Rambling thru the Garden

I stopped by Oma's to drop off some soap for her and the sunlight and
her backyard garden lured me and my camera back for a photo op...

(More pictures here.)

Mousetrap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife
open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered. He was devastated to
discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a
mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I
can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me.
I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the
house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, "I
am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but
pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm
sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the
farmer's mousetrap - alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the
house - the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did
not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake
bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she
returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh
chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's
main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with
her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The
farmer's wife did not get well, she died. So many people came for her
funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all
of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't
concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out
for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend.

Party Pictures

The pictures from Monday night's bash for Heather and Mark are on Flickr now! Here are some highlights:

The Buzzard, the Bat and the Bumblebee

BUZZARD

If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

BAT

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

BUMBLEBEE

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

PEOPLE

In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up.

More Reasons to have Parties?

Top ten coolest days this *Summer*:

• July 1- Canada Day! (celebrates uniting of 3 British controlled areas to form Canada)
• The 4th of July (celebrate US independence)
• July 20- Moon Day (1st person in the US steps foot on the moon, 1969)
• July 24- Amelia Earhart's bday
• July 26- Disability Independence Day (anniversary of the signing of Americans with Disabilities Act)
• August 13- Left-Handers Day
• August 20- Homeless Animal Day
• August 26- Women's Equality Day (AKA Susan B. Anthony Day)
• August 28- Dream Day (Martin Luther King gave his famous speech, 1963)
• August 31- National Trail Mix Day (Eat something healthy today)

NEVER MOCK GOD

What benefit does it have, if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul? What can man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26).

NEVER MOCK GOD!

Very interesting...

It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7): "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Here are some men and women who mocked God:

JOHN LENNON:
Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said:
"Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, Today we are more famous than Him" (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.

TANCREDO NEVES (President of Brazil):
During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency.
Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.

CAZUZA (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):
During a show in Canecão ( Rio de Janeiro ), whilst smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said:
"God, that's for you."
He died at the age of 32 of AIDS in a horrible manner.

THE MAN WHO BUILT TITANIC:
After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said:
"Not even God can sink it"
The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic.

MARILYN MONROE:
She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said:
"I don't need your Jesus".
A week later, she was found dead in her apartment.

BON SCOTT:
The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang:
"Don't stop me, I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell".
On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.

CAMPINAS/SP IN 2005
In Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend. The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter - holding her hand, who was already seated in the car:
"MY DAUGHTER, GO WITH GOD AND MAY HE PROTECT YOU."

She responded:
"ONLY IF HE (GOD) TRAVELS IN THE BOOT, CAUSE INSIDE HERE IT'S ALREADY FULL"
Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the boot was intact. The police said there was no way the boot could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the boot was a crate of eggs, none were broken.....
Boot means trunk.

Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many have died but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.

JESUS!!!

Birthday Fun

Today is Dad's birthday! (In case you didn't remember from the other half a million posts I wrote!) I had a little fun with it....here are all of the pictures.

Dad loved the mousepad! I wish we could have seen Aunt Donna's reaction!

I got this little bitty birthday cake for tonight and put some circus animals and balloons on top with the...one candle! The cake is still a little big for our family of three (who don't eat cake!), but it was fun to have.

Special Lady

Catching Up with July

If you ever check here and I haven't posted in a while, check out Flickr! I keep that much more up to date, and with pictures (worth a thousand words!) instead of silly words.

Here is what has happened this month so far:
Boating Outreach!
So much fun! Got to hang out with Angela, and Aunt Judy and Kristina! Got sunburnt bad cuz I didn't put sunscreen on right away (big mistake. won't happen again!).


For Mark...
So, I was un-busy at work July 3rd and had these ketchup packets that had goofy sayings on them. And to be funny, I thot I'd dedicate the pictures to Mark, who greatly dislikes ketchup!


Katie's Birthday, which I wrote about before.

Central Park: The plan was, eat and play volley ball, but the later didn't work out, so we went to...


Lexington Park...for soccer! Got some great pictures of Jenni and Janet kicking the volley ball around.


Then, there was the last game of the World Cup that we watched at Katie & Marcus'.


After which we went to the Sculpture Gardens and Loring Park!


Kristina had a wonderful Dress-Up meal and fed 25 hungry people lasagna!


Then the next night, Kris and I were at Lukas' for a while.


Last Friday I spent pretty much all afternoon cleanig up a papasan cushion that I got out of a dumpster (to get rid of germs!) and cover up (which will be interesting to figure out!). Got some alright shots of some of Mom's Flowers, too.
Which brings us to last night...Oma's garden always has an abundance of awesome flowers, and she gave me her last 3 Yellow Roses!!! They are the sweetest roses I have ever smelled. Mmmmm! (I was feeling shutterbug happy last night.)
And tonight, party for Mark and Heather. I will be taking pictures there and posting them to Flickr!

Tomorrow is Dad and Aunt Donna's birthday!!

And I am using my Cars pen from Jenni! :-)

If you want any of the pictures, you can click on the 'All Sizes' link above the picture and download it.

Memo

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you.
I do not need your help. So, have a nice day.

I love you.

P.S. And, remember...

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle,
do NOT attempt to resolve it yourself!! Kindly put it in the SFGTD
(something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All
situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by
worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things
that are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are
people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been
out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person
who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the
woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days
a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from
assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the
opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the
cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all
about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those
who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness,
ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be
worse. You could be one of them!

Now, you have a nice day,

God

It's Getting Dusty

Or, "Another One Bites the Dust"

One of the BEST customer service girls we have EVER had is...leaving. :-( Bum deal. We can't keep the good people for squat! Waaa.

Sticky Goodness

I'm gonna get fat. I just know it. The wife of one of our sales reps just brought me a HUGE bag of....Tootsie Rolls!!!! Mmmmm. I haven't had them in ages. Opa used to keep a desk drawer full of them way back in the day. Every once in a while he'd pass them out to all us kids during school!

So, excuse me whilst I go chomp on Tootsie Rolls and my apple (a very healthy, balanced breakfast...)

Welcome!

Jenni now has a blog!

Woo Hoo!

Welcome to Blogger, Jenni!

Check it out.

Birthday Surprise

Dad’s birthday gift came in the mail on Monday!!!! I also got one for his twin sister, Donna.

This picture was taken by Dad’s parents when he was one. It was a Sunday morning, and he and Aunt Donna were all ready for church, and were told ‘don’t play in the mud puddles!’ Dad looked up just as the picture was taken, thus the look on his face. . . being caught doing what they’d just been told not to do! So precious!

Cute

On July 4th, Katie, Jenni, Janet, Kristina, and I met at Bruegler's for breakfast. It ended up being the one thing I did that day! Anyway, there was this little kid who had a moehawk, dyed red! It was so cute. As he and his mom were leaving we told him how much we liked it and then when his mom walked by we told her too. She turned to him and said "All the girls are admiring your hair!" To which he replied "I know!" ;-) We all laughed!!!!!!

*Warning* Step AWAY from the Computer!

E-Bay is fun. . . . too much fun! It gets spendy. Specifically when you find so many awesome things that you want to get for your friends!

Oh Boy

Well, if anyone wanted any of Fred's kittens, they are no more....He also has a coyote, which apparently ate the kittens last night. One of the girls here flipped out when he told her about it. Poor kitty's!

Arise

What a wonderful CD!!!!! I'm soooo excited! Woo Hoo!

This is an awesome CD! I know this without listening to it cuz I was there!!! So when you hear the crowd, I’m part of that – you are hearing me!!!! That is freaking amazing to me. . . . I was actually there when they were recording!!!!!!
*And "Beans and Rice" on the second CD is awesome!!! I'm so glad they put that on there!*

Gorp is good. . . .but the mints are taking over. . . NOOOOOOO!

I may be getting a new computer. Soon (hopefully). A Mac. I am praying my current one can be fixed. Or completely healed by Jesus. (It’s possible!!!)

I have to get new tires for my car next week. Waaa. I wanted to fix my computer!

It’s past my bedtime. Goodnight!

PS – Technology sucks. More on that later. I’m really craving some snap peas right now. Thanks a lot, Janet! ;-)

Prayer

Computers computers. I hate computers. The are the bane of my existence. Even more than Men, you can't live with a computer, and you can't live without one! Sigh.

The memory card on my camera is filling up!!!

On the other hand, Dad, Mom and I prayed over my computer and laid hands on it and anointed it with oil, praying that Jesus would completely heal it and that whatever's going wrong with it right now would disappear. We will see what Jesus does!

Birthday Wishes

Happy birthday, Katie! Hope this year is grand and full of wonderful surprises!

Groaner

I am told my hard drive is fried, and that everything on it is lost cuz I knew not how to backup and when I asked about that (before) I never got answers and I never made it to the store to buy an external hard drive to back everything up onto and my DVD burner (the one that I just got!) hasn't been working properly so I have not been able to burn anything to CD to back it up that way....This makes me so upset! I am trying to get over it, but that's not likely to happen for many years.

For that reason I'm over here at Russie's updating my blog cuz I can't at home (duh). I am thoroughly fried (from being out on the boat)! I got a very small lesson on how to drive the boat. It was interesting! Yeah, me.

Last night I saw the new Pink Panther for the first time. Everyone was laughing so much and so hard I will have to watch it alone sometime to catch everything! Quite hilarious.

This is all I have for now, so I think I'll head home and slather myself with Noxema to help the sunburn fade away, and then pick out some movies to bring in to work tomorrow so I have something to do!

Adios for an undermined amount of time.....