Friday Jumbles

--Well, bloggy friends, my jumbled thoughts this week are coming to you all from another state...the great state of Georgia. This could mean that they will be 76% more southern or 53% more backward. Either way you still have to love me!

--I met one of my new neighbors this week. She is 95 years old and comes from the state of Nebraska. Apparently she has found that southerners do not live up to the friendly reputation that they have somehow garnered over the years. I helped change her mindset when my dog helped himself to a sniff of her dog and I struck up a convo with her. She was great. I love older people!!

--I have a good friend who tells me that people I meet in public places would not tell me their whole life story while checking my groceries if I would just not make eye contact with them. I wondered if this might be true as I stood at the checkout counter at PetSmart this week and learned all about the clerks mother and her Yorkies "that she got for free because no one wanted them and how could anyone ever not want a Yorkie and wouldn't everyone want to have one if they didn't have to pay so gosh-awful much for them!"

-- I have decided that eye contact is my gift to mankind as some people seldom get to experience that type of engagement with another human being. I am just going to have to start allowing for more time when I run errands. It's either that or I start wearing dark glasses and pretend to have a disturbing tic.

--I went to see Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens this week and for my eyes it was magical. For my butt it was less than magical as I was seated in the back of a pickup with my sons and my sister-in-law. If you get the chance, go see it, but I highly recommend riding in a car.

--Confession: I got a speeding ticket on the way to Columbus the day we were moving. In my defense, I was trying to catch up to the moving truck that Eddie was driving which was way ahead of me as I had to go back to Lake City to get something important that we left. Funny, the state trooper that pulled me over did not seem one bit enchanted by me and he did not even try to tell me his life story. Bet I get coal in my stocking next week as I have been so very naughty!

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Router Shmouter!

Well, bloggy friends, it seems that our wireless router has breathed its last and so we are all sharing one computer that is connected to the web as of today at our house.  Please remember that I have two teenagers, so this means I take a number and get in line. The Knology guys showed up yesterday to connect us to the lovely web and you could hear Taps playing in the background as the news came forth from the lips of the service dude.  I hope to be back on schedule with my ground-breaking, life-changing blog posts tomorrow.  Do come back here again and have a lovely Thursday!

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I Got Nothing

I tried three times to write this post, saying things that mean pretty much nothing to me. I got nothing. Nothing at all in me right now. I am utterly and totally exhausted, but every stinkin’ box in this house is unpacked and there is a very pretty Christmas tree twinkling in my living room. I may be wiped out but I am awfully happy to be where I am. Hope you are happy to be where you are. Have a lovely week!

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What Does Your Headline Say??

Seth Godin had a wonderful blog on Friday about headlines. (I know, when did I have time to read a blog on Friday?  I squeezed in a few important ones.)  And it made me think about what my own "headline" reads.  What message do I advertise to others when they encounter me, especially those who do not already know me.  What one sentence does my life scream to others as representative of me?  I don't mean this to sound narcissistic, but we do make a lasting first impression on those around us and it is worth a few moments of my time to consider what headline screams at others from the front page of my life.  Does it say something positive that would make others want to read further?  Is there depth and substance and something other than self?  Is the fragrance of God wafting from the front pages of my life enough that the casual passer-by is compelled to take a closer look?  Just some questions to consider.  Have a lovely Monday!

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Friday Jumbles

--Today is the last day I will live in Lake City. What a great 4 1/2 years this has been. I heart all of my special friends here. (sigh)

--In case you think you have "heard everything", have I got a tidbit for you! I read a news article this week about a girl in China who lost her hearing after her boyfriend kissed her "passionately", evidently reducing the pressure in her mouth. I am just sorry, but this doesn't belong in the American Journal of Medicine...it belongs in a Hoover owners manual. This man obviously does not know how to kiss and she should break up with him immediately.

--I ate a chicken dinner from KFC the other night since all of the pots and pans were encased in cardboard. I was reminded three hours later why I don't eat at KFC.

--Fav quote of the week: "Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative at the same time." Dave Barry

--The depth of wisdom that flows from the pen of Dave Barry cannot be overstated. If you need a pick-me-up, read one of his books and laugh yourself happy.

--It is always a good idea to pay off your debts in one place before moving on to the next. Yesterday I went to the library and paid my debt of $1.20 for my overdue books and I left there feeling both cleansed and oddly liberated.

--And finally, just to make you feel better about yourself, I thought I would tell everyone that I washed five loads of clothes with fabric softener this week. The large jug of Gain detergent I had just bought turned out to be a large jug of Gain fabric softener. I cannot believe it took me FIVE loads to realize that there was no "suds action" in the washer. So, while our clothes were not clean, they were exceptionally soft because, of course, I put different fabric softener in the fabric softener dispenser thingy. I am truly a wonder to behold.

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Good to Great-Gretzky Style

It is my sincere desire to be a woman upon whom God can depend to be "tuned in" to what He is saying and where He is heading.  In Genesis 41, Joseph was listening to God and perceiving what He was saying to His people at that time.  His keen perception of God's plan for upcoming events informed the leadership of a nation and people were spared from starvation.  

Jesus was the greatest perceiver of the heart of God (since He was pretty tight in the Trinity) and in John chapter 6  He "perceives that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king so He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone."   His actions were determined by the way in which God led Him, knowing, at least in part, what was just up ahead.  

It is those times in my life when I feel hopelessly out of step with where He is headed that I feel the most frustration.  I know the Word says that we see in part and know in part (1 Cor 13) but there are clear Biblical examples of those who were great players because they were playing where the puck was going to be.  I want to live as Joseph lived- listening, believing and speaking boldly, anticipating where God is going to be and thus making a difference to a generation.

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Beat the Clock

So, my inbox has over 250 emails in it, most of them unread, my fingernails and toenails are hideously neglected, my eyebrows look like azaleas, I don't remember when I last read a page in the book beside my bed and I even posted a video of a dancing dog on my blog yesterday since 

I have precious little time to write this week.  This is major.  Yes, I am in the throws of packing my entire home in a week as we prepare for our upcoming move and I have to say that I do not really enjoy this part of "the big adventure."  I am not one for playing the whole beat the clock thing...I like to have time to work my plan and preferably not at Christmas when I usually have my tree up the day after Thanksgiving. But all things considered, life is really good and His blessings overwhelm me.  So maybe, just maybe before I ring in the New Year, I will be able to properly groom myself, read a few pages in a book and see lights twinkling on my Christmas tree.

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