News from the Great Beyond

I'm sorry, can you spell that for me?

Back in the *mumbled decade*, when I was a youngun', I recall sitting in Sunday School and in Bible class in the various Christian schools I attended, and being forced to read aloud from the Bible.

The New Testament wasn't quite so bad for reading purposes, but when it came to reading the Old Testament aloud, just nearly every verse in some books contained a name or a place that required a feat of presumptive elocution (also known as a wild guess).  

Some names were long but eventually we heard them repeated enough to pronounce them comfortably:  Nebuchadnezzar... Melchizedek... Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego... But others would hang on the tongue like a fifty pound weight, causing much stammering and starting over, until most of the time we'd either brace ourselves to look stupid and hazard a guess or just give up and move on.

This childhood training is serving me well in my job these days.

Birthday Hugs

With all that's been on my mind, I barely noticed the change from August into September; but for a note on the CaringBridge site for my friend Tom's son I would have completely forgotten this.

Happy belated birthday to two of the best guys I know - Pablo and Tom, you two have been so special to me for over half my life, and even though we're geographically scattered right now I feel we're closer in spirit than we've ever been.  I love you both... and I'm praying for you as we all go through our own trials and griefs.

When Cherry was here, one night we put Noah to bed in the other room and watched a videotape I'd dug up of some of our college adventures, which included a jam session with Tom on guitar, Pablo on piano and myself singing... a stop at Kroger's in Carbondale so Tom could buy some deodorant (which we girls helped critique the various available scents)... dinner at Godfather's Pizza... and a discussion of the potential blackmail material this video would provide while we kicked around Turley Park.

I thought about the feasibility of converting the video to DVD and putting some pieces up on YouTube for our everlasting embarassment, but I'm just not that technically oriented.  Or that much of a glutton for punishment.

Just know that this tape still exists if either of you decide to become a politician *wink*.

Your Not-Even-Close-to-Daily Dose of Adorable!

Oh my goodness CUUUUUUUTE!

For those I've promised it to, the poem I wrote over Christmas break will follow soon.  :)

Much love, and thanks for checking in!

More Adorableness!

Seriously folks, how cute is this?

On Dirt

I have a confession to make.  I haven't washed my car in... well, years. 

I'm just not a car person.  As long as it's in good repair and it gets me from point A to point B, I really don't care all that much what it looks like.  Hubby-head, however, takes his truck in for a wash at least every time he gets the oil changed, but the last several times I've gotten an oil change I've taken it to Wal-Mart's tire and lube center, and haven't bothered to find a separate car wash.  It just doesn't bother me that much.

I read a novel once, I forget which one, but one of the private detective types in the story said he intentionally didn't wash his car - ever - to build up what he called a "protective coating of dust".  I think he lived in Phoenix, which (at least at the time) sported the title of car theft capital of the U.S.A.   Even though I park in our one-car garage, I figure the "protective coating of dust" idea works as an excuse... but mostly, it's because I'm just not bothered by appearances.

In fact, someone once wrote "Wash Me" in the dust on the back of my car while in the church parking lot... and it's still readable, even after a couple of years and several times driving in the rain.  It's amazing what you can do with a dirty car and how long it will stay.  In fact, there's an artist in Texas who's turned it into an art form.

Amazing.  Really.  Check out some of my favorites in the extended post.

Anyone remember this?

Having fun with YouTube... Just remembering how much I loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid.  For your viewing pleasure...

Worst fortune cookie fortune. EVER.

Today, Songstress and I decided to have lunch at one of the local all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets near our home (there's a bunch!).  As usual, most of the food was pretty decent, but I had no idea what lameness was lurking just beyond that helping of General Tso's Chicken.

When our fortune cookies arrived, Songstress opened hers to show me some nifty saying about how everything good in life stems from having determination, yadda yadda yadda.  I opened my cookie to find this saying staring back at me:

DO OR DO NOT.  THERE IS NO TRY.

Some of our faithful readers (hi Moms!) may recognize that quote.  For those of you who don't, read the rest of the post after the jump.

Your Semi-Daily Dose of Adorable

I might just get better about this...  especially if I keep running across stuff that's this cute:

OK, I'll share my secret.  If you truly want a daily dose of adorable, try Cute Overload.  But keep coming here too, because sometimes I find stuff that they don't have!  :D

Your... Um... Not Daily Dose of Adorable

I've seen this lots of places, but for those who haven't...

Everyone, say it with me...

"Awwwwwww!"

Just so you know...

Ever since I took the Distorted Tunes Test I've had "Bicycle Built for Two" stuck in my head.

Let the test-taker beware. :)