Summertime Fun -- Blog Style

Saw these questions on This Is Not Your Blog, and decided to steal them and play along. Share your answers in the comments, on your blog, FB, or via email (or not at all, but where's the fun in that!?!)

1- What are your five favorite movies?

Chocolat, Practical Magic, The King and I, How to Train Your Dragon, Sabrina
2- (since I'm asking all females) Would you rather go without makeup for a year, or without shaving your legs for a year?

makeup, hands down!
3- What book have you read recently that you really loved?

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
4- What book have you read recently that you really hated?

Dingley Falls by Michael Malone
5- If you had to eat one food for one meal every day for a year, which would you choose?

yogurt for breakfast
6- What was the best part of your senior year of high school?

I really don't remember. Maybe I've blocked it out, so lets go with graduating.
7- What piece of electronic equipment do you think you could easily live without?

iPod
8- Do you prefer your beverages through a straw, from a bottle or from another container?

just a glass -- a real glass
9- Would you rather have glow in the dark skin or squishy teeth?

without a doubt, glow in the dark skin. I have that recurring dream where all my teeth crumble and fall out -- ick! Plus, I'm afraid of the dark.
10- Who would win in a fight between Gandalf and Dumbledore?

Gandalf (sorry, Dumbledore)
11- Do you consider pushup bras to be a form of dishonesty?

I used to, but I also considered hair coloring dishonesty. Now I've decided I have better things to worry about!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY . . . July 10, 2012

Outside my window . . . it is cloudy with sprinkles and 75*. Thank heavens for the rain. We have been dry for so long!


I am thinking . . . that keeping up with 4 adult schedules is rather grueling at times.


I am thankful . . . for my son and the recognition and celebration of his birthday yesterday.


In the kitchen . . . still lots of grilling and salads. I picked up some pineapple and bacon chicken sausages yesterday that we are going to have tonight.

I am wearing . . . a big white t-shirt and a Mexican pareo.

I am creating . . . still afghans, but so difficult to work on in the 100+ heat. I think I might do a small, cotton project just to get more "into" it.

I am going . . . to run a few errands and do a little housework.

I am wondering . . . how to find writing time for the remainder of the summer. It's been very difficult to find "alone" time with my kids and the neighborhood kids in and out of the house all day (and night).

I am reading . . . The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (The Mysterious Benedict Society #2) by Trenton Lee Stewart

I am looking forward to . . . The James Taylor concert on Thursday night!

I am hearing . . . my son setting up his new portable hammock.

Around the house . . . things are continuing to improve. Dh worked on the carport last weekend and made lots of headway.


I am pondering . . . a schedule -- again. Have you noticed that this is a recurring theme here?

One of my favorite things . . . cake! It's also one of the most dangerous things. It's like crack for me. We currently have iced cookies and birthday cake in the house. Ice cream, too, but I don't like this flavor. Time to call in the neighborhood boys!


A few plans for the rest of the week . . . JT concert and a birthday party on Friday for a friend who's turning the big 5-0!


Here is a picture for thought I am sharing . . . 

cookies and ice cream and cake, oh my!

for more visit The Simple Woman's Daybook

Skipping Church

I didn't go to church yesterday. I'm not sick. No one in my house is sick. I just didn't go.
I love our minister and our congregation. I love that we are a socially aware community that reaches out to our neighborhood and around the world.
Our minister has been doing a series lately called "Can I Get a Witness?"
It's been really good and eye-opening, but I just couldn't handle yesterday's message especially following the past couple of weeks.
Yesterday's message was Where Were You in April 1994? -- a discussion with a Rwandan minister who was there during the genocide.
I just didn't think I could take the stress.
Instead I stayed home. I did my Bible study. I talked with my husband. I watched Wimbledon. I rested.
I didn't think about mass murder. I didn't think about universal suffering.
I talked with my family about being kinder to each other -- about being compassionate to those we are closest to, and therefore most likely to take advantage of.
I didn't feel guilty for not going to church.
I listened for God and I heard Him say, "Rest, worship, relax. Honor yourself while honoring Me."
I like relational Christianity much more than rules driven Christianity.

Blessings.

July Joy Dare #1

"Enter the password: 'Thank you!" . . . Thank Him. Worship Him!

--Psalm 100:4

July 1st -- 3 gifts loved

1. experiencing compassion

2. sacrificial love given and received

3. new friends connected

July 2nd -- 3 gifts read

1. Ron Howard once said that Andy [Griffith]was exactly like how he was on TV. Howard would not have turned out as well as he did without being raised by Griffith.

2. "Only Reynie felt unsurprised by Kate's report, 
for he retained the feeling -- 
Mr. Benedict's argument against it -- 
that wickedness was something to be expected."
-- The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

3. "I never want my kids to think that I’ll stop loving them. 
I never want them to be afraid to tell me anything. 
I try to tell them every day that I love them no matter what."
-- A Deeper Story

July 3rd -- a gift in faith, family, freedom

1. praying at random moments and in random
ways, knowing I will be heard and understood

2. resting my head on my husband's chest

3. talking with others about beliefs

July 4th -- a gift in red, white, and blue

1. the Adirondack chair in my back yard

2. my sweet Yaya

3. blue plastic cups filled with iced tea

July 5th -- 3 gifts of persistence

1. pressing on with growth in marriage

2. exercising and eating well, even 

when the scales don't show it

3. reading and praying and writing

July 6th -- 3 gifts of enthusiasm

1. joy from swimming a mile

2. my husband's excitement over marriage ministry

3. tennis enthusiasm
Federer and Murray = joy

July 7th -- a gift of challenge, conflict, and change

1. recognition of value in my desires

2. my son's growth in conflict

3. improved mood with a change in attitude

July 8th -- 3 gifts in water

1. pouring, soaking rain!!!!

2. cool water to drink in the 
nearly 100 degree heat

3. a dip in the pool for refreshing exercise

July 9th-- a gift in rhythm, rhyme, and reason

1. another year with my son
Happy Birthday!

2. Sam I Am!
my son's favorite book

3. recognition of the man
he is becoming as I continue
to give him back to God

Share at: a holy experience, one thousand gifts, Facebook, #joydare, #onethousandgifts

The Frolicker: A Guest Post

I would like to thank all my friends for posting pics of their beautiful backyard pools. It's like paradise right in your own back yards. I would also like to thank you for posting updates as to your whereabouts throughout the day such as "@work, @ the gym,@ The Chop House for dinner",etc. I like knowing where everybody is.

On a completely separate note, it seems that a few people in Murfreesboro have come home early from work or not been where they said they were in their Facebook updates and have come home to find a grown white man playing, sunning and frolicking in their pools. Officials say he is COMPLETELY HARMLESS and that no action should be taken...don't even call the police. Authorities recommend that residents with beautiful backyard pools (and Facebook accounts) who might come home earlier than normal or who might not be where their status says they are, to simply let out a loud "I'm home" once they get out of their cars. This will give said frolicker time to gather his belongings and climb back over the fence from whence he came.

On another completely different note, the humane society has asked that all owners of large dogs that can roam freely in their fenced in backyards should post a sign on the outside of the fence that reads "Large Dog" and should be followed by a truthful "Dog Bites" or "Friendly" sign. Just a quick heads-up for everybody, stay on schedule and update often!

for more of the same, visit marcosway at Mark My Word

Story

Stories are supposed to be big and glorious and inspiring. But what if my story is small and sad and messy.

People say "Share your story" and then others share stories of romance and babies and mission work. When it's my turn, I stand up and say, "I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse" all the while twisting my hands as my stomach twists in my body. All the while wondering why I am saying these things out loud, ducking my head and only glancing up occasionally at some one person who looks as if they care, and wondering what will happen when I stop talking. 

Story. It's who we all are and if my story isn't accepted, then I'm not accepted. 

If you hear my story, will you still hear me?

linking up at 5 minute friday and Write on Edge and imperfect prose

Freedom

The truth will set you free. I was promised that truth would lead me to freedom.
I’ve spent a lot of time truth-seeking. But how do I know if it’s led to freedom? 

Webster’s says freedom is:
a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action
b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another
c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous 

I like all of these. I’ve been constrained, literally and figuratively. I’ve been restrained by the power of others. And I am being released from something onerous. It’s interesting. Usually I’m drawn to a single definition of a word. Freedom, though, is a loaded term for me. I didn’t know anything about emotional freedom until 12 years ago. I’ve spent the past few years learning about freedom – what it means and how to apply it to my life.

Years ago I sang a song auditioning for a show --

You can't get to freedom by riding on a train

The only way to freedom is right 

on through your brain 

Freedom is a body's imagination

Freedom is a full-time occupation

Freedom's in the state of mind

--“Freedom” from the play Shenandoah

The older I get the more that song means to me. Here’s what I’ve learned. Freedom is choice for most of us. Sure, there are people who are physically incarcerated and there are people, like me, who are or were emotionally incarcerated, but ultimately freedom is a choice. The only way to freedom is right on through your brain because freedom’s a state of mind. So I can choose to remain constrained and restrained by others, by events, by memories, or I can choose to believe I’ve been released from those onerous situations. It’s mind over matter. Belief in myself. Trust in the work I’ve done. 

Austrian novelist Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach once said, “In youth we learn, in age we understand.” 

In my youth, I learned a lot of lies and falsehoods. In middle age I’ve learned about truth and freedom. In age I hope to understand.

link up at Red Writing Hood