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?God ruined church for me??
2007-01-03 20:40:01
The Internet Monk has an outstanding, thought-provoking post that reflects the sentiments of a growing number of Christians, our family included. It’s a long post, but it’s worth the read… It started innocently enough. His name was Tim, and he was a Christian at my high school. There weren?t many of us, and we made friends despite those denominational differences that were supposed to matter so much. Tim invited me to a charismatic prayer meeting at a Catholic church. I?d like the music, he said. I did, and as a side benefit, God ruined church for me for the rest of my life. These Catholics were reading the Bible, singing worship songs and praising Jesus. They prayed for people with trouble and need. They welcomed me as a brother. They loved the Lord. None of this was supposed to be true. They- ?they? being my Baptist elders and teachers- had told me that all these Catholics were lost, enslaved to superstition, praying to statues. They didn?t tell me that some of t...
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The dangers of reporting on location
2007-01-03 20:40:01
On location at a site where law enforcement agents were burning drug plants, this reporter discovers that a news story can affect a journalist in ways they never before realized…
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Last, but not least?
2007-01-03 20:40:01
Everyone else has posted their New Year’s Resolutions, so I can procrastinate no longer. I’ll start with the easy resolutions and then move on to the tough ones. I hereby resolve that this year I will… Drive more aggressively Become more bitterly partisan against Republicans… and Democrats Watch more television. Scream more at the television when my team makes another bonehead play (or anyone from our current administration makes another inane speech) Spend more time on the Internet, wasting hours on end wandering and wondering Antagonize online “foes” more than ever Strive to max out more credit cards Perfect the art of “vegging out” in my recliner anytime I don’t have to be at work or somewhere else Okay, okay… So these aren’t my real resolutions, but I know that these were more realistic. Either I’ll be much better off if I break these resolutions like I normally break resolutions shortly into...
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If at first you don?t succeed?
2007-01-03 20:40:01
I’ve tried and failed at many New Year’s Resolutions. Because of this, for the past few years I haven’t really made any resolutions and have told myself that I need to just change for the sake of changing - all throughout the year. Yeah, right. There is still something about the “clean-slate” feeling of January, isn’t there? One finds a sense of purpose and renewed strength and even though we’ve made the same resolution for the past five years in a row, we might just succeed this year. Since Ashley and Sarah posted their resolutions, I thought I’d think about mine for a day and post them as well. Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll be able to reflect back and report in December that I actually accomplished some of these things. Rather than numbering my list, I’ve broken them down into categories of my life that I find things to change. Health Work up to a faithful exercise routine: 1 time per week by March 2 times per week by Jul...
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Birthday edition of Deal or No Deal
2007-01-03 20:40:01
Yesterday, our family went through some old home videos we had recorded but never watched. A few of the tapes were from our family cruise to Cozumel two years ago, but one of the tapes was from Ashley’s birthday last April. It’s an instant classic for our family and our favorite home video for 2006 — to be fair, it was the only home video I recorded for the entire year of 2006, but it’s still our favorite. At the time, one of favorite TV shows for the girls was Deal or No Deal. So, we decided that we would do our own version for Ashley’s birthday. We wrapped two identical gifts. To add to the suspense, I wrapped the gift several times, wrapping the gift itself in two layers of wrapping then placed inside a larger box with lots of filler paper that was then wrapped itself. Ashley was presented with two gifts. She was told she could only pick one and that the other gift would be given to her sister. She was also told that one gift could be worth as much a...
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Thanksgiving?Christmas?2007? OH MY!
2007-01-03 20:40:01
This year I have come up with six resolutions that I would like to fulfill. Here they are! Resolution #1: Read over 100 books. I want to read over 100 books. I think that 100 books is a lot, but I want to see if I can go for at least 101. Resolution #2: Make all A’s on my report card as a Freshman. I want to make all A’s on my report card at least the first semester. I have done it so far this year and I want to do it again. Resolution #3: Get more organized. When I get my own room I want an organized room and I want to try to keep it that way. I also want to be organized when I start high school. Resolution #4: Make at least 10 new friends as a Freshman. I want to make at least 10 new friends so that I will have a whole bunch of fun in high school. Resolution #5: Write a book. I want to write my own book. It doesn’t have to be a big book, but I have tried writing books in the past and never pulled through. I want to complete one whole book. Resolution #...
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My New Year?s Resolutions
2007-01-03 20:40:01
To ring in the new year, I have decided to list my five New Year ’s resolutions. So here they are: Get Organized: It is much needed in our small rooms. I have been wanting to get organized for quite a while, but never got around to it. Live Simply: It is a way to bring happiness and at the same time less clutter. It will also help me to be more greatful. Build or Make Something: Just the joy and pleasure it brings. They could be used as gifts to bring joy to someone else’s life as well. Find a Hobby: I have been searching for a hobby for a while and now I want to find one and stick with it. Write: I have always struggled with writing. Books, newspapers, poems, etc. will be part of my goal. Those are my New Year’s resolutions. There are more, but I would not like to spend your precious time. Hope you have fun with your New Year’s resolutions. ~Ashley~
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A somber beginning to 2007
2007-01-03 20:40:01
The mood is typically festive with the arrival of New Year’s Day. But, this New Year’s Day brings sorrow for some American families — it will be the first year without their loved one. For one Texas family, this New Year’s was especially traumatic as they learned of their son’s death in Iraq — the 3,000th American to day since the beginning of the Iraq War. BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Pentagon announced the death of a Texas soldier on Sunday, raising the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to at least 3,000 since the war began, according to an Associated Press count. The milestone was crossed on the final day of 2006 and at the end of the deadliest month for the American military in Iraq in the past 12 months. At least 111 U.S. service members were reported to have died in December. Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said. (more) Our thoughts and prayers are with...

No, your eyes aren?t playing tricks on you?
2007-01-03 20:40:01
… I’m taking this “downtime” to mess around with the look of the blog a little. It’s not a major overhaul; it’s a little tweaking here and there, some of it obvious and some of it not. Anyway, we’ll resume posting very soon.
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Overheard
2006-12-27 08:38:01
Suit #1: I was so jet-lagged when I got back from vacation this summer. Suit #2: Oh, man, I hate when that happens. Where did you go? Suit #1: We took the kids down to Florida for a few weeks. Suit #2: Yeah, that’s a long-ass way away. What’s the time zone difference there? Suit #1: I’m pretty sure it’s, like, seven hours. Suit #2: That makes sense. It’s like, almost in Mexico, right? Suit #1: No, idiot. Florida’s the other way! Suit #2: Really? My bad. – Times Square, via Over heard in New York
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?Twas the Night Before Christmas?.
2006-12-27 08:38:01
‘Twas the night before Chris t mas and the cows were gathered round, they were discussing the weather and then heard a sound. “What was that?” asked a cow named Joe. “Well what ever it was it’s out in the snow.” The cows began to murmer and some even cried. “What if it’s Santa? Perhaps he has died.” All the other cows were filled with fear. Had Santa been killed by one of his own reindeer? One of the cows was the bravest of all; he went outside and gave a great call. “Someone help me!” he cried with care. “Farmer Clay has fallen off his mare.” The other cows sighed and let out their fright. Santa was definitely still coming tonight. An original poem by Sarah Neese. © 111 Brad Street * * *
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Friday Favorites: Christmas Shoes
2006-12-27 08:38:01
A song that captures the true spirit of this season of gifts and giving…
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Merry Christmas! See you next year!
2006-12-27 08:38:01
We’re taking a holiday break from blogging from now through the end of the year. We’ll use the time to spend more time with family and quality time with each other rather than wandering around the Information Superhighway. We’ll explore our goals for the coming New Year for our lives and this blog. And we’ll come back refreshed and renewed for a new season of blogging! Check back here New Year’s Day! From our family to yours, we sincerely wish you a Merry Chris t mas and Happy Holidays. We leave you with our favorite Christmas song this year.
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So Much For Being In Charge
2006-12-27 08:38:01
Brad left me in charge of the blog while he was having surgery, trying to catch up on work, and being very busy. I was supposed to keep the posts coming and fill the page with interesting reading. Not sure what happened, but it just didn’t happen. Sure, I posted one or two things here and there, but I definitely didn’t keep up. To all of the loyal readers, I’m sorry for the lull. To Brad - I’m sorry I let you down.
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Can I borrow your kilt?
2006-12-27 08:38:01
Scots without kilts? What’s the world coming to? From USA Today: LONDON (AP) ? Great Scot! A shortage of ceremonial kilts could leave thousands of soldiers without a stitch of plaid to wear as they parade to the skirl of the bagpipes. Military officials said Monday that more than 5,000 Scottish soldiers are having to share their kilts because defense chiefs have not finalized a contract to buy enough of the garments to go around. The men, who face regular tours of duty in south Iraq and Afghanistan, have just 320 kilts, or one for every 15 soldiers. … “The kilt is psychologically important for the identity of Scottish soldiers,” said Lt. Col. Willy Macnair, who served in the defunct Queen’s Own Highlander regiment. “It may mean that some soldiers in this (new) regiment, by the time they leave, may never have worn it.”
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Overheard
2006-12-27 08:38:01
Announcer on PA system: Dr. Stewart, please call 5-5-2-0; Dr. Stewart, 5-5-2-0. Dr. Stewart, over the PA system a few minutes later: Whomever needed Dr. Stewart, I don’t know who you are and I didn’t hear that number, so call me at– [pause]. Oh, sh*t, I don’t know what number this is. Wait… Okay, so just page me again with that number… [Pause] You mean everyone can hear me? F**k. Arizona, via Over heard in the Office I’m not sure that I’d want to be this doctor’s patient.
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Wayback Wednesday: Happy Christmas
2006-12-27 08:38:01
For this Wednesday before Chris t mas , we bring you this John Lennon Christmas classic: Below are the lyrics. May we take his message to heart. So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The world is so wrong And so happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let’s stop all the fight A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear And so this is Christmas And what have we done Another year over And a new one just begun Ans so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let’s hope it’s a good one Withou...
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?Positive?-ly keeping a cold away
2006-12-27 08:38:01
This news report is good news, except for those of us who have a grumpy disposition: People with generally positive outlooks show greater resistance to developing colds than do individuals who rarely revel in upbeat feelings, a new investigation finds. Frequently basking in positive emotions defends against colds regardless of how often one experiences negative emotions, say psychologist Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and his colleagues. They suspect that positive emotions stimulate symptom-fighting substances. “We need to take more seriously the possibility that a positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk,” Cohen says. … Those who displayed generally positive outlooks, including feelings of liveliness, cheerfulness, and being at ease, were least likely to develop cold symptoms. Unlike the negatively inclined participants, they reported fewer cold symptoms than were detected in medical exams. Bah! Humbug! (…ah…...
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Do You See What I See?
2006-12-27 08:38:01
I love the holidays! People hurrying home out of the cold, climbing into their cars and cranking up their heaters. Little red-nosed kids playing outside in the cold. The Rockefeller Plaza christmas tree lighting is really cool and the holiday shopping commercials get me so excited. I just love the Christmas season build-up. I always like the first snow because it is really cozy inside and we get bundled up in blankets. There is a stereo-typical Christmas image that everyone has in their minds. Commercials project the image and so do t.v. shows and movies. Every year I get excited by the commercialized Christmas and I get the stereo-typical image in my head. When Christmas finally does come around though it is never the same. I guess my thoughts about Christmas will never change, but I have found it sad that I don’t get as excited about Christmas as I used to.
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Happy Feet!
2006-12-19 08:36:01
Yesterday I went with Khaylla to Tinseltown (a theater in OKC) to see Happy Feet . It is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a while. Our favorite line in the movie is when Mumble (the main character) tries to sing to his five amigos. One says “I heard an animal do that once, but I turned him over and he was dead.” We both started cracking up. We were there with her nanny. So the movie was about Mumble a penguin who instead of singing stomped. The reason he was singled out was because all the other penguins sang to each other to find a mate. Soon there became a shortage of fish. So Mumble set out to see what was the reason the fish were disappearing. He finally found out that the aliens (humans) were stealing them. He then found himself in a zoo. His stomping got the attention of everyone and they sent him back to the arctic to see if the other penguins did it too. Mumble got the others to stomp and they became history, the stomping penguins. It is a great movie. I...
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You Can Do Anything For 15 Minutes
2006-12-15 20:34:02
Anyone familiar with FlyLady knows that doing anything for 15 minutes is one of her mantras. As a former FlyBaby, I know that 15 minutes can give you a lot more time to get things done than initially seems possibly. The January 2007 issue of Real Simple magazine came in the mail yesterday and inside was a fun little list of fascinating things that take only 15 minutes. I thought I’d share a few things from the list. You can read the rest on page 6 of Real Simple (Jan. 2007 issue) or visit their website. ? The temperature plummeted from 55 degrees at 7 A.M. to 8 degrees at 7:15 A.M. in Rapid City, South Dakota, on January 10, 1911 - the fastest drop on record in the U.S. ? Around 117 children are born in the U.S. ? 625 million e-mails are sent worldwide. 67 percent of those are spam. ? The U.S. consumes nearly 17 gallons of oil per capita. That’s about half the rate of consumption of Kuwait but twice the rate of Italy. ? 9,584,685 M&Ms are produced ? The U.S. govern...
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Friday Favorites: Best Christmas display every
2006-12-15 14:34:01

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Little Baby Swiss Cheese
2006-12-15 02:33:01
One of my best friends in the whole wide world is Cheese . No, her real name is not Cheese her real name is Taylor, but everyone calls her Cheese. Cheese’s full name is Litt le Baby Swiss Chees. She is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. She is kind, considerate, and so cute! She is kind of short(No offense Cheese) and she is really sweet. Some people mistake her to be some kind of toy her cute little doll, but she likes to be treated like a real person. Her life has never been that great and the source of all her happiness is her friends. Well, about two weeks ago Cheese moved to Arkansas. Life hasn’t been the same since. Her life has changed too. She has had to start all over looking for new friends and acceptance. She is sad in Arkansas. All of my friends and I miss her more than anything in the world. We want Cheese back! There is nothing we can do about it though. If Cheese is reading this I just want to say, LOVE YOU CHEESE and I ALWAYS WILL !!!!!!!

Thursday Thirteen
2006-12-14 20:32:02
I saw this meme over at Laughter 4 Days To Come and I thought I’d participate too. Since Brad announced the Biggest Loser thing, it means all of us are supposed to be changing our lifestyle. We should be eating healthier and trying to incorporate more exercise. I know I need to, especially after seeing a photo of myself at the recital Sunday. Yikes. I’m the family cook as well, so it’s up to me to plan, cook the meals and feed everyone. But I’m struggling with the whole change thing. Here are thirteen whines about it. I figure if I get it all out of my system, and see how ridiculous these things really are, then it will jump-kick something. 1. I don’t want to. 2. Junk food tastes so much better than healthy food. 3. It’s much easier to sit on my butt all day and just act like I’m active. 4. I’m not very coordinated at the whole exercise thing. 5. I tell myself I’m jealous because Brad joined a gym and I can’t - even though ...
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One More Loss in This World
2006-12-14 08:31:01
Today our chorus learned about some heart-breaking news. Well you see the story started when Ms. Iozzi’s 94 year old grandmother had a semi-severe heartattack. Most of her family went to her hospital in Texas while she stayed in Oklahoma to teach her six classes. Today we had combined rehearsal with the other sixth grade class, so if we wanted to we could stay for seventh and eighth hour. I knew I needed the practice for our upcoming concert (which is actually tomorrow). Ms. Iozzi’s brother called during the middle of the class where all the students came, which he would never do unless something was wrong. She decided to call him back after class. We were all worried. So the students that stayed for eighth hour all saw her call him back. Then she came out crying. We all knew exactly what had happened. Her grandma had died. She said she died earlier this morning. She started balling. Then I saw Autumn and Chelsea go into the smaller room. I followed them and they were bo...
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Recital
2006-12-14 08:31:01
It is finally over! No more major nervousness! I am talking about the recital. So as you should know I played Santa Baby and Silver Bells. I practiced for three hours the week before the recital. We also got to practice before the guests could come in. Now don’t think that I played all by myself, because most of the kids taking lessons from our teacher played Christmas songs. Oh and by the way, our teacher’s name is Deborah Wilbanks. We met her at our old church and found out that she was a piano teacher. It just so happened we had inherited an old family upright piano. We would plink on it, but never really knew had to play. Then one Christmas Sarah got the present of piano lessons. So as she started playing I would play by ear and started to learn music. Soon my parents decided it would be a good idea to have me start piano lessons myself. So that’s where I’ve been since. About one and a half years later, my mom decided to bring back her childhood talent. S...
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Don?t Let This Cute Face Fool You
2006-12-14 02:30:02
See this cute face? He’s adorable when he’s sleeping isn’t he? We’ve always thought Sam is a cutie patootie, especially when he sleeps. But the past few nights, he’s not been so cute. He’s been waking up at 3 in the morning for the past few nights. That’s not so bad, except that he never decides he needs to go back to sleep! Brad ends up laying there for a few minutes longer before finally getting up since he knows he won’t get back to sleep. Then after Brad leaves, Sam thrashes and wanders around the bed and is restless until it’s time for me to get up at 6. He’s just recently started sleeping with us, outside his cage. But he’s done really well for about a month, most nights sleeping all the way through. But if this keeps up, he’s going back into the cage. I don’t care what Brad says. Or Sam for that matter. His cute little puppy dog face is not going to convince me on this. Call me cold-hearted, give me...
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Ornament Of The Day: Christmas Village
2006-12-14 02:30:02
Today’s ornament we bought either last year at Hallmark. It is a Magic Plays Keepsake Ornament called City Sidewalks. When you push a little button on the front of the ornament, it plays Silver Bells. The townspeople begin walking around the town and the taxi and trolley make their rounds to take people to and from their destinations.
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Your Blinker Is On!
2006-12-13 14:29:01
On my drive to work this morning I encountered one of those drivers that can’t seem to figure out their turn signal has been on for miles and miles. This is something that has perplexed me for years. How do you not notice your turn signal has been on for that long? I understand if it’s stuck or broken you have no choice in the matter. But be honest, most of the people you see on the road look like they are simply clueless. I’ll give a break to elderly people, that’s understandable as well. But frequently the people I see are younger like me. Of course, if your radio or CD player is turned up at a high volume you aren’t going to hear the annoying clicking noise, but you can’t see the BLINKING arrow on the dashboard? Even out of your peripheral vision? Doesn’t it bug you!? TURN YOUR BLINKER OFF! The rest of us don’t know what the heck you’re doing - are you turning or not? GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF WHEREVER IT IS AND PAY ATTENTION! Whew...
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Ornament of the Day: Family Christmas Tree
2006-12-13 14:29:01
Today’s feature ornament is one that was given to us as a gift last year by Brad’s brother and family. The little star at the top reminds us that it was given in 2005. Each family member’s name is represented, including Sam and Gideon. Our family name is on a ribbon across the bottom.
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