Dog Food

Simba has been ill. As in off his food. He is never off his food.
We even took him to the vet.
I am very encouraged though because yesterday, while on a short walk on a 6 foot leash,
he caught a frog. Or maybe it was a toad.
Either way we made such a fuss at him he dropped it and it lived.

This is the second critter he has caught while leashed on a walk. The first was a squirrel.
He has also caught birds, snakes, voles, moles, chipmunks, and a possum.
We used to joke that we'd get worried when he tried to drag some antlers through the dog flap.
Simba, mighty hunter.

We've had him for 7 years and we are used to his conquests. We're sympathetic, now that he is an apartment dog and not the mighty hunter of his backyard savannah. And secretly very glad that he caught that frog. He can't be that sick.

Biblical Baby Boom

My neighborhood is always having a baby boom it seems. It may just be that many of us in seminary are at the right time in our lives to start our family but my-oh-my are there a lot of little ones around.

Of course there seems to be a baby boom in the entertainment industry and I will admit here that I read FAR TOO MANY gossip columns and entertainment magazines. This is why I know that Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani and Mira Sorvino had their babies this weekend. And much has been said about the birth of Gwynth Paltrow's new son Moses, a while back. Angelina named her new baby girl Shiloh.

Biblical names have come around again, sort of. Our forebears were named Martha, Ruth, Joseph and Ezekiel. Then came the Matthews, Michaels and Mary-somethings. Then the Bethanys. Five years ago there was a new crop of Hannahs and Noahs.
And now the Gideons, Moses', Selahs, Judahs and Shilohs are here.

Who needs a baby name book? Just break out your Bible!

Weddings!

It is that time of the year! Over the weekend we went to a beautiful wedding uniting two wonderful people. Most weddings are about the same in my eyes with the exceptions of the wacky, unusual or the mistakes! What fun! The unusual: Her church is tiny..make that really tiny. So when they need to have an event that is larger they use the chapel in the huge cemetary down the road! What a great idea! I was thinking of how nice it was for that building to have a happy occaision for once! Also, the bride is chinese-american and the groom is italian-american, so much was said about the meeting of two cultures. The bride wore a beautiful white gown for the wedding and a traditional red chinese dress to the recption. LOVELY! And in the toasts the sister of the bride expressed how pleased she was to have the groom as her new sister! Of course the marriage is so much more important than the wedding but, they are off to a wonderful start.
This coming weekend is my cousin's engagement party. They are having a very long engagement (wedding is Sept 07) so we need to start the celebration now. Irish meets Armenian. Should be fun!

Friday5: I believe

1. that There is God and he makes and breaks the rules.
2. that being useful and friendly helps the world along.
3. ... in creating "intentional community". Bloom where you are planted and help others to bloom also.
4. You can have a clean house or you can have children and pets, not both. I have chosen children and pets.
5. that I am very lucky and that I don't make my own luck.
BONUS
Just do it is one of the best phrases, ever.

Not sure I like all of these, but there you go. Tag, you're it!

Ravens and Lilies

I have the normal stress that everyone has. But I seem to be surrounded by people who are having very a stressful period. A co-worker's teenage son has been in and out of the hospital for a month . They are still trying to figure out what is wrong two surgeries later. A friend is ready to move her family half-way across the country to a new house and life, but the bank is asking for unreasonable things in an unreasonable amount of time.
Difficult pregnancies, travel, jobs, moving, transportation, housing, weddings, illness, family strife. Prayer requests abound.
Last night I read Luke 12:22-? for all of them, those present and those far away.

Recipes for a Sore Throat

I have a "garden variety" cold and lost my voice for two days. I am still working to get it back. Right now I feel fine, but still sound like Kathleen Turner (which is just fine with my hubby).

Anyway, people have stopped me in the library, church, pharmacy, everywhere with sore throat recipes. I hereby pass them along as a public service. I am attaching the origin of a few of these only because I had not heard them before and suspect they are cultural remedies.

Chicken soup (naturally)
hot tea with:
honey
lemon
ginger
sage
green tea (this person recommends this for everything, including splinters I guess)
hot water with cayenne pepper (as hot as you can stand - my African American neighbor)
echinacea
orange juice
hot pear "slushie" with ginger (the Korean woman who sits in front of me at church)
stewed pears with sugar (my Chinese co-worker, "Pears are good for the voice")
popsicles and ice cream (children primarily)

I tried almost all of them. I am reminded though, that colds go away in 7 days or, with medicine, one week.

Busy, bouncy and two years old by Flash

Sunday was so great!
Up with the sun, breakfast followed by a very necessary shower. Walk the dogs, change shoes and head off to church to play with Miss Margaret! Don't forget to bring your tea party set! Play with friends in the nursery and then have Church Lunch (which is almost as great as Chuch Supper!) and play outside and sniff the pastor's flowers but don't pick them! Get a long wet drink from the water fountain and head home for a quick nap! Then we went to our friends birthday party at Kid's Gym and bounced, climbed and danced my little heart out! When it was time to have cake, I licked off the icing and tried to get back into the play area. I cried when I couldn't. Then scrubbed clean, hooray! we were allowed back in and I wasted no time bouncing and running and laughing and dancing until we finally sang our last Happy Birthday. I was ready to rest. But only for the car ride home. Daddy went to Youth Group and I was so hungry and Mom made us walk the dogs and Max pounced on me and hurt my hand but I need to run all the way home to have Chicken Noodle soup! A whole bowlful. Yay! Now we run to my friend's house and play in her new play kitchen. And ride her tricycle, through the house? And Daddy came home and scooped me up and flew me home. We washed and changed and drank milk and chatted and prayed.

And I slept like a brick! And Mama and Daddy did too.

Moving Truck Season

This is Moving Truck Season in our neighborhood.
They spring up between mid-May and Early July each year. Strawberry season!
It struck me as I watched our neighbors pack up in the rain. They left on Friday, just as the sun peeked out. As I walked the dogs around the block, I counted only three moving trucks, but there will be so many more in the next month. Our building has 8 apartments. 4 families are moving on. We have one year left in seminary. Next year, it'll be us packing. It'll be us, waiting for the call. It'll be us moving on in one of those trucks.
But for now, we have goodbye parties to attend and friends to help pack-up.
And strawberry shortcakes to make!

Friday5: Misused words

The Revgals have posted their Friday suggestion.

"Please tell us five words you had to think about really hard before saying them out loud for the first time, or that you discovered you had misapprehended when someone corrected your pronunciation. "

I don't think I can come up with five. But here goes:
1. supercilious - I didn't pronounce it wrong..I had the meaning wrong.
2. prejudice - The first time I used it I said prEE-jud-iss. A few weeks ago young lady at church read the word alimony aloud, but she said uh-lim-ony. At one time, these words were foreign concepts!
3. sects (There is a class at this seminary called Sects and Cults. Giggle!)
4. OK, not mine, but I love the way little kids say spaghetti, don't you? I heard one the other day say "spuh-betty". Flash says "sketti". But, sometimes our floor gets "slippily".
5. ?

For fun, check out myfavoriteword.com Add your own!

Silently Chatty

I have a miserable cold and laryngitis, so I can't talk.

I went to work to help with the Tuesday morning rush and to finish the book order, due today. Its amazing how quiet it was this morning, without me chatting. We prepped the library in total silence. Eerie. And its raining, pouring actually. And I couldn't do much of anything because I can't talk. Can't help customers, can't answer the phone.

How did I miss the signs?
I should have stayed at home.