Audra Jennings

I'm just saying... GONNA. BE. THE. BEST. NYE. EVER.

Not in a sentimental or mushy way, but I dedicate this song to my friends. You know who you are.

After having gone over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house on Christmas, I have some questions and comments. My mother, her brother and sister were a bit peeved that Grandmother didn't pull out their stockings like she has every year of their life this year. We also got to discussing what is tradition to put in a stocking. For the last, I don't know, 10 years, maybe... My dad has put a scratch-off ticket in the stockings. Everyone gets one. I NEVER win ANYTHING . This year, my mom made sure she put a Hershey bar (because her dad always did that) and a pair of socks (because my grandmother on the other side of the family always gave us socks). My aunt always put toothbrushes in my cousins' stockings and still does, actually. Of course, she was walking around with a very mini toothbrush after lunch while talking to people. We all looked at her funny and asked what she was doing. What was/is always in your stocking? My 27 year old cousin tol

Everytime I go to post pictures of Christmas decorations, etc., I run into some reason why I can't. I don't have the pictures on the computer yet. The pictures are on the other computer. Well, today, I booted up my home computer, but it wouldn't boot. I did some scan as recommended the other day, and it would not boot. I tried Safe Mode. I tried last successful mode. I tried normal mode. I finally had to do a system restore. Usually I thought it could be restored to a certain point. The only way I could get the computer on is to do a "from the beginning.". That wiped out all my files. I didn't have any of my 2011 pictures backed-up. I do have through August on Shutterfly, and can get a Archive DVD from them for a price. However, I didn't have my Maroon 5/Train concert, trip to Branson, my Ranger playoff game, or any Christmas pictures thus far saved. I was able to get 3 pictures from the Ranger game off my blog. One good picture of the Oak Ridge Boys

I was going to do a post about all things Christmas and post pictures of my trees and stuff, but I'm on my work computer and deleted my photos off of my chip once I saved them to my home computer the other day. My work computer is up because I was tending to "urgent" requests earlier in the day. Just a commentary on how people can be too connected, I guess people in general are not able to have days off. Because of one interview in particular - well, it would have been up like this regardless - my away message gives my cell number for if something is urgent. The one interview with Fox News coming up tomorrow would fall under urgent, but some of the calls I got would not fall under that category really. Procrastination, perhaps. Urgent, not so much... Not necessarily related to phone calls, but many of the people I work with were either on the laptop at the airport trying to get back home for the holidays. Others were trying to feel a taping schedule for next week for

Growing up, a sure sign of Christmas was I would get a cold or sinus infection or something a week before Christmas. So many of the holiday traditions of my youth have gone away. Unfortunately, this one remains. I've been gifted with the Christmas cold. Yuck. I blame this on the fact that I practically waded through ice water barefoot last week. Peyton's school Christmas program was Thursday night, and it was raining. And raining. And raining. By the time I got to the school, I had to park in front, walk through the cold rain to the back, and it was inches of water in some places. Without rain boots, you might as well be barefoot. I had to take my shoes off and put my feet in my coat to dry them off and keep them warm when I got in. Afterwards, it was back through the standing rain in the parking lot, then in and out at Applebee's. When I got home, I have no sidewalk, so I had to trudge through more rain to get to my back door. Not only did I have to shed my shoes

Back this spring, I told the tale of the minuscule pineapple plant that arrived in the mail and how I doubted I would ever have pineapple. (Or at least I think I did.) That plant is doing quite well, amazingly, though I don't plan to be able to harvest fruit from it anytime soon, if ever. (Below I included a picture of it the day I got it. I'll have to get a picture of it now.) After that, I bought a pineapple plant from Home Depot. It has thrived over the past several months, but the pineapple itself hasn't really grown. It's had monstrous foliage from the top, so I figured, OK, it's just ornamental and I've got a cool, funky plant. I walk by it daily on my back porch, and pay little attention to it. Tonight, when I got home from the grocery store, I notice that the pineapple had fallen over from being top heavy. Seriously. I went ahead and took it off the plant, but I'm not sure if I removed it properly so that another one can grow in its place. I g

Thanks to everyone who took part in today's tour! 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: Edward Welch and the book: What Do You Think of Me? Why Do I Care?: Answers to the Big Questions of Life New Growth Press (October 1, 2011) ***Special thanks to Audra Jennings – The B and B Media Group – for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Edward T. Welch, M.Div., Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and faculty member at the Christian Counseli

There is a reason why I do my Christmas shopping alone most years. I was reminded of this today. I made the comment to my mother that I needed to go shopping. I'm not certain that I really intended for this to be a mother-daughter bonding activity. After all, she had been on more than one shopping excursion having been off work recently. Nevertheless, since I had my party on Saturday, she planned that we could go after church on Sunday. Which yeah, I was on board with to an extent, but knew that would mean kissing the sacred nap goodbye. She decided we could take her car and that she would drive though I didn't mind. I'm almost to the point that I mind either one of my parents driving. They scare me to death - we're going to get run over. I saw something for my sister-in-law that she talked me out of getting at the Hallmark. Where mind you, we had to go first so that she could get her annual ornament. She says we can probably find something at Belk on sale. Well,

These days I honestly do wonder what our world is coming to. Or not even so much wonder, but want to bury my head in the sand and just not think about some things like how our country really is "going to hell in a hand basket." I'm not outspokenly political or an activist of any kind, but I've really just about had enough. One of the big news stories around here is how Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wisconsin is protesting the nativity scene set up on the Henderson County Courthouse square in Athens, Texas. Athens is literally just down the road from here 40-45 miles. Here's what I want to say to the Freedom From Religion Foundation: "Whatever happened to freedom OF religion. If you don't want a nativity scene in your yard, don't put one in your yard. If you don't want to live in a county that has it on the courthouse lawn, move. Get over it!" I'm so tired of everyone trying to be politically correct and not wan

Of course, I've realized for a long time that I'll always have more things to do than I have time to do them. This week, it's less about work (or not, but for the sake of this...) than outside of work. I'd like my house to not be dusty and my floors to be vacuumed before I have friends over Saturday. I have to pick up the dishes my parents washed for me at their house. They are their dishes that I'm using, but had been in the cabinet for at least a year collecting dust. I have my own dishes piled in the sink, clothes piled in the basket sitting in the kitchen. Random decorations on the dining table. Clothes needing to be hung up. Christmas shipping that needs to be done. Some kind of idea of what to buy some people. Just over 2 weeks to make some decisions. Some people may be getting coal for Christmas. Oh, and I need to think ahead to the Christmas party I told the kids at church we would have. That's next weekend. I can think about that next week, right?

Learning to Assess Your Value as a Man Author Richard Simmons encourages men to discover their true worth. What do people think of me as a man? Do I measure up in their eyes as they see the choices I am making? What will happen to me if I fail at what I do? These are the questions with which men struggle. “Men so often define themselves by what they do, who they know or what they own. And when they do so, they unwittingly set themselves up for great confusion and failure in their personal lives, particularly when a major economic storm arises,” says businessman Richard E. Simmons III. In his book The True Measure of a Man: How Perceptions of Success, Achievement & Recognition Fail Men in Difficult Times , Simmons identifies these fears and seeks to help men find their true worth. Of all the suicides in the United States, 80 percent are committed by men. These statistics point to the fact that, unlike any other culture, America has placed a man’s worth on his perf

Growing up, it was tradition for my dad to say "it just doesn't seem like Christmas," usually on Christmas Eve. The older I get, the less like Christmas it ever seems. Even yesterday's amazingly pitiful city Christmas parade was more pathetic than usual. There wasn't even a band in the parade. The college was playing football yesterday. I think the Corsicana band was supposed to be in it because I saw a couple of band members in their letter jackets carrying instruments and the drill team in jackets and Santa hats. I guess not enough members showed up. And it started 30 minutes late. It was 70 degrees, so the weather seemed off. I have Paige's Christmas bought, and portions of a couple of other people, but need to start thinking about that more. Maybe I can go shopping after work one night this week. While I am shopping, what I really want is a peppermint mocha frappachino from Starbucks. They say you can get them anytime of year, but you can only get tiny

Marty Machowski’s new offering for families transforms hearts one story at a time Sometimes it’s easy to forget Jesus in the midst of frantic schedules, family squabbles and conflicting priorities. For many Christians, God often becomes little more than an afterthought after days absorbed and depleted by the busyness of life. But the truth is that he is the hero of every story—including the mundane, ordinary ones we experience on a regular basis. That is why Marty Machowski beckons families to take time out from the daily grind to be transformed by the message of the Good News in his latest release, The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments (New Growth Press, November 2011). Based on the ESV Bible, this uniquely illustrated Bible storybook uses 156 stories to present God’s plan of salvation in Christ from its opening narrative in Genesis to its finale in Revelation. This easy-to-read storybook written for children from preschool to high sc