I don't even know the stuff listed after the turn of the century. Maybe it's a high school thing, but the 70s & 80s had my favorites of the list. Click here for a trip down musical memory lane and to see what was hot on your birthdate.

I'm writing...! I just can't seem to complete the thought! Check back SOON :)

Coming up with a name for my blog bogged me down. I wanted something simple that communicated something more than just a name. Potter BOOK fans will get the reference immediately, everyone else will need this explanation. This is what I came up with, I love this concept...and at times I wish "pensieves" were more than just make believe.

Pensieve (as explained in Wikipedia)

A Pensieve is a stone basin, covered in mystic runes, with a liquid or gas within. A witch or wizard can extract his or her own memories and place them in the Pensieve, especially to relieve the mind when it becomes too flooded with information. Anyone can examine the memories in the Pensieve, which also allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the memories stored within, much like a magical form of virtual reality. Tom Riddle's diary seems to have this same form of virtual reality. Oddly, users of these devices view the memories from, third person view. This of course, raises questions of how they are able to see things beyond what they have remembered. Rowling answered this question in an interview, confirming that memories in the pensieve allow one to view details of things that happened even if they did not notice or remember them, and stated that "that's the magic of the Pensieve, what brings it alive" [1]
Like many names in these books, pensieve is a pun: it is a sieve in that it is a device used for sifting out thoughts, and in using it one becomes pensive or thoughtful. It may be notable that "pensieve" is an anagram of Pevensie, the surname of the main characters from C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which the Pevensie children are thrust into another world through a magical cupboard, as Harry is thrust into a memory through the pensieve in Dumbledore's cupboard.

A Pensieve first appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, again in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and plays a pivotal role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Right now I have a huge crush on my family...I love it when I feel this gushy. Last night was special, different. I think we did something my children will remember much longer than they'd recall cards or candy.

We had dinner in our dining room and used our fine china, crystal and sterling. The kids were excited--usually we just use that stuff with company, and they're usually in the kitchen "with the kids". I dunno, during the day I just thought, "What can I do to make this day special?" and so, this is what I came up with. I KNOW my children were into it, because Rachel (with Stephen's "help") made beautiful name cards for each of us.

One of those things I treasured in my heart was our conversation as we finished eating. Several years ago Rachel and I visited American Girls Place in Chicago; among the souveniers we brought home was a "Conversation Starter Box"--an adorable black box with white polka dots and a hot pink bow. In it are slips of paper with random questions; the point is to draw one from the box and answer the question. We've used this with friends and family in the past, and although some are resistant at first, usually everyone has fun with it in the end.

Stephen asked if we could "do the conversation box", so keepin' in flow with the evening, we got it out. It went around the table twice, they wanted to go three times, but it was getting late, so we stopped at two.

Two questions stood out to me (we all usually answer the ones each other draws): First, I think I drew on the second round "What is one thing you would like to change about your personality." These were all our answers--Me (that I would be more organized and neater about our home); Rachel (she would be less "embarrassed" about things most people don't get embarrassed about--she'd KILL me if I gave examples!); Thomas (his short fuse, I think he said "anger management issues"--an 11 year old! lol); Stephen (that he'd be less picky--for instance, he ate salad, a roll, maybe some fettucine--without the sauce!--but did NOT eat a WONDERFUL ribeye steak last night!); and Tad (that he'd like to read more).

This is the thing about all that....if there were things I'd change about my family, these are are some of the things I'd like to change. And here's my point--we (no, I) can be so easily critical of others, want to change them. But often, the very things we (I) want to change are things others really would like to change in themselves. We (I) don't need to be harsh on them...we are probably our own greatest enemy, plagued with self-loathing about the qualities we don't like in ourselves. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think my kids or Tad "hate" themselves over the things they'd like to see different in themselves, I just thought it was interesting that they already struggle? wrestle with? acknowledge and understand? the things I might find fault with. Right then and there I decided to be more forgiving with their personality traits I'd like to change, and pray for them toward that end instead. (This is perhaps the most poorly constructed paragraph I've ever written, I hope SOME of what I'm saying makes sense! :) ).

The second thing I think I'll treasure about the evening is the new names Rachel and the boys came up with for us in response to one of her questions--Say hello to Renaldo, Millicent, Beatrice, Henry and Theodore (formerly Tad, Robin, Rachel, Thomas and Stephen). There were a lot of laughs while they came up with this, and I have no idea why or how they settled on those names...they're just funny.

I PROMISE......this will be my LAST commentary on snow (or lack thereof in these here parts).

I went out of town last weekend. Thomas called me Sunday morning. He's my most excitable child, so read his conversation with LOTS of expression.

"Mom! You WERE right!!! The ground is COVERED with snow!!!! It's amazing!!!!!" etc., etc., ETC. (I think I used enough exclamation marks to indicate his enthusiasm.)

It was 48 degrees Sunday. It melted before I got home (it melted before THEY got home from church, lol). And of course, Thomas' characterization of the ground being "covered" means there was perhaps a light dusting. Maybe.

The snow gods mock me. They hate me. They are real.

(Monday something went wrong. It snowed again...well, kinda. AFTER the kids went to school. It was cold, so it stuck for a while, long enough for a lot of the students to go outside and throw snowballs. The sun came out and warmed things up by noon, so it didn't take long to melt. But I saw it :) :) :), if only for a moment.)

Any guesses why I'm smilin'? Nothing stuck, but at least I'm up to 314 snowflakes in 10-a-c.

Right now I am mad. The weatherman said there would be snow. I woke up, no snow. I didn't sleep well last night because, like a kid on Christmas Eve, I was excited about the "prizes" I'd find this morning. Not even a bag of switches or coal. Third winter we've lived here, and I think to date I've seen 47 snowflakes. Where we used to live had a 100-year record snow the winter we moved (18 inches in SC???!). It's a vast right-wing conspiracy, or the snow gods are against me or something.

What an amazingly lame thing to blog about (my 8-year-old just read it...he thought it was funny. I love having kids!)

Fun(ny) exercise in our Sunday school class today (uhm, to be politically correct, I should say "Bible Fellowship").

First, props to teacher Bryan J. who, I guess because of his experience as a former youth pastor and now as a middle school Bible teacher (in public school no less, which is just so doggone cool), always has a fresh way to consider the scriptures. We've been in Luke F O R E V E R (no complaints from me ;) ), and this morning we covered Jesus' calling of the Twelve apostles.

Before anyone had arrived in our classroom, Bryan had arranged the chairs in small circles of six instead of the horseshoe (?) and rows at the back we're accustomed to. He shared some insight into the beginning of the passage, but then explained our "task": each group was to come up with their own list of 12 modern-day apostles--He asked the question, "Who might Jesus choose today?" Some people asked for additional explanation, and in typical Bryan form, he let us draw our own conclusions.

My group had FUN with this--among other issues, we debated whether or not Jesus would have women on the list. This is "who" we came up, with a few parenthetical statements attached.

1. a fisherman
2. an IRS agent
3. a doctor
4. a reformed convict
5. a student
6. a construction worker
7. a politician
8. a former prostitute
9. a teacher
10. a mom
11. a truck driver
12. Reggie White (lol, the only named person, who just happens to be dead. More than the person here, he represented "celebrity" in some form who professed belief in Jesus)

We added that our list was NOT all caucasion and American, but ethnically diverse representing a host of other nations.

Look at another "list" that was shared with the class.......... OH....MY....WORD!!! I will not comment on their choices other than to say I think we had a slightly different perspective. And, I'm still laughing--OUT LOUD--just thinking about it.

1. David Jeremiah
2. Billy Graham
3. Chuck Coulson
4. Franklin Graham
5. Chuck Swindoll
6. Andy Stanley
7. James Dobson
8. Rick Warren
9. Ravi Zacharias
10. Ben Haden
11. Michael Youssef
12. Joseph Stowell

Hmmmm, a veritable "Who's Who" of Christiandom....we affectionally called it The Moody Bible List in class.

Ok....now some who read this will have to exercise EXTREME grace (uhm, should that read "restraint"?).

I think rather than tell ya how Bryan concluded, I'd be curious to know what your list might look like. I hope you'll post.