") I take a small sponge paint brush and "clean" the streets, brushing the snow into piles along the edge of my streets. On top of that, PW lightly sprinkles iridescent snow or glitter. When the lights are out and just the village lights are on, the streets, houses and people are illuminated and you almost hear the sounds of the village. We have Christmas music on almost all the time. When you go through that much trouble it doesn't come down until March! Here is a small set up (since I've begun to downsize my decorating) on FB. https://www.facebook.com/tina.b.weaver/media_set?set=a.2446125276802.2108382.136... |
| April 29, 2014: Whats the thing you're most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it? Heights, more specific things like bungee jumping and zip-lines. I don't think there is anything that will get me over it. I can climb a ladder if it is a strong metal one. I've stood 20' off the ground in a metal box sitting on a fork lift, to hold siding. I never felt secure, but I got used to it after a few hours. The fear of falling is what I don't like. I know others love the feeling of their stomach flying up to their chest, but I don't. I don't like the sensation of falling. Nope, I don't think after all these years I'm going to be doing anything crazy like Bungee jumping or zip line or even going down the side of a mountain in a little sled. I've done it but not very fast and it was go a little and put on the brake, go a little longer, break, a little longer, break...Thank goodness I'm at the bottom. |
| If you could post only one more blog entry FOREVER, what would you say? I grew up in a home with a good Christian foundation. From the first time I was out of the house, so I'm told, I was taken to church. As the years went by, I attended church anywhere from 3 to 4 times a week. In this home and church I was taught that God loved me, He made a place called Heaven for me and if I wanted to go there it was my choice to accept His gift of Salvation. As a young girl I went for the whole thing without much thought. It was what was expected and what I wanted to belong. Until I became a teen and questioned everything. I had to do my own searching. What was it God really wanted of me? Why were there so many rules? Why did some of them make no sense? Whe I got out of high school I went my own way. Not that I turned my back on everything I had been taught, but I wanted to know what were my choices? I asked questions, compared the answers to the Bible and what I thought was the truth. When I had exhausted my "learning" I came to a crossroads of sorts. I had to make a decision for myself. I chose to take the doctrine I knew to be tried and true. That was at a tender age. I married soon after that and I still went through a learning process. I learned that if you don't learn to forgive, you will be destroyed. You can't hold grudges. I learned that all the rules I was to follow at my church were set many years ago and some hadn't caught up with the change of the times. Eventually some of the standards, thought process and demands, were set aside as "letters of the law." I learned that DOCTRINE doesn't change anymore than the Ten Commnandments written in stone. After these 40+ years as a Christian and still learning, I know the path, I can lead or point it to others. I know without a shadow of a doubt where I will spend my eternety with God and Jesus as well as the many others who have gone on before me. What I want any reader to know is: This isn't a path for the weak or strong willed. This is a path for those who see their need for help. Those who realize there are times we can't make all the decisions or have all the answers, and know there is someone who does. If you need a friend, counselor, guide, healer, or just someone to talk to. He is right there beside you, waiting for you to ask. Thats all you have to do. Ask from the depths of your soul. He will be there. He's been there for me. |
| Prompt: How much time do you spend on the internet on an average day? Do you think it's too much? Say it ain't so!I work on the computer from 7:00 am to 4:pm each day. Since I make calls all day long and log them on to the computer, I have time to toggle back and forth between Writing.com and my program. No I don't spend too much time on the computer. I'd rather be writing than cleaning my house which I need to do now. I'm sad to say that next Wed through Monday I will be at a southern gospel convention in Visalia, CA. Wont have much time to do any thing on the computer. Whoo Hoo I have blogged every day this week. That has to be a record! |
Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel. – Oliver Wendell Holmes I don't know if I am alone in this perception, but the scents that waft the breezes swirl around me and I'm transported into the past, an experience or event. The scent of fresh baking bread will send me to my childhood where at the age of seven or eight we visited my grandmother in Portland, Oregon. She lived close to downtown and about two blocks from the Franz Bakery. My younger sister and I would run to the big window on the street and watch the loaves of baked bread make their way down a conveyor belt to be packaged. Once in a while one of the men that worked there would come to the door and give us a loaf of warm, fresh bread. My sister and I thought we were in heaven. Mom was quite surprised by our gift, but would cut it and give us slices of bread with butter and jam. It's that scent that brings me to a happy place. I'm sure there are others who love the smell of bread baking, but for me it represents a happy place. I love the smell of ylang ylang. I don't know why, but the scent is earthy. Mixed with other scents like cinnamon it touches me somewhere and brings me peace. I know when I walk by the Aveda store I smell it and smile. It's somewhere in the aisle at the Fred Meyer store in Redmond, Oregon. I can't find it, but when I walk down the Natural section I can smell that base scent. It is scents that bring people to a place of peace, happiness and contentment. My husband was a custom home builder. When we held open houses for our models, there would be candles or some kind of potpourri with cinnamon, vanilla and pine. The smell of Christmas. I could tell as people walked in, their demeanor changed. There would be a smile on their face and they would comment that it smelled like Christmas. Their perception of house changed as they thought about their family in that home during the holidays. One year we were nominated for the Hudson, Wisconsin Christmas Home Tour. Since our home was new but in the Arts & Crafts style, the committee for the Christmas Home Tour wanted to see what our house looked like decorated for Christmas.(The year before we would be considered.) They were to come in January, then February, it was the first of March before the woman committed to come. Our house was STILL decorated from Christmas. The day they arranged to come I baked a loaf of gingerbread. We had Harry & David truffles setting out on a tiered tray and spice candles burning in some of the rooms. Our electronic baby grand was playing Christmas piano music softly in the background. As the ladies came in the house they smiled and one said, "It's like Christmas at Easter." They were impressed with our 'over-the-top' decorations. "You do this every year?" One asked. I got out my album of our annual Christmas Parties and showed them the decorations from the previous house. They were very impressed and wanted to be invited to our party the following Christmas. (We had themed, costumed, Christmas parties) As they left one of the ladies told me, "Your house is the best decorated house we've seen in years." Needless to say we were asked to join the Tour the following year. The night before the Tour started, the homeowners that had been chosen, were given an evening tour of all the decorated houses and a party afterwards. As our limo arrived at our house there were two limos still there. Our guide told us to wait and she hurried in to see why the other cars were still there. She came back and got in, "We have to wait a bit, the other guides can't get their groups out of this house." I was tickled pink. It was my house. If there were prizes we would have won. Upon entering our house the smells of Christmas were very evident, gingerbread, cinnamon, cloves, peppermint. The sounds of Christmas were played on the piano. Lights, trees and decorations in abundance in every room. At the end of the two-day tour (1800 people) a tour bus pulled up to our driveway. A woman hurried up the drive and knocked at the door. "Are we too late?" "It closes at five o'clock." "I told my group I was saving the best for last." She looked at my husband with hope. He smiled, "You're not late. Bring them in." The group of about twenty-five women and men piled out of the bus and toured our home and didn't leave for another hour. Their comments: "Best representation of the Christmas Spirit." "It smelled just like I remember Christmas when I was a child." "I loved to sing the carols at the piano." (We had a friend come and play for a few hours each day. People stood around the piano and sang. "We don't sing carols any more. We loved the piano player." They said when they left. Can you tell I love Christmas? I lost the desire to do the work. My husband travels now and he is the driving force for the Christmas decorating. I like it but since I can't show it off to anyone, we don't have the room or money for parties. I just didn't have the desire to decorate this last year. Maybe this year. |
| Prompt: Which 5 characters from a novel or novels, would you have dinner with? At one time I would have said, "Perry Mason!" Then I read Rex Stouts series and found the real character of Perry Mason was nothing like Raymond Burr's character on the TV series. Not even close. So that character is out. D'artagnan from the Three Muskateers Edmond Dantes-Count of Monte Cristo Jean Valjean-Le Miserable Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz Any of the Character of J.R.R. Tolkein The Drake Sisters from the Drake Sisters Series by Christine Feehan Lily from The Secret Life of Bees Stephen Bradly from Jeffery Archer's Not a penny more, Not a penny less Robert Langdon from Dan Brown's series. He'd be quite the challenge to me. Robin Hood........... |
What 3 favorite books would you take with you to a deserted island? I thought about this for awhile. It's tough to mentally go through thousands of books I've read in my life. I very rarely read a book twice. Sometimes by accident I would buy a book and begin to read it and realize I'd already read it. Since I didn't remember what happened, it was as if I was reading it the first time but with familiar characters. I am choosing first of all Dan Brown's Deception Point. This book I have on CD and at one time in paperback. I've listened to it a couple of time on CD, skipping to my favorite chapters. This book is by far his best writing. I did like Da Vinci Code with his attention to historical detail, real or not, it made the story fascinating to follow. The next book I would choose is Katherine Woodiweiss' Shanna. This book is amazing. It has romance, sex, intrigue, murder and its all wrapped in Historical Fiction. This was one of her first books after she began to have a following. She began publishing around the time Rosemary Rogers began the Bodice Ripper books. This book has kept me intrigued for years but I've only read it a few times and its been many years since I picked it up. This isn't a true accounting because if I were really stranded on a remote Island the only book I would need is the Bible. It has romance, war, redemption, judgment, and miracles all wrapped in 55 "books." I was shocked to hear a man tell me he only read from the New Testament because that was the only one he understood. My guess was he read the stories. I quoted some scripture that is very well known and he had no idea what it meant. Yes, it was from the New Testament. I love the old. I love the story of Esther, I love it when she tricks Haman. I love that her uncle gets justice and she saves her people. I love Ruth, a true love story and where we get the verse most used in weddings. "Whither thou goest, I will go. Whither thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God." I love the song that goes with it too. If the Bible is a freebie then my choice for my third book is one book containing all three books by J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings set. I've never read them but love Peter Jackson's movies. If I were stranded on an island, it might be a good time to knock those off my bucket list. |
| DAY 49 - April 22, 2014: List ten things that make you smile. If you read yesterday's prompt, you know what makes me laugh or smile. Kids in general always make me smile. I love their lack of inhibitions. My friend has the cutest granddaughter. Since I don't have one of my own, I spoil her. Not too badly, she has many other aunties, gr-aunties/uncles and gr-grandparents. I usually only see her at church, but if I'm shopping and I see a sale in a 2T or 24mo. I'm on it. When she sees me she smiles and it touches my heart. The moment I see her I have a smile on my face. When I see the little children walk to the front of church and sing their songs, sometimes with all heart and no tone. Sometimes they are so mesmerized by the crowd in front of them all they do is stare and then the unimaginable happens. Dress hems go to the mouth, boys will pull their shirts up to cover their faces or pick their nose. It all happens when there are 50 little kids from 2-12 or so all trying to sing. One other item makes me smile and has kept me smiling for years, Anne Geddes babies. She is an amazing photographer who puts newborns to 1yr olds into costumes. I had her baby books that I kept for a number of years and gave them to a little boy with Downs syndrome. He was fascinated by the babies in the odd costumes. He smiled and that made my heart swell so big. I'm so thankful there are little babies and toddlers at our church to make me smile and wash the worries of life away for an hour or so. |
DAY 49 - April 21, 2014: What's the funniest thing you've ever heard a child say? This wasn't much of a mental stretch. It was the first thing that came to my mind and then others followed. It has to be this story. It's hard to believe it happened only six years or so ago. My sister, Kathy, took our nieces and nephew to the Canby County Fair. After a number of hours walking through the barns, booths and eating she took the kids home. Max was so excited. At the age of four or five he was in awe of everything. He ran to his mother, my sister Sue and yelled, "Mom we saw goats and pigs and cows and Aflac." My sister frowned, "Aflac? What did you see again?" Max even more determined, repeated, "We saw goats and pigs and cows and Aflac." Sue smiled, "Max you mean geese." "No, they're Aflac on the TV." He is such a funny kid with the same dry sense of humor his dad has. He's come up with such funny comments and actions. A few years ago it was my first trip to the Canby County Fair and Max wasn't keeping up. As we started to cross the street, Sue ordered him. "Max keep up. You're walking like an old lady." Max, being Max, immediately pretends he has a walker and begins to shuffle behind us reaching out with his hands to put the back two legs of the imaginary walker in front of him and then shuffled his feet to where the walker would be with his arms bent on each side. Then he repeated this process all the way across the narrow street. I was in stitches. His reaction, so quick and so perfectly executed actions has been in my mind ever since. I love my nephew Maxwell Scriber. Sunday night late I just want to add that the cantata was amazing. I hears from a number of people they felt the spirit move and there were tears in some eyes. They loved how well the drama fit the songs and the videos synced perfectly. I watched the video as soon as it was posted and linked it to my FB page. I am so proud of my drama team. Only one is what I would call an "actor" but many stepped up and mad the role realistic. When you're working with "military" volunteers. (Conscripted) you take what they will give and try to work with them to show more emotion. This dram was good because the soloists were the main parts and the others just filled in, with acting, no speaking parts. Some are recurring roles, they get the same part every year. I and others were very pleased at the response.  |
| Happy Easter I sit here this morning and pondered the fact this month I've written in this blog space more than any other time. I think Blog City and the "prompt" provider that prick my interest and make me think of things I hadn't thought about before or in a long time. I didn't blog much. I think of blogging or journaling as somthing important you want to leave some where. I often thought that my daily life is pretty boring to some, but who if in the furture looked at my blog would know me a little better. My goal now is to add little bits of my life, persective and ideas as I can. The prompts help a lot. I noticed that some people post a small paragrah answering the prompt but don't expound on it so the reader will get to know the person writing. I guess that's why the Eulogy prompt is my favorite. As time goes on I hope to add bits to that in other posts. Who am I? What do I contribute to those around me? I think its something I need to work on more. As I hurry off to church this morning, it will be full day. After church we set the platform up for the drama scenes that go along with the cantata. The title is HOW GREAT THOU ART and uses the verses of the song in places to tell the story. The end will be the best! I forgot to go to the Lebanese store to buy flat breat. I will have to use a piece of large tortilla, If I can't get one this afternoon. |
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