USA

God’s in charge, and I don’t need a picture to illustrate my point.

My Internet has been out for a couple of days.
I have been going a little crazy.
I have become dependent, not just because of my blogging,
but because of the following reasons:
I could not get maps to anywhere I needed to go.
I could not balance my checkbook or make sure I had enough money for retail therapy.
I could not check my e-mail.
I could not google anything, including but not limited to the Olympic stats, several health conditions, recipes, school stuff, and church stuff.
I couldn’t use the yellow pages.com and you all know that I have forgotten how to use a real phonebook.
and, last, but not least,
I was forced to finish the organizing and cleaning I started on Monday.
Which, also meant that I was forced to ALMOST finish ironing my husband’s whole closet worth of clothes. And, you all know how much I hate to iron. I say almost, only because I have limited myself to 15 items of clothes a day.

Well, the reason for the post. The at&t guy looked at me a little crazily while I told him that God himself had been making our Internet work, even though it had not been hooked up to the right port for the past 3 years.

“Seriously”, I informed, “I have no doubt that God waited to let my connection go until he knew that I could handle it. Can you believe that it only took me 3 years to get my act together?”

Um, yeah, he didn’t answer me.

So, my friend Kristy e-mailed me a little story that illustrates that God knows what he is doing. I hope you all get a good smile…don’t know if it is good enough for a laugh. Along with that smile, I hope you know that God is always watching over you, even if it comes in the form of a flying cat.

Dwight Nelson recently told a true story about the pastor of his church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten. That’s what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree went ‘boing!’ and the kitten instantly sailed through the air – out of sight.

The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten.No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, “Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,” and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?” She replied,”You won’t believe this,” and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing.

Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, “Well, if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it.” She told the pastor, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.”

Love Pairs

Look mom, we put all of the Little Pet Shops in Love Pairs.

Oh yeah, what does it mean if you are in a love pair?

It means you are the same kind and you love each other.

What do you do if you love each other?
I don’t know. Mom, why do always have to talk about sex?
They are just pet shops.
They just stand by each other and love each other.
And we put the spider and the pig together because we only have one spider and one pig.
They just love each other like friends.
They can be Charlotte and Wilber.
So, we aren’t going to have any half pig/half spiders running around.
No.
What would we call that creation?
Piggers or spigs?

Mom, you think you are so funny.

You’re not.

I know I’m not funny. To you. Ha ha.

Dad thinks I’m funny.

That’s only because he’s your love pair.

(And I totally just took literary liberty here with this last sentence)

So, what kind of love pair is this?

Oh the butterfly and caterpillar aren’t a love pair.

The caterpillar is too little.

And, they aren’t married yet, right?

Right.

And, I would like to bare my testimony,
You can teach morals to your children at any given time.
The End.

The Foundation for a Better Life

I love these billboards. They are brought to you from an organization called The Foundation for A Better Life. I can’t tell you how many accidents I have barely missed while cricking me neck on the interstate trying to read the fine print. Not to mention trying to photograph.
Love these….plan to try and get more for your view.
And, I plan to live by the lessons in them too. I love it when people are inspiring. I also love it when other people spend time and money and buy billboards to inspire others.



Eat, Drink, and Get a Refill


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“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.”
~Alfred Hitchcock

This summer we have splurged and taken the kids to the real movies twice.
They were the matinee shows, but still a whole lot more expensive than our usual outing to the dollar show.
About a month ago we went and saw KungFu Panda.
And a couple of weeks ago we enjoyed every minute of Wall E.
They were both good, but Wall-E was our favorite.

If you’ve seen Wall-E, you will know what I am talking about when I say:

“It is plainly coincidental that I took the previous photo of
our HUGE drink two seconds before the show started.”

Here is the garbage can on the way out.
The theatre teenage workers were very amused that I was taking a picture of their pain.

It looks like I am not the only one who believes that if you splurge on $40 worth of movie tickets, you may as well round it off with an extra $20 for a large popcorn and drink that can be shared and refilled.
I know you will all think I am horrible when I tell you that I smuggle in the candy.

The real question is, ” Who is going to get up during the middle of the movie and fetch the refill?
That would usually be me. Isn’t that’s what mom’s are for?

Moms are also really good at making sure that their kids notice the cool new Dyson hand dryer in the bathroom.

After all that soda, we barely made it through the movie.

Alfred Hitchcock was from a different era of movie watching.

He and his little bladder were WAY before Supersize.

I really think that we should start a mother revolution and request that all family friendly movies implement a mid-movie potty/refill intermission.

And, with all those super sizes,

it’s no wonder that all Americans can relate to movies like Wall-E and KungFu Panda.

It’s a good thing we had the opportunity to work off the calories in the movie lobby on the way out.

How to have fun at Chuck E Cheese

Here is a way old post that I had forgotten.
Back in May, we celebrated Abigail’s ninth birthday in Atlanta.
We all had a great time.

I have a deep rooted love for Chuck E Cheese because of a memorable childhood experience involving my heroic mom and dad.
I am passing on this love of pizza, games, and rides to my children the best that I can.

I know a lot of you don’t care for the photos, but deal with it.

And, I love titling my posts with “how to”.
You have no idea how many people search “how to” on google.

With no further rambling.

Here it is: How to have fun at Chuck E Cheese.

Dance with Chuck E. on stage.
Especially if you both are wearing blue shirts and happen to have the same first initial.
Dance for the T.V. cameras.
If you do it with your cousins, it’s so much more fun.

Smile while riding.
Or don’t smile.
But make sure you concentrate so that you don’t miss any simulated roller coaster turns.

Command that someone watches you play.

Beg your dad to ride with you.

Beg the person with the most money for MORE tokens.Compete fiercely. Especially if the game requires your skills from back in the day.

If you don’t get enough tokens the first time, throw your ball at the flashing light.

Turn in your tickets for prize points.

Divide the points by the number of children, so everyone gets the same amount of points.

Pick out the best cheesiest (that’s why the call it Chuck E Cheese) prize you can find because it takes 25 points to earn a piece of gum.

Be enthusiastic while the euphoria last.

Those prizes will all be used, broken, or secretly trashed by mom within the next 24 hours.

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

You all know that I am huge advocate (meaning that I post about it from time to time on my blog) for mental healthiness. I hate to see people suffer because they are unwilling to let go of their pride and reach out to professionals. What I hate even more is to see people make their loved ones suffer because of their own untreated illness.

What I hate the most, is seeing people and families and friends suffer the effects of mental illness because of ignorance and/or for the fear of being stigmatized.
Here is a tragic story of how PTSD destroyed one of America’s heroes.

The argument could be made that the war destroyed this young man’s life, and I am open to that argument. I really don’t like war and wish it was never necessary to use force. (Although I understand America’s God given responsibility to promote freedom) But, really, this man did not have to take his own life. If he would have been successfully treated, he could have lived a long and happy life.

So, if any of you out there are depressed or anxietal or OCD or whatever else that you know deep down inside is not normal. Don’t wait until it’s too late. With medication and therapy, you can be as normal as me. 🙂 And, don’t let that stop you. As bad off as you think I am, it could be so so much worse.

The Battle with the Brothers.

In 2001, my family was on The Family Feud.

We had a blast. Louie Anderson was so much fun.

We lost on the money round. We blame it on my brothers. They choked. Just watch and you will see. It is so entertaining.

Renee and I begged Erick and Adam to let one of us be included on the final round during the whole ten hour drive from Utah to California. They wouldn’t let us; neither of them could give up the glory. Renee and I really didn’t care. We just wanted the money and we knew statistically (from being avid watchers), the families that had a man and woman answer the final round, had a higher chance of winning.

Men and women think differently. Having two men proved to be our downfall. Both of my brothers happened to think a lot alike. You will have to watch this until the end to see what I am talking about.

So, the moral of the story. Men need us. We need them. Embrace it. Or lose $20,000!


Wills Family Feud (Sep 2001) from Adam Wills on Vimeo.