What's On Your Desk?

From JudyH at Anybody Home -- What's on Your Desk?

Here's mine:
Pizza fliers, phone, glass of pop, cpu, monitor, dsl modem, speakers,, mouse, keyboard (on sliding tray), Febreze spray bottle, sunglasses, crappy digital camera, bills, bunch of filing, pkg of CVS brand loratadine (generic claritin), change jar, digital ear thermometer, printer, lamp, african violet, scissors, tiny hairbrush, vcr/dvd remote, chapstick, Chadwicks catalog, birthday cards from dd5's birthday party last Saturday, unwritten thank you notes for dd6's birthday in December, Disney Princess Uno cards, Christmas knockoff-Limoge box in the shape of a tree with pears and a partridge on top, Entertainment coupon book, 1940's Christmas CD set, Enya CD, Newsboy's Adoration CD, more bills. Yeah, you get the gist. I need to clean this sucker OFF!



What's on my desk? 

Family Portrait

Our Family 

I'm messing with Picasa and Hello, trying to get a picture in my profile. I have discovered that I have very few decent pictures of myself! This one said there was an error uploading, so I didn't think it went through.

This IS a picture of our whole family, however, Ds is still baking! This was taken at Dh's sister's wedding in June 2003, and he was born October 2003.

Clinton Blog?

I just blog-hopped over here. Do you think it's really Bill, or is someone ghost-writing? It just seems too down-home for a former leader of the free world. I mean, that shmaltzy gazing-into-Hillary's-eyes post, doesn't it seem a little weird? Maybe it is him and he's trying to convince the world that they are still a couple. Or maybe I've just gotten WAY too cynical. There's only 4-5 comments per post, if it were really the former Pres, don't you think there'd be hundreds? I mean, Rosie O'Donnell got at least 50 per post before she shut them down (some were just awful!).

Verse for Kids

Well, I'm back. I've been a little lethargic lately. I have a lot of things that have come to mind to blog about, but when I sit down at the computer I just don't have the energy to dig deeply and flesh out my thoughts. I will one of these days.

For tonight, a story from bedtime. Dd5 was changing into jammies for the night, and put on her clean panties for tomorrow. Monday happens to have fruit on it. She looked at them and said "just like the fruits of the Spirit, Mommy!" So we started listing the Fruit of the Spirit -- I couldn't think of them all! We got out Dd6's New International Reader's Version, which uses simple words that are easier to read and looked in Galations 5. The Fruits were awesome, but a couple of verses later, we hit the jackpot! Verse 26 deals with just about every childish conflict that can occur.

The NIV reads "Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." The NIrV says "Let us not become proud. Let us not make each other angry. Let us not want what belongs to others." We could all do with a bit of that advice, eh?!

In this post, Ann paints a beautiful picture of equipping her children each day with the armor of God. This verse is becoming the #1 piece of ammunition in our family's arsenal against the Enemy!!!

Starting the Day

Here's an incredible prayer to start the day -- and week. I first read this prayer at The Upward Call, then Tulip Girl linked and quoted it. I think I'm being spoken to! Here's what really caught my eye:

You let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You. Rather from these moments of quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me through all the hours of the day.

It's easy (well, maybe not so easy, see next 'graf) to get that time of peace in, then start the chaos that is my day! I tend to think that is the way life is supposed to be, but I must remember that God is God of order, not chaos.

Kim at The Upward Call also talks about trying to find that quiet time with the Lord. It's so difficult at this season in my life (3 young kids). I started just this month getting up at 6 to get going before everyone else gets up. BUT my baby boy has ears like a (what animal has great ears?). He hears the quietest movement around the house and calls to get up at the first floor creak. It's nice to have some quite time with him first thing in the morning, too, but I really need to try to get some prayer and Bible study time in. Any other moms of young kids have any ideas?

Blue Collar Comedy Tour

There isn't anything on TV tonight, the kitchen is trashed, so of course I'm watching Comedy Channel. Oh. My. Gosh. I'm laughing so hard, I'm about to pee. These guys are so funny. Now, it's kind of an inside joke thing, I'm from rural KS, so I know these people! Anyway, I think I want to change my blog name to Here's Your Sign.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Yeah, because I'm thinking that my lack of comments is from Blogger's crappy comment problems, and not because I have a boring blog that no one wants to read. ;0)

Guess What's Sitting in My Garage?

A brand-new van!!! Well, not brand-new, but new to me. Now, it's not mine, not quite yet. We went to a friend's dealership today to 'look at vans'. Before we left, Dh says to me "Are we buying today?". I'm thinking, "No way can we do this today." But we left the option open. We didn't have to worry about if the van was any good, or how much wool he was pulling over our eyes -- he's the husband of a very good friend of mine, they're both very authentic Christians. So we went and looked, taking the whole crew with us. Dh stayed at the dealership with the kids while I test drove the van. Oh, boy, I was hooked. You see, for 2 years, we lived with Dh's grandfather, facilitating his care so he could stay at home until he passed away in December of 2002. He left us his 1998 Mercury Marquis with maybe only 20,000 miles on it! This was by far the nicest car Dh or I had ever owned. Now, with two girls in carseats, it was quite comfortable. We couldn't give anyone a ride to church unless they could fit between them, or squish in the bench seat in front, but we were oh-so-very blessed to have that car. Dh still had our little 1994 Escort to drive to and from work, I got the good car. But with the addition of little boy tadpole, two boosters and a carseat are just a little cramped in that back seat, and we really couldn't transport any additional children legally (DD6 sometimes would ride short stints in the front seat if absolutely necessary), plus the girls can't buckle up their own boosters since the seats are crammed so close together. So, I've been campaigning for a van or SUV. We've given up on the SUV idea for now since only the new ones have 6 or 7 passenger seating. We won't ever buy a brand-new car, it just isn't worth the money to us that you lose driving off the car lot. So, a nice low-mileage used van is exactly what I need.

Anyway, so then our friend the manager kept the kids (the girls AND the baby boy!) in his office while we talked $$ with the business manager. We knew we didn't have pristine credit due to some old mistakes, but it's slowly getting better. We also have no money to put down. He crunched the numbers and both the interest rate and the payments were quite a bit higher than we wanted. Dh was great, he said "It's just not going to happen today", and we prepared to leave. I was disappointed, but like I said, I was NOT expecting to come home with a new vehicle. Well, our friend was not going to let us leave without a van! I think he and his wife have watched me shoehorn these 3 kids into 3 carseats in the back of the Marquis just one too many times! He set it up for us to take the van for the day as a loaner while they crunch some more numbers, shop banks, and possibly pull in a favor or two! Is God great or what? This after we just put $300 into Dh's beater car yesterday for new gas lines and another $120 into it for tires last week. It is just dying slowly. If it weren't for that, we'd have a little more $$ for the downpayment. As it is, we can probably scratch up $500 to bring the payments down just a little more. Anyway, I'm not holding my breath, but I just might get to KEEP this van in my garage!!! So exciting!

Top 'o the Morning to You

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Just a quick note before we head off for BSF. You can't imagine the joy in my heart this morning, hearing dd5 wake up, the first words out of her mouth singing along with Newsboys' "He Reigns":

Glory, glory, allelujah, He reigns,
All God's children singing Glory, glory, He reigns!

Mmmm. That set the tone for my day!

On Salesmen and Guarding your Heart

The Thinklings have an awesome blog. There's hardly a post that doesn't encourage, educate, or just plain make me think. Today is no different.

What's for Dinner?

MMMMM, next week, it's Easy Beef Bourguignonne.

Thanks, Tulipgirl (and TG's friend Ellen), looks like a great addition to my rotation!!! :::adding stew meat and wine to next week's grocery list:::

Parenting Epiphany

As dd6 got up for the nth time AFTER bedtime last night, it hit me. She just wants to be with mommy. Just wants to be held. Now, while I try to hold the bedtime line firm, I usually do a little snuggle, then "off to bed with you". I don't know why, it's probably obvious to anyone else, but it just hit me after she went back to bed that she wouldn't be braving Mommy's back-to-bed wrath if she were getting enough attention and holding during the day. So, on my to-do list today: Hold the girls more!!!

Gmail Invites

I have a ton, anyone need one? I'm really liking G-mail, particularly for e-mail groups I belong to (Google groups is great for that too). I like the way the messages are threaded including your response. If you want your own Gmail account, I have 50 invites available!

Intellectual Stuff (NOT)

OK, I'm not an intellectual or pundit by any stretch of the imagination, but I had once thought I would be writing some thought-provoking stuff here. Instead of this:


From Puke to Poop in 7 Days, by Gem.

Aargh! The favored son has favored us with various yuck for the past week. (See here for introduction to yuck). Luckily, the projectile type only lasted for Sunday and Tuesday (he faked me out Monday, I thought he was well, then it moved to the other end). But here it is, almost Tuesday week and he is still producing yuck. I can't go anywhere -- to church, to Bible study, to the girls' dance studeo -- because most diaper changes are involving a quick bath. Sigh. I know I will see the light of day again, but it is getting very cramped in this little house with the poop boy and two stir-crazy girls! It's sunny today, perhaps I can send them out bundled up to play outside a little. One saving grace is that none of the rest of us caught it! Now,that's incredible considering I've been up to my elbows in it! Oh, I'm praying (and faithfully serving the BRAT diet) that things will firm up soon!

Feeling Stupid Again

Errrrgh. I'm trying to get a picture in my profile, but when I go through the rigamarole of Hello and Picasa, copy the url from the post and paste it in my profile, it says there are illegal characters. Who let illegal characters in here? I made sure everyone had their green card when I hired them. Oh, wait. No, that's not what they meant, was it. Anyway, they weren't illegal when they posted on the blog and I copy-n-pasted them into the profile. What gives?

Who, me? 

Cool picture my 6-yr-old daughter took. I call it Leaves and Shadows 

Two Day Meet & Greet

I got this from Carmen , and commented on her site. I thought it sounded like a fun way to see new blogs.

The two day Meet n' Greet.

Spread the Comment Cheer.

The site of the day: the person above you and then you.

How to play:

* Leave a comment here that says hello.
* Now, go visit the person who commented above you and say

Hello, Jema sent me.

Please play along.

Note to the first person commenting: simply say hello to me.

And YES, of course you are invited to play as often as you wish.

I don't know, it just sounded fun!

Moving In

I decided to just start blogging here. The look will change as I figure out what the heck I'm doing, but there are so many more options here than Pleonast. So, here I am! Please go to my old blog and check out what a dork I am and decide if you want to come back!

I did it!

Ok, it's so stupid, but I am so proud of myself. I got that dadgum weather pixie on the sidebar! Now, who knows what else I screwed up, but it's there. I think I'm going to take the plunge and start blogging here. We'll see what happens.

Now, I know I don't have a loyal readership. Well, any readership at all now that I think about it. :::grin::: But if anyone has a better idea for a title for this blog, let me know. It's stinking hard to do. I must have come up with a dozen ideas I didn't like, and settled on this one just to get it set up. My first name is Jema, so I like the gem idea. Plus, I see us all as unfinished works of art that really won't reach our full potential until heaven. Whoooo, what brilliance we'll see there! Anyway, we're a work in progress, this is a work in progress. Be forwarned, title may change. Same goofball will be here!

Still playing around

Aargh. Still trying to figure out how to get my sidebar the way I want it. I'm trying to get this

I took it out, since I got it on the sidebar, finally!

on the sidebar, as well as a wish-list. I need a blogger for dummies, I guess. I'll get it sooner or later, I guess.

Just Getting Started

Just signed up to make comments, I will start blogging soon. For backstory, see my old blog. I'll be here soon.