Friday, November 13, 2009

There were 14 murdered, not 13. Are they forgetting Laci & Conner’s Law?

So the Prez thinks it’s time to hold a summit to discuss the economy/jobs. Really? A forum? Yeah, that’s helpful.

And he ignores his War Council. I don’t know why he even has one if he’s going to ignore them. He’s not dithering. I think he’s being very deliberate on this issue.

On a lighter note, last night’s Survivor was awesome. I love the sneak attacks.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I’d take Bill Clinton back as President.

This is not a joke. I’m not kidding.

This guy is way worse.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

1. I gained a half pound last week. I’m bummed, but it could have been worse considering the weekend of food that included my Dad’s birthday cake. Wonderful carnitas in the slow cooker on Sunday, too. And PMS. It’s water weight, right?

2. I sang during our three worship services this weekend. It is always fun, but the worship was awesome for me as well. Thanks, Lord, for giving us a great set of songs.

3. All during the Saturday PM service I looked for Beau from the stage. I found my father, he was manning the MediaShout station at the last minute. Mom was seated in our usual area. But Beau was not there. I was only a little worried because he had laughing said I might not see him there since he was having a challenging time with Jesse when I left for band practice that afternoon.

When I was done singing, I headed around to the foyer to go into the auditorium. On my way I peeked into Jesse’s classroom and he was there playing happily. I asked the friend who was ushering if Beau was in there and she confirmed that he was sitting with my mom. Wha?

And there he was, sitting there as if he’d been there the whole time. “When did you get here?” I whispered into his ear? “Just a minute ago - we’re all right, we were rear-ended on the way.”

Turns out an older couple was out walking their kitten. But the kitten was not on a leash and he decided that he wanted to play in the street. So the car in front of Beau slammed on the breaks to avoid killing the kitty, which meant that Beau slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the car, which meant the car behind Beau slammed on brakes to avoid hitting Beau, and the next car tried to slam on brakes to avoid the collision. But alas the 4th car didn’t stop in time and there ensued the rear-ending of the car behind Beau, which resulted in that car being plowed into the back of Beau’s car. It was dark, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t anything more than a bit of paint transfer.

Until one of the people’s insurance company called and insisted that he take the car to be looked at by an auto body shop. So he did that yesterday and they estimated about $500 in damage. I guess we’re waiting to hear back from the insurance company again before we get the repair done.

4. Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day. Thank you, veterans, for your service to our country. I come from a long line of veterans going back to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, World War 1 and World War 2 and Vietnam. I’m so grateful for that legacy and I hope that will continue in our family.

We’re headed to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia for the afternoon. We may have a chance to inspect our beef steer. We’ve been told to expect the beef in early December. 300 pounds of beef. Yowsah.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

After making the switch to Weight Watchers three weeks ago things have gone really well. I’m adapting to counting points, which is easier than I thought it would be. And it’s also easier to manage. I don’t feel hungry too often and when I do it’s usually well after dinner and easily ignored by going to bed. I’m not depriving myself totally of sweets, although I can say that I’m not really desiring them either since cutting way back on my sugar consumption.

When I stepped on the scales today I had lost 9.5 lbs since starting. That’s pretty good and I’m really happy with my progress. Last week’s weight loss was 1.5 lbs, which is the goal I set for myself to lose each week.

Since I’m close to the 10 lbs loss mark,  I’ve dropped 2 points from my daily total and I’m now trying to stick to 24 points a day. Yesterday I only did 22.5 points, so that seems to be totally doable. And I had a piece of candy from Jesse’s Halloween stash, too.

I’m hoping to lose another 15 or so by Christmas. At the rate I’m going, I should surpass that, but I want to keep my goals realistic. That will put me at my pre-Jesse-pregnancy weight. Then I’ll work on getting the last 30 or so lbs off to reach my total goal sometime next year.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Love this song.

[Via Granny]

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

From my friend, Granny, via email:

I believe that the most dangerous and damaging of Meyer’s teachings is her belief (along with the rest of the Word-of-Faith Movement) that we have the power to OBLIGATE God to some course of action by the words we say. We are the little gods (another of her teachings), and He is there to do what we say if we get the formula right.
Either God is sovereign or He isn’t. I don’t believe I can do a single thing to obligate Him to do anything. I pray because I am cooperating with Him in His purposes, not because I believe that my words have power over Him.  I cannot stay His hand and I cannot tie His hands or put Him in any situation where He is forced to act. But Joyce Meyer believes and teaches that when she gets the formula and the order of a certain set of words just right, she can bind God to do her will.
This isn’t just a misunderstanding of a verse or two. This is a complete misunderstanding of the nature of God and His relationship to man. And when a man or woman has misunderstandings this deep about the very things God tells us about Himself, I will never trust him/her to teach me anything about the Word. Never.
She also believes that she is no longer a sinner. Apparently, it isn’t sinful to hide what she does with the Ministry’s finances or spend $23,000 on a toilet. I believe this woman is another charlatan from the Hagin/Copeland/Bakker model, enriching herself with the money of those who are gullible enough to buy what she’s selling. She mixes her heresy with just enough truth to catch the ears of spiritually immature people, and then leads them down a road that benefits her more than anyone else.
Here are some links to some of her beliefs and her ties to Word of Faith leaders. Some of it is repetitive, but there are some unique facts at each site…

Click here: Joyce Meyer : Apologetics research resources
Joyce Meyer : Apologetics research resources
What’s the Truth About Joyce Meyer and the Word-Faith Movement?
The Teachings of Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer - What Joyce Wants, Joyce Gets
The Changing Views of Joyce Meyer

Thanks for the information, Granny.

I have to say that Granny is one of the Godliest women I know and about as far from my thinking of a Granny as possible, her 13 grandchildren not-withstanding.

Anyway, I have sent an email to my group leader to share my concerns and the information gathered for me. I doubt this will change the study plans since we’re supposed to start with chapter one next week, but at least a couple of us will be armed with some truth. I’m praying for wisdom on how to express dissent, should it come, as we progress.

Monday, November 02, 2009

My small group is doing Battlefield of the Mind next. I don’t know anything about Joyce Meyer. For those who are fans or familiar with her, what can you tell me about her theology?

For those who have prayed for my friend who was expecting twins and on bed rest - they arrived last Thursday by c-section.

I know no details other than that they are in the NICU, although doing fine when I talked to their grandmother on Friday. Mama is doing really well. I’ve seen pictures and they look great - small, but no breathing tubes so I’m guessing that their size will keep them in the NICU for a little while. I am assuming that Mama went home yesterday.

Thanks for praying for them.

... from Molly-o-Lantern.

And Jesse-o-Lantern, too.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Friday and Saturday were spent at the Tea For All Reasons Annual Open House selling my wares. It was a very profitable weekend for all.

Sunday I went to the early service then brought the kids home while Beau finished his parking lot duties. I don’t remember the rest of the day.

Monday was chaos at work in the form of two conference calls. In the middle I went to visit my friend who is expecting twins in the hospital. She’s at the 34 week mark and hoping the babies will stay in for a couple more weeks.

Yesterday I stayed home from work to tend the kiddos while Beau was getting Mohs surgery on his nose for a small spot of basal cell carcinoma. They think they got it all with the first scrape, so he was home by noon. By dinner time he was in serious pain and took a leftover vicodin from when he had his wisdom teeth out earlier this year. I made the snap decision to stay home again today since his instructions also said not to do anything strenuous for the first 24-48 hours. Jesse alone is strenuous. However, he woke up feeling much better this morning and thinks Tylenol will take the edge off of his discomfort from now on.

Tomorrow and Friday will be more chaos at work with the end of the month and having been out for two days.

Other than that, life is grand.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

I’ve gotten a lot of books read on the commute lately. The last two were outside of my normal reading materials and I thought I’d mention them in case anyone is looking for something new to read.

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd - the author was recommended by a librarian friend who seems to enjoy reading the same things I do. We compare favorite authors a lot, so when she sent me a list of authors that I had not read yet, I thought I’d give them a try. Todd came up to bat first.

The winning first in a new WWI series from the bestselling mother-son Todds (A Matter of Justice and 10 other Inspector Rutledge mysteries) introduces Bess Crawford, a resourceful British army nurse who’s injured when her ship is sunk in 1916. While convalescing in England, Bess is tormented because she’s put off delivering a message from Arthur Graham, a dying soldier under her care for whom she’d developed strong feelings, to his family. Her own brush with death prompts her to travel to Kent and transmit Arthur’s cryptic last words to one of his three brothers.

I chose this particular novel because it is a stand-alone. Todd has a series of novels featuring a certain Inspector and because I couldn’t get the first one in audio format, I went with the stand-alone instead.

I liked the book very much. The story was compelling, the characters well written, and the narrator was excellent. 4.5 stars.

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra - This was on sale at Audible.com a few weeks ago, so after becoming intrigued by the plot synposis and thinking that I needed to branch out in my reading I bought it.

Dr. Amin Jaafari, an Arab-Israeli citizen, is a respected, dedicated surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. He has learned to live with the violence that plagues his city and works tirelessly to help the victims brought to the emergency room. But one night, a deadly bombing in a local restaurant takes a horrifyingly personal turn, when his wife’s body is found among the dead, bearing injuries that match those typically found on the bodies of fundamentalist suicide bombers.

As evidence mounts that his wife, Sihem, was responsible for the catastrophic bombing, Dr. Jaafari must face the inescapable realization that the beautiful, intelligent, thoroughly modern woman he loved had a secret life that was far removed from the comfortable, assimilated existence they shared.

I had several problems with this book. First was the narration - either the translation from French to English was poor or the writing was weirdly stilted in areas or the narrator was just a bad reader. I was never able to pin it down. There were parts where the prose was lyrical and beautiful. There were parts where the prose was overly cliched. And there were parts where the prose made no sense. At one point I looked up my account to make sure I had gotten the unabridged version of the book because I felt like I had missed whole parts of the story somewhere - I had the full version, so there was some bad writing/translation in there.

My other issue was the story itself. I know the author was trying to present a mostly non-partisan view of the goings on with Israel/Palestine, but I don’t think it worked. And there was no light. It was dark from the beginning to the end. It was morose. Then again, the subject matter is not light-hearted either so maybe I shouldn’t have expected any lightness.

That said, my general impression was that I liked it. 3 stars.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

From the inbox, from my MIL. Prescient.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

[via Letters from Kamp Krusty]