Tweaked to Squeaky Perfection

Twas the 4th day of Icemageddon

and all through the house,

Everything was tweaked, including the mouse.

 The work is all done
It's Christmas-y everywhere,
But the weather is horrid,
and there's no way to share!

Oh, yes there is!  I just remembered!  
You can look from your warm, comfy chair!
 

The most important thing is...

the beautiful nativity Jack bought for me.

I have a new love for my camels, since I got

 to meet one up close and personal this year!

And here's my kitchen nativity:

Here's the tree

And the stairway

This foxy couple watches those entering!
(If any could!)

And these guys overlook the diners!

(The lady frog croaks "Jingle Bells!")

Does anyone else still have this fellow?

He is "Shivers," and he shakes with fear or cold.

The girls used to hold and comfort him.

"It's okay, Shivers!"

Here he is in his spot on the catwalk.

For a couple of years this etagere would not open.

This year it will.

 It was so much fun tweaking

it to the required perfection!

Many treasures are displayed here.

Gifts from Shirley Branham and Brenda Riddle.

Waterford flutes from our 50th celebration.

Some things old...some things new.

And here's the bird house mansion!

This beautiful angel was new last Christmas.

She is impossible to photograph, but

take my word for it...

From the sublime to the just plain fun...

The table is set and ready for guests!

The plate of the year purchased...

 Sure hope some guests are able to arrive!

Now here's something I hope I can update

in the near future!

This is a Christmas cactus I received 

last year as a gift,

 loaded with blooms.

Will it bloom again for Christmas?

Since I do not have even one green thumb,

I am doubting that it will.

However, there is a little hope.

That is an ultra close-up of a bud, and there

are a few more. 

Every morning I check for new blooms.

Did I give it too much light? Or not enough?

Did I over water it? Or let it get too dry?

What will happen?

It was really beautiful with flowers!

 Stay tuned!

After all...hope was born at Christmastime.

Andres and Eilen

I watch Home and Garden TV frequently.

In our first world culture, there are nearly always the

same three top priorities required by new home buyers.

They are:

Hardwood floors, granite counter tops, and

stainless steel appliances.

These items must, of course, be in a home

which is in a desirable neighborhood,

with top notch schools, and

near public transportation to get people

to their jobs in the larger metropolitan areas. 
And I forgot one biggee:
An open floor plan is a must.
 

Last week I heard about a darling boy named Andres.

He lives in Sincelejo, Colombia.

One of our pastors, Jason Paredes, got to visit

the home of Andres on a recent trip to Colombia.

With a mixture of pride and embarrassment

(Jason being a "rich American") 

Andres gave a tour of the first home his
family had ever owned.

It was an abandoned bamboo shack.
It was not in a desirable neighborhood
(if there is such a thing in Sincelejo.)

The floors were not hardwood.

They were nothing but dirt.
One thing it did have?  The "open floor plan!"
A little more open than desirable.

There were no interior walls--just curtains.

There was no air-conditioning to protect

from the brutal Colombian heat and humidity.

There was only some protection from rain.

There were no closets for the extra

clothes the family didn't have. 


Children roam the streets instead of
attending school.


HERE you will find a video about Andres
and get to see his beautiful smile. 


For only $38 a month you can adopt a child
in Colombia and give him/her a chance to
live up to the potential God gave each at birth!
This sponsorship is through an organization
called Compassion International.

Here is my little girl:

A great percentage of little girls in Colombia
will end up prostituting themselves out of
hopelessness and desperation.
I want to help lift Eilen from that fate.


Jason stressed that he was not asking us to participate
in this effort out of guilt because we have so much.
Instead, I want to participate out of obedience
to Jesus, who said, "Feed my sheep."
And He did also say, "To whom much is given,
much is required."


It will be a great blessing to you if you watch the
video of Jason's sermon that I highlighted above.
I am only briefly hitting some of the highlights.
I can almost promise you that you will
want to help if you are able.
I am posting this for those of you who might
have missed church last Sunday,
or those whose church might not be participating
in a ministry such as this.


I would be thrilled to give you any more
information I might have, or
you may contact Compassion International
at compassion.com


Jesus said:  "Inasmuch as you have done it
unto one of the least of these...you
have done it unto me."

Put a Period on This One.

 Did you read HERE about my car? 

Now, everything is okay, but not in the way I expected.
I assumed there would be a very detailed investigation.

I really thought Perry Mason or Columbo would come to 

the scene to take measurements, etc. to

determine who was at fault for the Chick Fil A incident.

Since the other driver was backing up and therefore

had extra culpability, and since she bent my 

license plate in half as she backed past me,

 I knew Perry or, ...what was

Columbo's first name?...would readily declare me the

innocent victim.

Well, I called Allstate yesterday to see when I could

expect my check!

I can expect all I want to, but I'm not getting one!

They denied responsibility!

No Columbo, no Perry, no check!

I got very irate, and the agent remained very nice,

but all to no avail.

So...I called my insurance agent.  I assumed

that if Allstate denied, my insurance would have to

pay for the perpetrator's car.

Wrong.

If there's a difference in stories, and no witnesses or video

(Chick Fil A has cameras, but not one aimed where
 the accident occurred) 
evidently BOTH insurance companies

can deny responsibility!

The bad news is, if my car had significant damage,

my insurance company would handle it as if

it were struck by an uninsured motorist.

That would mean I would pay another $250!

The good news?  I can just get a new license plate

holder, and I'm good to go!

I did learn another lesson from this incident.
I don't know that it would have made any difference
in this particular case,
but I should have hopped out and taken a 
picture of the cars while they were still in crash position.
The location of impact would support my
story that the other driver was backing all the
way across the lot--not just turning to back in.

Oh...and the other driver has not even tried to
make a claim against my insurance...

My mother would not allow me to use word "liar,"
but
when last seen, she had smoke coming from her
pants.

  

What's With My Car?

 There's something weird about my car.

It doesn't look weird.

Well, that's not true.  It does right now and periodically.

That's the problem.

My car is a shiny black 2012 Infiniti G25.  

It will not be 1 year old until October 27th, 2013.

Some of you might recall that before it was 4 months old,

it was backed into at the Martin High School curb

 with me sitting in it waiting to give Susannah her lunch.

  "Minor" damage set me back $250 because

the perpetrator was a 52 year old uninsured motorist.

Shortly thereafter, a wandering shopping cart struck

it in the Wal Mart parking lot. 

Not just a scratch--a small dent.

Price to have fixed--around $125, so I'm just

living with that one.

It's a leased car, so hope to pass that one off

as "normal wear and tear."

Then Sarah and I drove it to Fossil Rim, where the 

aoudads' horns did a number on my rear view mirrors.

Now, as you can clearly see, this was Sarah's fault.

JUST KIDDING!!!

The scratches were (still are) worse on my side!

These particular ones were worth it!

Those aoudads were soooo cute, and we had such fun!

But...aoudad horns...normal wear and tear?

That may be a tough sell.

Then, last week after turning into the same garage

for 28 years, I somehow made a slight miscalculation.

I raked my front fender on the frame of the garage door.

I absolutely can't believe I did that, but I did.

The garage had been freshly painted--a light color--

so this one looked horrendous.

We need to stop a minute and consider what happens 

every time another boo boo gets inflicted upon my car.

I make a bee line for Precision Auto Body and

cry on the shoulders of my best friends, 

Andy and Bruce.

 I now just pull up in front of their door, and

out they come.

They didn't have to be shown that last one.

Gobs of "creamy mushroom" paint is hard to

miss on a black car.

The GOOD NEWS:  

 This one could just be buffed off!

That was last week.

Prepare yourself.

Yesterday I wheeled into the Chick Fil A drive thru

for lunch.

A car ahead of me turned into a parking place on

the left (headed into the building.)

Instantaneously, the car shot backward, toward me.

I stopped and frantically honked my horn, cause it was 

headed straight for me!

The driver never acknowledged me in any way 

and definitely was gunning it.

(She was backing all the way across to back into

a parking spot on the right side.)

I honked twice more, as she impacted the front

of my car.  I was so frustrated and angry,

but I just dialed 911.

(I was afraid it might be an uninsured driver again,

and Andy had told me Arlington is very strict

on uninsured drivers--often even towing their cars.)

As the 911 operator was talking to me, a lovely

female Arlington police officer came out of

Chick Fil A and appeared at my window.  

She helped facilitate the exchange of information,

which was helpful since the other driver

did not speak a lot of English.

But...she did have insurance!

I got my lunch, and guess where I headed.

Yep, Precision Auto Body.

But remember, friends, I was just there last week.

This time all humor was gone.

There is good news, however. 

The main damage to my car was to my license plate

(bent in half)

and to my heavy license plate holder.

(also bent in half!)

This is the other car:

Here the car is in the parking place the driver

 was aiming for--with just a little crash intervening.

 

As I upload these pictures from my phone and post

them, I am struck again by how much

worse this could have been.

Of course, the other driver is saying I hit her.

I was, in fact, sitting dead still, honking!

The fact that she was backing up without properly

checking behind her should be the deciding factor.

I hope so.

I'll let you know.

I certainly hope this craziness stops.

My lease is for 39 months!

 

Poor Linda...______ Finally Got Her

There are soooo many possibilities for filling in the blank.

My daughter would say,

"Lack of exercise" 

Of course, I'm planning to change that today.

Some of my friends would say,

"Consumption of Splenda, Sweet 'n Low, Equal, etc"
 

I personally might say,

"Her sugar-coated arteries"

Because however many teeth I have, that's how many

sweet-teeth I have.

This way of filling in the blank would be 

completely accurate:

"That girl never had five servings of fruits and

vegetables a day in her life."

(Well, maybe a few days.) 
  

Skeptics may say,

"Those nasty statin drugs she took"

but without them it would be...

"Her high cholesterol"
  

Here's a likely one:

"She dried up and blew away because she didn't

drink her 64+ ounces of water yesterday!"
(whilst enduring the pain of her latest kidney stone.)
 

She slipped and failed to take her

"Citracal, fish oil, folic acid, selenium, Centrum Silver,

glucosamine-chondroitin, baby aspirin, vitamin D3,

CoQ 10, and/or Vitamin B12"

or...
 

She TOOK

"Citracal, fish oil, folic acid, selenium, Centrum Silver,

glucosamine-chondroitin, baby aspirin, vitamin D3,

CoQ 10 and Vitamin B12"

  

She 

"continued to eat cereal with milk"

even though she heard that

85% of us are lactose intolerant.

She 

"failed to floss her teeth day before yesterday"

to which her heart succumbed.

She

"was a lazy butt rear thing who did not thoroughly

slather herself with SPF 30+ on a consistent basis."

So kids, don't bother with an autopsy.  Just make

a wheel and spin.  Wherever the arrow points

will be a good enough guess.

  

         

       

Colorado/Cousin Summer, Part 2!

Colorado, here I come again!

I flew to Denver, and Sarah and Dick picked me up for

the drive to Conifer--a most beautiful spot!

My private suite in their lovely mountain home was ready!

 Complete with gifts!!

Sarah had my drinking covered!

 That's a Colorado mug--I collect mugs from my travels,
 you know.

And I guzzled gallons of water from my new paisley glass!

Here we are having lunch in the lovely sunroom!

 And this is our view.

It is peaceful and so pleasant.

Well, folks.  I'm just gonna cut straight to the chase.

This girl got to see WILDLIFE!

More than I saw in all of Alaska!

This first beautiful specimen was spotted by yours truly

before anyone else saw it!

THAT IS A FIRST!

I usually see it last or not at all!

 Are you ready?

I understand this handsome fellow is a mule deer.

He was on the side of the road, and I thought he was a

                               statue when we passed him!

And Sarah and Dick missed him completely!

One evening Sarah and I went wild life searching.
There were reportedly elk in "John's meadow."
Not when we were there.
But we kept searching, and we found this!

Then, just down the road, this!

An elk family!
Sarah took this picture, while I looked at them through
binoculars.
Then I heard a car coming and was afraid I was
going to witness the demise of the elk family!
But--no problem.  Drivers in Conifer are prepared.

Our central location allowed us to go north one day
and tour Rocky Mountain National Park.
We started in Estes Park, where we saw this:

The Stanley Hotel featured in The Shining!

Sarah and I found the greatest spot for a photo op outside
the Stanley!

We thought we were so cute!
Then we discovered this sign.

How embarrassing.  We are a little old for this.

Jack would have loved this Stanley Steamer.

Just one picture of the beautiful park.
It was amazing to get to see this. 
These mountains are said to have inspired the 
"purple mountain majesties"
line in America, the Beautiful! 

Emily and James, Sarah's and Dick's daughter and
son-in-law, invited us down the road to their fabulous
home for quite a spread of appetizers!

Dig this view from their deck!

  
On Sunday we went to a little church, then drove to
Evergreen, where we walked around its lake.
(The longest 1.3 miles in CO or maybe the world!)

Sadly, Evergreen was involved in the Colorado flooding.
We wonder if these flowers by the lake entrance were wiped out.

Another day the "Lynn girls" had a great time here:

We had hotdogs and root beer floats by this 
beautiful river! 

Then on our last full day we headed south to
Pike's Peak and the cog railway!
What an experience!

And on the ride down--more wildlife!

I think those are bighorn sheep.
(If they aren't, please don't tell me!)

We drove through the Garden of the Gods.

It's funny.  I've heard of the Garden of the Gods all my
life but had no idea what it was.
What it is is amazing!

I thought when I went to visit Sarah I would only see Conifer.
The possibility of seeing Pike's Peak never occurred to me.
To get to visit there AND Estes Park AND 
Rocky Mountain National Park, etc., etc., etc.
was a truly incredible adventure!

I've seen more of Colorado this summer than in all the 
rest of my life combined, and
I LOVE IT!