Praise For The Lord, For The House Is Good

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things That Are Better About The New House

1. Faux Bay Window. (Bay Window is a dream of mine from way back!)

2. The roof is solid, and has no holes. Insulation! No popcorn texture ceiling.

3. Appliances are newer and bigger. (Washer, Dryer, Refrigerator and Stove)

4. Dishwasher!

5. Built-In Book Shelves. Two of them!

6. Bigger Closets.

7. The house is not falling into the backyard. (The old house had foundation issues evident in the cracks on the walls and ceiling, as well as the ridge in the floor.)

8. Full view front storm door. The cats have their Sun Worshiping spot again.

9. Colors on the walls, not just boring cream.

10. Curtains. (blinds that were broken at other house)

11. Working windows. Fresh air all the time!

12. Real Attic. (vs. hole in garage ceiling)

13. Bigger Bedroom

Thursday Thirteen --- 2009-1

Thirteen Goals for 2009 and Beyond!

1. Go to the gym at least three times per week. Move more, eat less. Get healthier, which has nothing to do with the numbers on the scale or labels.

2. Stop eating seconds at mealtimes.

3. Learn to keep my thoughts to myself, instead of blurting out hurtful things.

4. Read, Read, Read! I have a stack of books on the shelf, staring at me.

5. Pray more.

6. Read the Bible more.

7. Study. Study everything. Not just the Bible and its meaning for me, but I want to try to understand the world and all the opinions around me.

8. I want to make my home a clean and calm place.

9. Prune the collections. Focus on one or two.

10. Make sure that the loves in my life know how important they truly are to me.

11. Cook at home instead of lazily going to fast food.

12. Spend time outdoors, getting Vitamin D and the elusive tan.

13. Smile more, laugh, giggle and guffaw.

Old And Young - I Must Be Middle-Aged

Word of the Post
Today's word is: antimacassar
/an*ti*muh*kas"er/ noun
Coined in 1852 from anti (as if you didn't know this means against) and macassar oil which is imported hair tonic from Sulawesi. I don't know where that is, but OK. These were cloth (often a lace doily) used to protect chairs and sofa fabrics from people leaning their oily heads against them.
I found this definition at the Online Etymology Dictionary, and confirmed it on Dictionary.com.

I heard this word used on a Password Plus rerun while watching the Game Show Network. Oh, my days are exciting! The guy who used it as a clue (he was hoping his partner would answer "doily") was the host of Match Game, Gene Rayburn. The host of this episode, Tom Kennedy, knew what he was talking about, but the word judges did not. They were trying to check that he hadn't said two words. I had to check three different sites, looking through the Thesaurus links, to find this.

So, the annoying little pieces of material that fall off the arms and in between the cushions on your Lay Z Boy have an actual name. I suppose I am too young to know these things. Grams crochets beautiful blankets, and I think she could easily do antimacassars too.
~~~~~~~~~~
Fantastical memories and ethereal mush cloud my dreams lately. I have people who have never met, in places that are unlikely, colliding in situations that should never happen, all happily playing havoc on my tired mind at night. Unfortunately, this means that I do not sleep well. After the long weekend, I needed the sleep that has been missing.

This morning, however, I was sleeping so well, I had a wonderful dream. It hurt to wake up, I was enjoying myself so. I tried to go back to sleep to recapture parts of it. No success. I woke again feeling a sense of loss, an incompleteness of the thought. It took almost an hour to get back to what day and time it was. I give you, a day late and a brain short, this list I started on Thursday, but I didn't finish it until today.

Tardy Thursday Thirteen

Reasons To Feel Young

1. Watching the babies learn new things.
2. Listening to the Aunts talk.
3. Contemplating how old I am not.
4. Being asked for marital advice.
5. Realizing that I have very little advice to offer.
6. Realizing how much time I have yet to go.
(Isn't old always at least 10 years older than you currently are?)
7. Being called a baby by my OLD friends.
(I am not naming names here, Jan.)
8. Watching Grams walk with a walker.
9. Seeing the houses that my family have built.
(actual houses, not the homes.)
10. Finding archaic words or songs that I didn't know before.
11. Remembering that I could not have invented telephones, computers or space travel.
(I do believe I could have invented the toilet, though.)
12. Seeing how busy my schedule is.
13. Getting to travel without kids.

I hope you are feeling young today!

1 Lit Black Cat Explosive+ 1 Empty Tuna Can = Fun With Fireworks!

Thursday Thirteen

I don't usually get into these weekly features, but today I thought I might. Guess it is my newly found tolerance for memes. I am not certain. Then I had to find something to make a 13 list about.



Thirteen things that make me feel old.

1. Kids I saw born are now adults.
2. Kids I babysat getting married.
3. Kids I babysat having kids.
4. Second Cousins having kids. Yes, I have one little Third Cousin.
5. Chasing the Candy Kids.
6. Lifting a baby in a car carrier.
7. Finding that first gray (white!) hair.
8. Getting out of my bed while making those grunting sounds.
9. Cars made the year I graduated High School would be driving teens by now.
10. Kids know how to be careful with CDs. I had 8 track tapes, cassette tapes, and LPs.
11. A car built the year I was born would easily be "antique" by now. (They hit that at 25 yrs, right? 30? I still have it beat.)
12. The cost of postage stamps has gone up an average of one penny every year I have been alive.
13. I remember when Maria on Sesame Street was YOUNG.

I also have many reasons to feel young. That may be next week's list. No promises, though.

I am making Bread Pizza tonight for dinner, to use up the spaghetti sauce that is patiently waiting in the fridge. I didn't use the whole jar the other day on another modification of Sloppy Joe. We have pepperoni, onions, bell pepper, cheese, and Texas Toast to build it all upon.

Then we are going to our favorite coffee shop for their Movie Night. We get free Popcorn, and a Corny Movie. The movie is different every week. Tonight, they are showing the original Mystery Science Theater 3000. Bad movies with funny comments. {Edit: The movie was not played, but there were two other customers there, which is good.} If we don't want to pay attention to the movie, we can play card games or Scrabble. We are also taking the laptop, so I can blog or email or surf the web. DH designed a new flavor mix of Smooffee. It is a smoothie-coffee. They also make drinks without the espresso. We refer to those as a Smoo. He wants to make one that is chocolate and marshmallow flavored, with graham cracker bits mixed in. He called it a S'moreffee. The owner thought it sounded good, and the idea got at least one other person interested in coming to the shop. Not only are we faithful customers, we bring in more people. Can't pay for loyalty like that! I like what the owner once said. He doesn't have to boycott Starbucks. He owns his shop, and it helps that he thinks his coffee is better than Starbucks. I just like supporting my friend in his business. DH doesn't even like coffee, but he can find drinks that he likes. It is so neat to have our own version of Central Perk (Friends) or Cafe Nervosa (Frasier). "It's my Chez away from Chez." ~ Frasier

I hope to have pictures and stories after this weekend's festivities. I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!

(Photos of fireworks from a free site online: http://www.cepolina.com/freephoto/)