Thomas: "Mom, check it out...I'm state of the art and totally tight."

(Me, rather incredulously): "Did you just say, "[repeat above]"???

Thomas: "Yeah."

It had something to do with the short-sleeved Under Armour we
"F I N A L L Y got him", but I'm not sure what exactly.

I cannot imagine this child as a teenager; we did get a preview after his end-of-year school program when he and his best buds gave a post-program performance at Dairy Queen that waaaayyyy out entertained the school production (ah-hem, HIS part in the school production--a FANTASTIC program, as anyone present could attest). A rendition of Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten"...complete with motions. VERY high energy performance, I think because ALL of his favorite galpals were there to watch.

His teacher explained to her husband (within my ear shot), "You know this is Robin's gene you're seeing...." Like I need to be reminded of THAT!

I think perhaps it's a bit sinful how excited I am over this! I can freakin' taste the Spring Rolls already!! I'm gonna pull out my old McDevitt & Street hardhat and help with construction to speed the process.

I'm making reservations now...anyone wanna join us? I can assure you we'll be there opening day :) Me happy....very, very happy!!!

Oh, get this...while I was typing this entry, a friend from SC signed on to AIM and I told 'em we were getting a PF Chang's...he informed me they're building one 200 stinkin' yards from my old neighborhood! Funny, and yet, not (lol). What-evah.

I have never understood the hoopla over The Da Vinci Code. It is a work of fiction. F I C T I O N. Evidently, many don't know the definition, so I'll help them out:

Main Entry: fic·tion Pronunciation: 'fik-sh&nFunction: nounEtymology: Middle English ficcioun, from Middle French fiction, from Latin fiction-, fictio act of fashioning, fiction, from fingere to shape, fashion, feign -- more at DOUGH1 a : something invented by the imagination or feigned; specifically : an invented story b : fictitious literature (as novels or short stories) c : a work of fiction; especially : NOVEL

In spite of the fact it contains factual, historical information, it was never intended to be read as non-fiction or even creative non-fiction. Pure and simple, it's a thriller with some intriguing and provocative thoughts and ideas...laced with truth, theories, speculation, engaging characters and plot.

For me, it was a page-turner I completed in two days, my family lost me for a bit. One reviewer said it was "unputabledownable"; I like that word and agree.

Christians love their witch hunts and they love their bandwagons. This is opportunity for both. But...BUT...I am hopeful it is opportunity for much more. I'll get to that part...

I think in many instances people profess a faith that is not their own (I know I did for longer than I realized or care to admit). Gosh, too often in the South, we're just "born Christian". We grow up "in the church" and get our faith by osmosis. We hear the stories and stuff of faith externally without ever EXPERIENCING God. We're coaxed and encouraged to say the "sinner's prayer" or "ask Jesus into our hearts" from the time we can toddle, and if we go to Sunday school or Christian school, we hear all the stories and know all the "characters" by the time we're a teen. We expouse a set of beliefs sometimes because they're the "right" things to believe....right? Professing with our lips, sometimes for decades, but without transformation, with no accompanying change in the "inner man". It is a powerless faith, contradictory to what God tells us about Himself in Scripture. And sadly to me, we settle for that all too often.

I'm sitting here thinking, mind in a thousand directions, I hate it when I can't think progressively....for people who know me, you know I juggle half a dozen conversations at the same time and I'm afraid that's what I wanna do now. Sorry! Those bunny trails are attractive.

Back to the Da Vinci point. Plain and simple, I think it's stepping on toes because people don't know what they believe. They profess with their lips rather than having experienced God in their heart--they just don't know Him that well. Yeah, they can shout with the best of 'em why the book & upcoming movie will take you straight to hell, but are they (am I?) willing to share their own stories of love and forgiveness and redemption and acceptance and transformation and power? How can it be shared if we don't know it?

If the controversy generated from reading the book or watching the movie causes a person to question his faith, I think that's great! Questioning...doubting...debating...Kingdom things is NOT sinful. Thinking about, discussing, contemplating, praying through, earnestly seeking TRUTH always leads to FINDING truth! If the controversy leads readers or movie goers away from God's revealed truth, the Parable of the sower comes to mind...the seed that fell on rocky places. Shallow roots, no depth. Easily swayed or confused when something else believeable comes along.

For me, the controversy drives me to want to spend more time with Jesus. To know HIM, not why I shouldn't believe the "lies" perpetuated in The Da Vinci Code (or other books). I don't get to know Him intimately by spending time reading books about Him or about "breaking the code" (although I believe there's a place for those...); but by savoring and delighting in His Word, engaging Him in conversation through prayer, and fellowshipping with His Body, the Church. Pursuing Christ, because He first pursued me... Loving Him, because He first loved me... Loving others--not just in word or emotion, but in action, because that's what He tells me to do. "This" is opportunity for that :).

Passing along some links that are much more imaginative than anything I could write (notice I put them at the end in the hopes that you'd read me first ;) ).

Seek Truth!

Dan Kimball
Dick Staub
Christianity Today

I think the wheel is spinning slower today :D.

How can you tell? Four posts. Sheesh....I've never really seen myself as a feast or famine chick.

Anyway, I have to say I AM PUMPED! My husband told me he NOTICED my new handy-dandy "filing" system for organizing all the CRAP I usually pile in our kitchen and on the dryer. Now everything has a labeled colorful folder so I can FIND what I'm looking for rather than spinning my wheels........! Yep, I've already been able to find several things that in the past would typically have gotten lost or taken hours to find while I simultaneously lost my religion.

Ummm, he didn't say he noticed...he said it was a turn on!!!!!!!! Can I say that here? TMI? Will my kids need therapy? DOES TAD NEED THERAPY? Type A, borderline OC (more O than C, no doubts).

Nah...this is a perfect example of speaking love the way he hears it...I didn't tell him...but he heard. And THAT, my friends, does it for me ;)

I've got it figured out!! THIS is all I need to do to stop the insanity of the busy cycle. Glad someone has all the answers for me ;). If I just DO this study, then I'll be less busy. Makes perfect sense to me.........................................

This series of posts is in honor of them. Wonder if they're having as much fun as I am!


Take the quiz:
What dessert are you

apple pie
You are apple pie! WHolesome and smart in every way!

Take the quiz:
Which Starbucks Drink Are You? (Great Pictures)

Starbucks Cafe Latte
Starbucks Cafe Latte(www.myspace.com/andrew2)

Praising God for the beauty of His creation, the large and the small. Thanks to Shelly for the sweet reminder :)

Well, this is what I FEEL like, anyway.........

If I was smart, I'd spin like our buddy Charles...now THAT'S a whole lot more productive.

Either way, I'll letcha know when I get off the wheel.

Why two parts? Because I know y'all. You won't read long blog entries. So, you get two for the price of one today.

Last night when Tad got home for work, we headed back out to get a new car battery and to get some dinner (his "seven-year" battery unexpectedly dying in only five years is in keeping with my "slightly-organized-chaos" life management style) .

We had to get on the interstate to get to where we were going...and maybe 200 yards on it, we came to a dead stop. We knew we were in trouble when we saw a cloud of dark, thick smoke maybe half a mile ahead. This was about 6:45 p.m. No one was going anywhere.

When this happens there's a delayed reaction. At first, you think, oh, things will get moving in a minute. When you hear, then see, emergency vehicles finding a way to get to the scene, you realize it just happened...they haven't even started on rescue.

The accident was just out of view, all we could see were cars & trucks in front of us and cars & trucks behind us. Oh, yeah, and the smoke.

So...your evening is thrown a few lemons...do you sit and pucker or make lemonade? :) After initial irritation, we made lemonade.

I ALWAYS have a bag with books & stuff in the car...but we cleaned out the car, so it wasn't there. THAT ended up a being a GOOD thing, because if I had had it, I would have read. The only book in the car was a Dietrich Bonehoffer book, no way I was going that deep with a car full of monkeys! So, these were our lemonade "ingredients":

- First, we tried to get a traffic report on the radio to find out what happened. Found out they don't do reports at 7:00 p.m.

- Everyone (but Tad) hung out the roof of our van. Cars honked...people waved (mainly the people in the OTHER direction who were having a religious experience & praising God because they weren't on OUR side of the road)

- Drank some bottled water which has been in the back of my car for a while since I keep forgetting to take it inside :)

- Since it WAS dinner time, the kids scavenged the Tic Tacs and Breathsavers I had in my purse.

- We traded seats in the car. In the process I was standing (crouching?) in front of Thomas and he squished my thigh...
n i c e...he told me he was scarred for life.

- Tried to get a few "car games" going, but somehow that didn't work out...something about cabin fever...we started several, but didn't complete a one of 'em.

- I tried lipstick shades I've never tried before but have carried around anyway. No wonder I haven't tried 'em...!

- I FINALLY double-french braided Rachel's hair. I'm not good at this...so I don't do it often...she's been asking and asking, and all of a sudden, we "found" the time. I told her she had secretly caught the car on fire to stage the whole scene so I'd be stuck with nothing else to do but braid her hair. IT WAS STINKIN' ADORABLE!!! I'm really pretty bad at it, but it ended up so cute, I'm kinda convicted to make time to do this whenever she asks...shhhhhh! Don't tell her!

- I found out Thomas wants to go to Paris (because it's "fancy", AND he wants to take a girl, just NOT his mother) and Stephen wants to go to Asia because it's the biggest country; he changed it to Australia because he wants to see penguins (is that the first thing anyone else thinks of when they think of Australia??? lolol)

- Tad, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, played Stephen's Nintendo DS:). Y'all have no idea how BIG that one is! He hates that stuff!! He wanted to play the boys' PSP (cause it has WAY cooler graphics, per Thomas), but it was dead and Thomas forgot the car adapter.

- We talked to the people around us (by "we" I mean "I"). I wanted to stroll up and down the parking lot, I mean interstate, and "poll" people (not sure what my questions woulda been), but Tad nixed that. Thomas insisted we had drug addicts in front and behind us because everyone in those cars was lighting up. I guess sitting in traffic makes some people edgy, lol.

We were thankful it wasn't as hot as it has been because sitting that long with the car running and the a/c going woulda cost, what? $20 bucks these days? Mostly, we were thankful we weren't involved in whatever the accident was...it could've been a whole lot WORSE! :(

Finally, almost an hour later, we turned the car around and went backwards down the interstate, back down the exit ramp (cars had been doing this for half an hour before we decided to follow them and "jump off the mountain b/c everyone else was doin' it"). The on ramp was closed, so it wasn't like we were going to get into a hot game of Chicken (of course, we didn't know that til we got there). We were able to get a new car battery 10 minutes before the store closed, enjoy dinner at McAlister's, savor a carmel macchiato at Barnes & Noble, and run into a friend from SC (!) while checking out new books.

All in all, a good night. Attitude was everything. And, really, I was pretty proud of my kids for swimmin' not sinkin'.

yesterday was NOT the day I got my feet under me. I'm beginning to find this amusing rather than frustrating, and I think I'll choose to believe "slightly-organized chaos" IS my life management style.

So, after getting home and blogging a bit, I began working on the invitations I was making for our family reunion; my mother-in-law (A SAINT) had asked me "to put my creativity to use because she knew I could come up with something special". In other words, motivation by flattery. Who can say no to that? Not me, not to her. Plus, since I'm a trained Stampin' Up demonstrator (<---- you should be laughing right now), I'm more than qualified for the task. Paige and I had already worked a couple of hours on 'em and for some silly reason, I thought I was almost done.

W R O N G.

She, with very little help from me, came up with an ADORABLE card! What I didn't realize was that I still had to compose a poem for it, figure out a way to print that on the little cards we had cut out, tie ribbon on the invitation tag, design and print the details of the event, design and print the response card, type and print the invitations, print return envelopes, cut ALL of those things to size to fit into the card we had made, size the map, buy stamps and mail the suckers. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but I had to have 'em in the mail yesterday.

The GOOD thing is I DID finish 'em and ultimately, it was all good :). They're done, adorable, and when people throw them in the trash they will say, "That is the cutest invitation I've ever seen." Chunk!

I tell you THAT little story to emphasize, that no, my days are still not going according to "plan". That took ALL DAY! Didn't even make it to the post office til after school, so my house was slightly neglected. The kids helped me power clean so I felt better after that, I guess I felt like I coulda packed a little more in yesterday's bags.

Gonna close this for now, but last evening continues the story :)..............

If you hate cats this should make you laugh. If you love cats it should make you laugh, too. I watched twice, I giggled more the second time (maybe because I was watching with someone else who was laughing). Or maybe I'm just in the mood.

This morning I made a WallyWorld run because, quite frankly, I cannot stand Walmart and the best time to go is when the fewest people are there, which happens to be mornings during the week (of course, I have no idea what the crowds look like from dusk til dawn because it matters not to me that they're open 24 hours). Rainy mornings mean even fewer shoppers.

When I gotta one-stop-shop, of course there's no better choice (unless you have a Super Target, but we don't have a stinkin' Super Target). Rachel and I play a game sometimes trying to come up with the most random and oxymoronic pairings of stuff you can buy at Walmart--dogfood & engagement rings, goldfish & underwear, handguns & diapers...you get the drill. (Does it look like we don't have a lot of entertainment choices for my kids? :) ).

Anyway, as I head back to the van, HUGE raindrops started falling, I started running, opened the door remotely (gotta LOVE that feature!) and dove into the car pulling the buggy beside. I grabbed my bags (not gonna tell you my oxymoronic pairings for today!), threw 'em inside and watched the rain thinking I gotta do something with this cart.

Three options: take it to the Cart Return in the parking lot (farthest option); return it to the store (next farthest option); or roll it to the very nearby parking spaces where other customers had taken theirs (the MOST attractive option given the deluge that was now falling).

This is where I mentally begin cussing Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo because I cannot leave a stupid buggy in the parking lot, even if two dozen are already there and it's pouring down rain. So, I chose the store because it's the next closest option and run it back.

As I'm running back to my car, guess what? I hear a loud "thank you" from somewhere. I slow down long enough to look for the face that said it, and it's a smiling Walmart employee, pushing a load of those stranded buggies from the end of the parking lot, thanking me for taking one back. I couldn't help but smile back at her and think maybe next time I won't mentally assalt Gary and Anne Marie.

I got a "paycheck" today for nothing more than livin' like I should :). Maybe today is the day I get my feet back under me. Even if I don't, I'm still feelin' groovy ;)

Gee, I can't believe I haven't had anything to say in NINE DAYS!! (THAT is a death wish if you want your blog read. Me likey when you read. Me likey BETTER when you write ;) ).

Umm, but you KNOW it's not true that I've been rendered speechless...I've had PLENTY to say. Guess I'm just saying it, not writing it. Cannot seem to get my feet under me since finishing school, which is an utter irony! One of the principles taught revolved around the thought "Are you managing your life or is your life managing YOU?" Right now, I am totally and completely "managed", not the other way around. BIG grrrrrrrr.

So there. This is a LAME blog entry for today, because it was killin' me not to post anything in NINE DAYS (Contrary to what Wendy says, this is not a sign of addiction...or denial).

Heyyyyyy, I gotta smile...it's worth it for the smile! :D

Read this and stick with it til the end. Did you know it already? I didn't, and as I'm able, I want to corroborate its accuracy.

I sat there and read it and thought..........God was right to call us sheep.

This is one of those times I wish I was smarter....and could remember more of what I read...and paid better attention in ALL my history classes...and had the discipline to go back to school JUST for the sake of learning...could process more clearly...and had the eyes to see the bigger picture...the ears to hear truth more loudly than those who speak within my comfort zone...wisdom and discernment, and I guess the heart and mind, to consider who God IS, not just the "God" we've created, then confined, for the past hundred or so years.

Mostly, this is one of those times I wish y'all would weigh in.

Hours in a week....168 hours, for some of you about a third of that is spent sleeping (for those of us who are less fortunate, about 1/4 is spent sleeping, the remainder tossing and turning and THINKING about sleep).

Anyway, with the remaining awake 120 hours or so last week, I was pretending to be a techie. This is funny. I am NOT a techie (although at times I'm a techiewannabe).

Only because I "know" about it, I volunteered to set up a Yahoo 360 page for our newly-formed adult Sunday school class. We figured it'd be a great way to extend our community beyond Sunday morning gatherings. Again, because I'm somewhat aware, I initiated formation of a Yahoo Group for Finishing School participants (graduates?? lol). So those of us on the east coast could stay in touch with those on the west coast...and visa versa...and everywhere in between.

I do this stuff like I paint........s l o w l y and badly. I take too long and make mistakes in the process. Sometimes I live out the definition of insanity--doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result.

Ultimately, both got done and it's a cheap thrill to seeing peeps jumpin' on the techno-wagon avec moi. Those seven, 24-hour days seemed more like one long 120-hour day, though, in the process..........

Anyway, all that sucked some serious time last week. Between it and the rest of "life" that needed to get done, I haven't had time to write here. And lots of thoughts have been swirling around, incomplete, but wanting to get recorded before I lost 'em...afraid some are gone forever.

It was bugging me not to have something different posted.........:)

... music controls on your steering wheel :)!! I don't have to listen to junk I don't wanna, I can channel surf and dodge semis at the same time. Usually, I don't do this while talking on my cell and applying lipstick, so you're usually safe if you see me on the road.

This morning as I was surfin' after school drop off, I hit three breaths of fresh air...blasts from the past...and I was just LOVIN' my steering wheel.

CRANK UP THE VOLUME...click these links...listen...and SMILE with me:) Give 'em time to download! Three very different genres...no way to choose my favorite. (I tried to call Tad during Smile#1, but he wasn't in his office...by the time his voice mail rolled over, too late to record anything.......oh, well, he can enjoy it here ;) ).

Smile#1 and Smile#2 and Smile#3.

Now you know me a little bit better. And for the record, I drive a mini-van, notta beamer.

p.s. ....but on a day like today, I woulda liked nothing more than to hear those while driving a RED convertible, top down, wind rippin' through my hair as I sang--LOUDLY--along with the tunes...........! That's cause for smile #4 :D

you've tried to post but Blogger wouldn't let you because you're not a "member". If you're trying to comment, click "comment" at the bottom of the entry; it'll take you to a "Leave Your Comment" screen. Chose "other" as your identity and all you have to do is include your name (or if you're funny like some would-be commedians I know, you'll make up a name). If you choose anonymous, I'll kick your tail.

Now that I've shared my blog address with a few of y'all and gotten over the stage fright, I wanna hear from ya (and yeah, those of you who email me directly are fine...). Don't be shy, there are no "wrong" comments. LOL, if I don't like 'em, I can always delete 'em ;).

Still digesting, processing my week last week...oh, yeah, and playing "catch up" in general. You know how it is when you've been "gone" a week (in spite of the fact I was sleeping in my own bed)...

Blog on.............................