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Showing posts from March, 2013

Opening Night baseball

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My Opening Day of baseball string continues, but in a little different way. After last year's debacle of extremely overpriced tickets and parking way far out due to tailgaters without a ticket, we saw the Rangers open on the road tonight. There were as many Ranger fans as Astros fans in Houston for the first game of all of Major League Baseball. We were there for the Astros first game in the American League. By the way the Rangers were launching balls in batting practice, we thought it was going to be a great game for us. We were wrong. Very wrong. To the tune of 8-2. It was worth it, even though I had to drive through a crazy thunderstorm with hail. Nelson Cruz chasing down a ball, right after he flubbed up the play the last time the ball came to him. There's nothing like watching a ball game in air conditioning in Texas. They had to open the doors early because the thunderstorm was about to hit Houston.

Beautifying my view

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I am not much on yard work, but I am hoping to keep my new plants alive so I will have a nice view from the sunroom. That has been my Easter weekend project. The plants I have kept alive up to this point are looking rough. I am hoping my palms and pineapples perk back up in better sunlight and access to rain. In addition to my new rose bushes, I planted morning glories to grow up the world's largest backyard TV antenna still in existence. I also threw out a whole bag of Texas wildflower seed. The bag said it was enough to cover 500 sq feet and was guaranteed to grow, so I better end up with blue bonnets. I am not holding my breath, but a girl can hope. I also bought plants for inside my sunroom which now feels like a sunroom rather than a catch all now that I have all the boxes that were in there put away. I really hope I don't kill the banana tree this time. Now Dad can make a coconut tree short of a pink coulda jokes. Seriously! Auto correct is stupid. Pina colada. How is

For Every Decision, There is A Consequence

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  An interview with Lisa T. Bergren, Author of Grave Consequences There was a time when a months-long trip across Europe to see the sites, soak in the culture, and learn the history brought an end to a young person’s formal education. In The Grand Tour series, best-selling and award-winning author Lisa T. Bergren becomes the tour guide, vividly painting the landscapes and historical events that shaped Europe one hundred years ago, transporting readers back to 1913. Next on the itinerary is the release of Grave Consequences (David C Cook/March 1, 2013/ISBN 978-1434764324/$14.99), a powerful, captivating story of a woman searching to find herself, opening her heart to love, and discovering what a covenant truly means. Q: Grave Consequences   is the second book in your Grand Tour series. A Grand Tour was popular among the wealthy a century ago. What exactly was a Grand Tour and what purpose did it serve? It was considered a way to “finish” one’s education or prepare fo

Susan May Warren Talks Duchess

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An interview with Susan May Warren,  Author of Duchess Best-selling Susan May Warren brings what she considers to be her most ambitious series yet to a dramatic close in her latest release, Duchess (Summerside Press / March 1, 2013 / ISBN 978-1-609367718/ $14.99). The Daughters of Fortune series is an epic generational series following the family of New York newspaper magnate August Price from the Gilded Age to the end of World War II. Each generation of Price women must navigate love and ambition in a world of wealth, power and social expectation. In this final installment, Duchess , readers pick up the story of Rosie Worth, who has achieved her dream of becoming a starlet and is now known as Roxy Price. The golden age of Hollywood is in the business of creating stars, and Roxy has found everything she’s wanted in the glamour of the silver screen. With adoring fans and a studio-mogul husband, she’s finally silenced the voices — and grief — of the past. Her future shines br

What Does it Look Like When You Lead Your Family Like Jesus?

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Leadership experts Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges team up with parenting mentor Tricia Goyer to present a revolutionary approach to parenting   Ken Blanchard , author of The One Minute Manager ® (a New York Times Best Seller for two years), has teamed up with his Lead Like Jesus co-founder Phil Hodges , and author/parenting expert Tricia Goyer to release Lead Your Family Like Jesus: Powerful Parenting Principles from the Creator of Families (March 25, 2013/ISBN 978-1-58997-720-4, HC, $19.99, Tyndale House Publishers). Recognized as one of the world’s top business leadership experts, Blanchard now looks to Jesus, the greatest leader of all time, as the model for this new, revolutionary parenting book. Does your family need a five-star general at the helm? A psychologist? A referee? Lead Your Family Like Jesus , points to a better role model. In Lead Your Family Like Jesus , the authors show how every family member benefits when parents take the reins as servant-leaders

Enter Regina Jennings' Love in the Balance Kindle giveaway!

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Regina Jennings is celebrating the release of Love in the Balance with a Kindle Fire Giveaway and a Facebook Author Chat Party on 4/4! One "lovely" winner will receive: A Kindle Fire  A copy of Regina's  Sixty Acres and a Bride and Love in the Balance Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 3rd. Winner will be announced at the  "Love in the Balance" Author Chat Party on April 4th . Connect with Regina, get a sneak peek of her next book, try your hand at a trivia contest, and chat with readers just like you. There will also be many fun giveaways -- gift certificates, books, and more! So grab your copy of Love in the Balance and join Regina on the evening of April 4th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the fun,  RSVP today.  Tell your friends via  FACEBOOK  or  TWI

With Love and Affection

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I'm either getting old, senile, psychic or all of the above. Psychic more in the "plan to write something and it seems like I did, but maybe I'm just planning it for the future" kind of way rather than predictive.  That said, I can't remember if I told the first part of this, so I'll tell this part again. Maybe I shared it just on Facebook. Anyhow! A couple of weeks ago, I was actually getting the local paper because they were making it free to "new residents" or maybe just people who moved and had a new address. I don't know if the City of Corsicana water department sold them a list or if they are in cahoots with the postal service or what.  Whatever the case may be, I got a newspaper in the mail (because they mail them which makes it less than news when it arrives, but I digress).  On the front page on this given day, there was an article about Matthew and Gunnar Nelson performing at the Palace Theater in town. They are touring

A Maroon 5 concert outranks a new episode of Scandal

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There are few things that would actually make me excited to miss a Thursday night on the couch in front of new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal . Like very, very few things. I love Scandal that much.  But, a night with some of my best friends and Adam Levine would win every week. Well, maybe not every week because I'm too old to come rolling in at 12:10 on a weeknight and standing up on concrete because my legs hurt so bad on Saturday. (Don't know why Friday wasn't a problem.) Jenny, Rakia, Courtney and I are evidently making attending Maroon 5 a rule when they are around Dallas. This is the third time we've seen them together. This was the best, especially because A) we could actually see Adam unlike the first time we went at the Gexa Energy Pavillion, B) we weren't sitting on the ground like at Gexa getting our butts bit by ants, C) we weren't in Oklahoma like NYE  2012 and D) we got a full hour and a half and didn't feel ripped off at t

Bacon bits and pieces

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Obviously, I have tons going on at work. Like tons. Like so much I post about a different project every day of the week. I did get to venture away from home and painting, etc. this week though. And I do have some funny tidbits to share. First of all, the first funny of the week. When I told this story to Rachel and to my parents, they got a good giggle out of it, so I'll share. In the Bible class that I go to at church, there is a woman close to 80. I've referred to her before in stories about the singles group. She's had purple hair at one time... Anyway... Mentally she is on another plane than most of us. But she definitely thinks outside the box. I have to give her credit for that. The lesson was about Lazarus. As the person teaching the class was telling, at first Jesus told his disciples that Jesus was asleep. When they thought he was just sleeping, Jesus told them that Lazarus was dead. The teacher thought that maybe he was trying to put it nicely at first, and th

God is the Defender of All His Children

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New book and curriculum open the doors to talking to children about missions and orphans As we start planning the summer for our children—signing them up for t-ball, summer drama camp, trips to see grandparents, vacation Bible school—we often forget how fortunate we are to be able to offer such opportunities to our children, especially when many children around the world don’t get to participate in activities like these. In her new book Tales of the Defended Ones (Standard Publishing / January 28, 2013 / ISBN: 978-0784736975 / $ 8.99) , Beth Guckenberger skillfully and lovingly tells the stories of adopted children from Ethiopia, a child in slavery in Cambodia, a special-needs orphan from Mexico, and a foster child in the U.S. all with one thing in common. They are all real children whose lives of heartbreak and abandon became stories of hope.  Not only has God provided for these children, Guckenberger shares how we, too, young and old, can help defend these children who a

Do you know someone facing infertility?

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An interview with Lesli Westfall, Author of Dancing Upon Barren Land It is estimated that one in six American couples (7.3 million women) are affected by infertility. Christian women are no more immune to these astounding statistics than anyone else. When experiencing infertility, a woman’s feelings about herself, her relationships with others and her belief in God become confused and complicated. Having experienced these emotions herself, Lesli A. Westfall has written Dancing Upon Barren Land: Prayer, Scripture Reflections, and Hope for Infertility (January 18, 2013 / ISBN: 9780615746128 / $12.99) not only as a prayer guide for women facing infertility, but as a resource for churches and support groups. Q: Infertility is a problem far more couples face than most of us realize. Can you share a few statistics with us? ·         Infertility’s is defined when a couple 35 years or younger is unable to conceive within one year of unprotected intercourse, and for couples o