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Showing posts from 2009

Happy New Year!

I've been MIA the past couple of days because the day after I made my frappachino , I thought I made myself sick by drinking it. Well, that wasn't all it was. I came home Monday night after work to plunk down on the couch, shiver almost to death with a fever for a few hours, and a vicious stomach bug. Is that TMI for a blog? I hadn't felt too much like blogging (or anything else) for a couple of days. I do have a couple of books to review, some pictures to post and some PR to post next week. In the meantime, I need to finish some things online, then do my bills. That, my friends, is how I am ringing in the new year. Because I stayed up until almost 2 last night reading because I really wanted to finish the book, I may very well go to bed before midnight tonight because that's just the kind of "take-that-New-Year's-Eve" kind of girl that I am. I hope everyone is ringing in the New Year in the way that you most enjoy!

Finding Inner Peace Through Christ

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Living in the Presence of God through Prayer and Meditation Peace is perhaps the most elusive, miraculous phenomenon in the human experience. From the kindergarteners arguing on the playground to the world powers storing up technologically advanced weapons, we clearly struggle to coexist peacefully with each other. Yet for all our efforts to generate peace between people, we often overlook the importance of finding peace within ourselves. Though we long for this inner peace, our world full of war, famine, bank collapses, pandemics, and day-to-day struggles has discouraged us from even trying to find it. In his new book, Finding Inner Peace During Troubled Times , author William Moss shows readers that inner peace is indeed attainable in the person and presence of Jesus. As a high-powered businessman and a key political decision-maker, Moss has faced his share of daily distractions. For over a decade, he has studied and practiced the lost art of Christian meditation. “I believe God want

I just got accused of being a coffee drinker

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Posting the picture of me and my cousins will just have to wait. Someone just accused me of being a coffee drinker on Facebook . OK, Leslie, I guess I have become one. I really thought it would never happen. You don't know how many frappachinos it took me after the age of 30 before I could drink one without having major coffee shock. And I thought to be a coffee drinker, you had to drink it hot. I don't drink anything hot unless it's been setting out of the refrigerator for too long. The first step is denial, isn't it. I guess so because Jenny got me a Starbucks card for Christmas, and the main thing I asked for was a Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe machine. I mean, without a Starbucks in Corsicana , and frappachinos being downright expensive, surely I can make them for cheaper. Julie commented when I opened it that I should save some money... unless I bought too much stuff to make them. Excellent point, Julie. I had to go to Wal -Mart on a shopping expedition before I could

I survived Christmas

Call me Scrooge. Call me the Grinch. But, I have to say that I am so glad that in four hours Christmas will have officially come and gone. All went well this Christmas, but the holiday season has lost its shiny luster that it had as a child. At least it has for me. I think I was not the only one this year judging by the number of houses that were lit up this year. Lots of factors weigh in on that, but who really needs to get into all that? On Wednesday night, Mom, Dad and I went to see our annual movie. We go once a year - at Christmas. We saw The Blind Side which really was an awesome movie. A feel good movie. A movie with a happy ending. A movie without a love story or a bunch of smut. Yesterday, Brian, Julie, Paige, Peyton, Madison, Layton and I gathered with my parents for lunch and our gift opening extravaganza. I have my own frappachino machine now! YEA!!! This morning, I got up and ate breakfast with my parents, then Mom and I went by Eula Mae's to take her something before

Texans no longer have to dream of a white Christmas

Amazingly, many Texans are no longer having to dream of a white Christmas. They have one. We don't have it here in our exact "neck of the woods", but I have seen some flurries. According to Pete Delkus of Channel 8, that has not happened since 1975 in the Dallas area - a year before my time. I'll share more about my Christmas Eve day with you in the next couple of days, but tonight, I share with you a few paragraphs from the book that I am currently reading, The Soul Hunter by Melanie Wells. It is very ironic that the weather situation of the day matches what I was just reading. If you aren't from Texas, this describes what we experience as far as "winter weather". If you are from Texas, I think you will get a laugh out of this description. Once or twice a year maybe, during what Texans call a "hard freeze," which means anything below twenty-five degrees, we get freezing rain or snow or a mixture of the two. Every exposed surface ends up coat

Giving it her all

This isn't the world's funniest video or anything, but it's the only one I got updated last night. My dear Peypey is quite intense during this song. She's the one on the end of the top row next to the boy in blue. She was very serious about singing her heart out with all she had. I have to run for now. Going to see our annual Christmas movie in Waxahachie. My parents go one time a year - at Christmas. Hoping to see The Blindside .

But you promised...

I know that I promised some video from the Christmas program, but my computer is not wanting to cooperate. Meanwhile, I'm getting frustrated with computer problems and am ready to call it a night. Now, the video is uploaded to Vimeo , but has to be processed, so it's going to be a while before I can embed it. But since I'm off for several days, I'll have more time to blog. Don't abandon my poor little blog.

Did she just say Cheez-Wiz?

In the spirit of trying to blog consistently, here's a quick run down of the past few days. I promise some video footage as soon as I get a chance to load it to Vimeo or something. Thursday night was the annual Mildred Elementary Christmas program. I'm a terrible person, but I went there out of obligation because I'm really not sure that I was entertained. OK, I probably was while Peyton was singing with gusto. Very narrow plastic seats made my bum quite numb and we were in pain by the time we got to stand up. Last night, I went to a Christmas party hosted by some out of town friends. I thankfully avoided traffic, had a great time and spent the night in Lewisville at my Aunt Lois' so that I didn't have to drive all the way home late last night. This morning, I took her to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, witnessed her feed 19 feral neighborhood cats in her backyard and headed on home. I missed a phone call from Mom's cell phone by 9 minutes, right before I left L

The Three Days of Christmas

I've not had time to blog the past couple of days, and the next couple are going to be busy too. So, for now, I simply present two hilarious videos for you, courtesy of Jesse Rice.

The Christmas Secret

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Did you happen to catch the Christmas trilogy on Lifetime yesterday? The Christmas Shoes, The Christmas Blessing, and The Christmas Hope all aired straight through (twice actually, I think) on TV yesterday. All three are New York Times best-selling books by Donna VanLiere . I did actually work on The Christmas Blessing when it released and remember pitching that the movie was going to be made and aired on TV the next year. Since that book release, I've bought each of Donna's Christmas releases as they have come out. Christmas stories of people with struggles, but with happy endings, just in time for Christmas. Here's the cover copy: When a struggling young single mother saves the life of an elderly woman, she sets into motion a series of events that will test her strength, loyalty, and determination, all the while setting her on the path to finding true love. Life isn't easy or simple for Christine Eisley , the hardworking mother of seven-year-old Zach and five-year-ol

Good to go... I hope

So after I took Mom's car on my expedition on Tuesday, I was even more glad I did so on Wednesday. After I tried to get Dad to assist me in shopping for tires last week, he decided to do so this week and ordered them on Wednesday. Well, Wednesday night after church, I came home, U-turned in front of my house at the mailbox and turned off the car to get my key out for the mailbox. I get back in and the car WILL NOT start. I come on in the front door and call Dad who was not too pleased to come tend to my problem at the time. After doing the manly "get in and start it" along with the "are you giving it gas?", he finally got it started and around to the back. He had some real problems trying to start it again. So, he took my car, and I ended up with his truck for the next day. Musical cars, you see. On Thursday, my tires came in, so we went to put those on, and decided to work on my other problem by cleaning the battery connections. Once they were clean, WOULD NOT

What are you listening to?

Today was the last vacation day that I had to take before the end of the year. I had something I had to do up around Arlington today, so I was going to try to accomplish my Christmas shopping today (another story). So, I was about to head out when I looked and noticed one of my tires had lost some air again. I was going to put more air in it at the gas station at Brookshire's. Someone was already there airing up all of their tires at the free air pump. OK, fine, I'll go to the Shell station, it's on the way out of town. I get there and didn't four quarters to buy air. Best not to worry with it anyway, so I call Mom to borrow her car. Then I had to find a parking spot at the courthouse to get her car - a pain in the butt. Play musical keys with her because she needed to get into her house at lunch because the garage opener was in her car, yada, yada, yada. I had to drive back over to my car to get some stuff out that I was taking with me. I thought at this rate I was nev

I would just like to add, it was my idea!

Have you ever noticed that God gives some people a better sense of direction than He does others? I'm not talking spiritual direction of purpose and right vs. wrong (though I think He does that too). I'm talking about right vs. left and north, south, east and west. My dad has said that I have a better sense of direction than most anyone he knows. I've even had co-workers that had to take a detour on the way back to their metroplex homes call me to figure out where they have gone off course. Why? I'm not really sure. It really could have just been because I was at my desk and could have pulled up MapQuest . My father's other child was not so fortunate. Let's put a positive spin on this. Brian has seen much more than he would have ever seen had he not gotten lost as frequently as he has. I'm never really surprised when he calls me while wandering around the DFW area asking how to get back home. A couple of years ago, Paige was on a competitive cheer squad th

Who do I Talk to?

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What does Audra buy with her birthday gift card from Barnes & Noble? Well, this was number one on my list. Who do I Talk to? by Neta Jackson, one of my author friends. (I really need to come back up and see you Neta - will you go to the Sears Tower sky deck with me?) This is the second book in the Yada Yada House of Hope series which "spun off" of her best-selling Yada Yada Prayer Group Series. (I worked with Neta on PR for the first three YYPG books.) I actually finished Who do I Talk to? last Saturday, but am just now writing the review because I'm somewhat lazy. I was determined to finish reading the book once I started between cooking last Wednesday. I snuck moments reading on Thanksgiving, read before heading to Ft. Worth on Friday. And I finished it instead of dusting and cleaning the house last Saturday just because I could. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the last place she ever imagined she'd be, Gabby will discover what she's made of--and for. Gabrielle Fai

Will it snow?

It's cold in Texas. Imagine that! Three of my co-workers that live further north of here were all admiring snowflakes yesterday. The rest of us witnessed rain. BUT, some people saw snowflakes before Christmas! And the weather people are calling for more snow by the weekend. And snow in Houston at that! To me, this seems very strange for December. The last time we saw real snow, it was in April a few years ago because Texas weather is just that wacky. Normally, if we are going to get sleet, snow, slain, sneet or anything like that, it's in February or maybe March. Just for the history buffs or weather geeks that may be reading this rather pointless blog tonight, 33 years ago, it snowed within the first half of November - a good bit I am told. One of my uncles had to volunteer to have tire chains ready in case my mom went into labor with me. An author I work with wrote a children's fantasy book focusing on the weather. In a Q&A, he basically said that while people usuall

John Blase's Touching Wonder

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It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: John Blase and the book: Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas David C. Cook; New edition (September 1, 2009) ***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of the The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Blase’s work includes Living the Questions and Living the Letters Bible-study series, the Worldviews reference book (TH1NK), Real Life Stuff for Couples , and The Message Children’s Bible . A for

Petunia the Pig Caller

At Cracker Barrel on Friday night, I found something that I wanted to get for Paige, but Dad said if I got it, she'd never speak to me again. I'll have to back up the story before I tell you what it was. On Wednesday, Brian had called Paige about showing an animal this coming spring in the youth expo. Paige's friend Emalee had already gotten her pig. Brian talked to Paige about getting her a pig too. So, Paige had been talking about getting her a pig. Paige now has this spacer/expander contraption in her mouth so that she can get braces in a couple of weeks. She also had some sinus issues so when she started making this noise she started making, I don't think she realized what sound she was making. I asked her, "what is this noise you are making?" Dad said, "she's working on calling her pig." I said, "that's it! It does sound like a pig call!" She did not like that we decided this, yet she kept making this stupid little noise that a

Home for the Holidays at Bass Hall

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My mom received an offer for some tickets to Bass Hall and had a certain number of vouchers to exchange for certain shows. So, last night, we went to the "Home for the Holidays" show featuring the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. All the "Black Friday" shopping I did yesterday is late in the afternoon in Waxahachie on the way up (where my dad had to return something to Belk that he and mom got the week before) to Ft. Worth. Oh, and we stopped at Home Goods in Midlothian . We were there around 4-5 PM, a good 12 hours after the masses were in stores. We decided to do the Friday night show, but didn't realize that the Ft. Worth downtown lighting and Christmas parade were taking place last night. We got stuck in traffic and could not get to our parking garage for Bass Hall. We were driving around block, and block, and waiting for police direction and so forth and so on. I was driving at the time, but my eyeballs started floating from too much Diet Coke at Cracker Ba

Decision time?

The leftovers are in the fridge. The misery from eating too much has settled in. The football games are over. Thanksgiving has almost completely come to a close. Normally "Black Friday" means I'm missing out on all the "must buys" because I'm sleeping late. Nothing is worth being at the doors to any store at 4 AM, and I find it ridiculous that anyone else would think it is worth it. It usually means it's the day to put up the Christmas tree. I'm thinking I may just skip all the deckin ' of my halls this year. Oh, I think it's a combination of several things, but I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to put up any decorations this year. And that's really strange for me because I normally put up three trees--a big one in the living room and a smaller one in each bedroom along with lights in all the windows. I've broken my personal rule of not listening to the station that starts playing Christmas music all day every day starting earl

I will be sleeping GOOD tonight

Without a doubt, I will sleep well tonight. Peyton, bless her little heart, has been wanting to spend the night over at my house for months. Every time I have seen her, just about, she's stated, "I want to spend the night at your house. Tonight." It's always been a school/work night, so that hasn't worked. Last night she had her chance. I love she and her sister more than they will ever know. However, I hate to sleep in the same bed with either one of them. You wake up battered and bruised normally from having a foot to the head or elbow to the chin. (Peyton has been known to sleep perpendicular to anyone else in the bed with her.) Not only that, they make noises. Lots of noises. (Talking, mumbling, snoring...) They also have the uncanny ability and amazing tendency to be able to find the exact middle of the bed. I've witnessed this numerous times. Before we even got to sleep, while watching a movie, I told Peyton she was going to have to move towards the othe

Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon

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And here's some comments on the latest book that I finished reading this morning -- Debbie Fuller Thomas' Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon. This is one of the books I found for $1 at Mardel's a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for books that looked interesting and this one caught my attention. The back cover sounded interesting: Switched at birth -- and then switched back When Marty Winslow's thirteen-year-old daughter dies of a devastating genetic disease, she discovers the truth--her precious middle child had been switched at birth. After learning that her actual biological daughter was recently orphaned, she decides to fight for custody. Winning the court case was the easy part. This still - grieving , single mom is torn between memories and realities . And wants desperately for god to heal her family. For Andie, tall and blonde like Marty, being forced to live with strangers is just one more reason not to trust anyone. Her soul is as beat up as the rundown Bl

Happy Birthday to Me!

In case you were wondering if I had anything special planned for my birthday today, the answer is no. Jenny took me to lunch at OMI , and my parents got me pizza for dinner (which actually is a special occurrence ), and that was it. ...other than getting the new sheets I wanted and a Barnes & Noble gift card that I've already used. Mom called me and left me message this morning, Dad emailed me, I received a couple of birthday cards, I got a couple of other emails and lots of Facebook birthday wishes. That was it. That was intentional on my part though. Long story. Though it's not an age thing, I was really trying to ignore my birthday and make it a non-event. I think I achieved that.

Unfaithful by Gary and Mona Shriver

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It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card authors are: Gary and Mona Shriver and the book: Unfaithful: Hope and Healing After Infidelity David C. Cook; Revised edition (November 1, 2009) ***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHORs: After going through therapy to save their marriage from a devastating affair, Gary and Mona Shriver searched in vain for another couple who could offer them tangible hope that they could heal