Update…Update…Update

We interrupt this program to bring you the most current news in the world of me, the blogger known as Brenda, which, coincidentally, is my name. I’ll also answer to Brender, Mom, Mrs. Brenda, Aunt Brenda, Bren, honey-darlin’-sweetie pie or witchy-poo (depending upon which mood the hubster thinks I’m in, and he’s entitled to his opinion even if he’s wrong, so let’s just leave it at that, shall we?) and/or hey beautiful. What? It could happen.

Tomorrow is the last day of our fiscal year at work, and they threw us a party this evening to celebrate. We left work early for the festivities, which included our own version of American Idol and a drawing for door prizes. Y’all, I won a door prize! I rarely win anything, but today I won a coffee table book donated by the Georgia Museum of Art. “California Impressionists” sounds impressive, no? I love my job.

So far, I’ve received no response to the email I sent to my home church regarding the questionable link on their website. I sent it to the pastor and the youth minister a week ago and a couple of days later to the church secretary. I even sent a second email suggesting another link they could use instead. Still haven’t contacted the webmaster, which is probably what I should have done in the first place, and haven’t decided yet if I will. I’m trying to figure out why it matters so much. I mean, I know why I care what they have on their website – because I’m still a member there. But why does it bother me that I’ve gotten no response? Carl suggests the possibility, regardless of the close relationship I had working with them for 5 years, that they haven’t taken kindly to the idea of men being rebuked by a woman. Could be, I guess. I hope they didn’t take the email to be rude. It’s not the first email I’ve sent to the pastor. The last one was rather heartfelt, a note of appreciation and encouragement, following a service I attended in which his sermon ministered to me. No reply to that one either, but it didn’t bother me like this does. Leaves me feeling kinda church-homeless.

Maybe they forgot to wind the internet. It is Hooterville, and high-speed access wasn’t available when I was there. Oh well.

Thank you all for your prayers for my girls. Keep ’em coming if you would – we’re not out of the dark yet. I don’t speak with them daily, though I try. It’s comforting that they are together, and I have informed them that I do not intend to let them be separated again. Yesterday, when I spoke to Sarah, I asked her once again to pray that God would give her a desire to grow in her faith and a willingness to trust Him in all things. She said she would. I’m praying that He’ll strengthen the bond between them and prepare her to come with her sister for the school year. I would so rather have either or both of them resent me now for uprooting them than to have them resent me the rest of their lives for not seeing to it that they were firmly rooted in Christ. Whatever it takes, Lord. Whatever it takes.

Well, that about wraps it up. God bless you for stopping by. Hope your day is absotively, posilutely wondermous!

Poetry Thursday

A few years ago, I participated in an online poetry forum. Participants were challenged to write a poem a day for 30 days. I didn’t make it 30 days, but I did make an effort. It’s not as easy as one might think. I don’t consider myself a poet, and I haven’t tried since then to write anything new. Indeed, I am a rank amateur (rank meaning malodorous.) I offer, as proof, the following examples of my mad skillz:

Mother Goose Grows Up

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
armed with a can of Raid.
She had no more fear when the spider came near,
so bravely she pointed and sprayed.

These days she sits around on her duff – it’s
quite a bit larger now.
She consumed all the curds and whey (so I’ve heard)
then she went and devoured the cow.

———————————

Humpty Dumpty’s only recourse
when Mrs. Dumpty filed for divorce
was to hire a lawyer
from King and Associates –
the best his money could buy.

She represented herself.

Humpty, a Wall Street broker,
really wanted to choke her
when she got it all
thanks to his lawyer,
who didn’t even try.

———————————

Bo Peep has lost her lambs again:
she will not keep her eye on them
and leaves them alone for days.

A neighbor called Authorities,
reported her activities,
and the State took them away.

———————————–

Yes, well, there you have it,folks. My contribution to “Poetry Thursday”. Have a fantabulous day!

Fifty Ways To Grieve Your Mother

I went to bed early last night and went right to sleep. Next thing I know it’s midnight and I’m wide awake. With a song running through my head. A Simon and Garfunkel tune that keeps playing itself over and over, but the words are different. And it goes like this:

There must be fifty ways to grieve your mother
Fifty ways to grieve your mother

Just step on a crack, Jack
Wreck her new van, Stan
You don’t need to share toys, Roy
Just go climb a tree
Learn how to cuss, Gus
You don’t wanna discuss much
Just set the cat free, Lee
And eat all the cheese

Just start talkin’ smack, Jack
Break a new dish, Trish
You don’t have to be clean, Jean
Just try to be mean
Hop on the bed, Fred
You don’t need to obey much
Just don’t brush your teeth, Keith
And then you shall see

There must be fifty ways to grieve your mother
Fifty ways to grieve your mother. . .

Yeah. So anyway. How’d you sleep?

Treasure Tuesday

This is my treasure for today. Every morning, I have a new Bible verse waiting for me in my inbox. It never fails to give me a lift, and it’s very encouraging when the Verse of the Day applies to my particular situation that day. It also keeps me in God’s word daily. When I’ve let myself get too busy to go to the scriptures, they come to me! What it won’t do is drag me out of bed an hour earlier for quiet time, but at least it does motivate me to pick up my Bible, or look up the verse online at Bible Gateway, and read it in context. It’s a great memory verse tool as well.

Daily Bible Verse

Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Provided by Christ Notes

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Proverbs 16:25 (New International Version)

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You can find even more treasures at Faith’s blog. Have a blessed day!

Have a Great Monday!

It’s a gorgeous day here in Northeast Georgia. The gently falling rain is refreshing and very soothing. I love rain.

I hope all of you had a glorious weekend, and may your Monday be blessed!

Dialogue With a One-Way Mirror in Victoria’s Secret

As she disappears to the back of the store,
he beats a path to the coffee shop next door.

In the silence of the dressing room,
her reflection taunts her.

Can you imagine your dump-truck
butt in that tiny thing?

It is really cute, though.

I suppose you could enlist a personal trainer,
maybe get deal-a-meal. A bikini-wax is in order,
and you really should do something about those
spider veins: sclerotherapy or laser treatment?

Who am I kidding? I don’t even
have the courage to try it on!

She leaves the swimsuit hanging and finds
her husband waiting, just as she had instructed.

He asks, “Did you find anything?”
She shakes her head.
“Nah, too expensive.”
————————-
Brenda/3.7.05

I wrote this last year in answer to a challenge to write a poem using the following words:
dump-truck, deal, courage, path, personal, instruction, silence, coffee, spider, wax

What Would You Do?

What would you do if you found this link on your church’s website?

I sent the pastors the following email with a request for a reply:

Hi! It’s Brenda, your former financial secretary. Just wanted to let you know the website looks great, but you may want to take a closer look at the “Can I Know” link on the home page.http://www.caniknow.com/ Look at the bulleted section right below the big “IF!” See it? Here’s what it says: *If Heaven is real and hell is real, (maybe they’re not) but IF they are real, is it worth the chance that you might spend an Eternity in hell? *If you could KNOW that you were going to Heaven would you want to? *Is there someone you know or care about that you would not want to go to hell, IF hell IS real? Now scroll down to the bottom of the page. See that? Written in red: Hell may not be real….BUT IF IT IS!!!!!!!!! This link is right on the FBC Hooterville home page, and it’s the very first one! Who is this Don fellow? Do you know? Now I know that there’s a disclaimer on his site near the top, but I don’t see a disclaimer on your site anywhere, which makes it appear that pretty much you endorse his statements. I believe this man misses the mark. He’s got some of it right, except the fact of Hell. Minor detail? Heavens no! Please remedy this as soon as possible. Love in Christ, Me

Southern Baptists do believe Hell is real, don’t they? (Well, I always did, cause when my daddy told my mama to go there, she always said “I’m in hell with YOU.” But I digress.) I’m thinking maybe they just didn’t read it thoroughly before linking to it. I noticed a lot of typos on the music minister’s page, so it’s likely (obvious) they didn’t proof-read.

I wonder what would be the best way to encourage them to use spell-check. I wonder how many others notice things like that. Would you contact the webmaster? The secretary? Why do I care? Because there are a lot of people who would chalk it up to ignorance, and that would give them one more reason to reject the message.

To a lot of people Christian = Doofus. They think we have to turn off our brains to believe. I think we don’t have to prove them right.

What say you?

Halfway to 80

For those of you who don’t know, my beloved and I met online. We didn’t use a dating service or anything of that sort, because we weren’t looking for potential mates. We crossed paths once in a chat room on MSN, then “met” again almost a year later in another MSN chat room for trivia buffs. We didn’t know at the time that we had a mutual friend. Her name is Nikki, and she is a dear friend to both of us. We got to know one another pretty well while we were yukking it up in “To Quizinity and Beyond”, and the three of us met in Memphis on one of her visits to the states. She’s from Australia and had come to the US to meet a few of our trivia buddies, and she graciously accepted my invitation to stay with me for a week. Carl and I had just met in person that weekend, and Nikki arrived in Memphis the day he was leaving. The three of us had a grand old time that day sightseeing, snapping photos, and laughing nonstop. Nikki and I saw Carl off, then headed back to my apartment in Arkansas.

She was a wonderful houseguest. I couldn’t take off work, so she was basically stranded in Hooterville until I got home each day. There is no fun to be had in Hooterville. In the evenings, we’d go to Little Rock or North Little Rock to find fun, and even that was a stretch. I grew up in Little Rock, but on the southwest side, sheltered, if you will, from all things cultural and cool. In other words, I was a dork. Okay, make that am, but… well, now you know why. Pretty much, we’d just go out to dinner and then for a walk. The highlight of her visit, I’m sure, was the night we went to Outback Steakhouse. Yes, I did take my vegan Aussie friend to Outback. Well, we were running out of options, and she hadn’t been there before. And yes, she still laughs at me for that.

She is now happily married to one of our other trivia buddies and living in Washington state. They are the proud parents of one adorable little boy. We will get together again one of these days, this time on her turf, because obviously, I am the most-boring-ever hostess on the planet. Or at least on 2 continents.

We chat every now and then on MSN messenger, which is one of the ways that Carl and I stayed connected while we were dating. Yahoo! messenger is another. Sometimes we’d do both at the same time. We’d also talk on the phone while making faces at each other on our webcams. Barb asked me in her comment on this post about the webcam. Yes, I did get the webcam so that Carl and I could see each other. Because who wants to be seeing this or this
while typing sweet nothings to a computer? Really. And the cool thing is I’m not half bad looking in comparison. Although I do wonder about his affinity for little old ladies. Not that I’m worried. I’m already halfway there.

Group Project

I did promise to share about a project that our Baptist Women (younger generation WMU) group took part in, so here it is.

I suggested that we get together and have a “quilting bee” to teach our daughters to sew. Several of the ladies were hesitant because many of them didn’t know how either, and only 3 of us had machines. But when I told them what I thought we should make, they all wanted to participate. I showed them the denim quilt I had made and told them how easy it was. All we needed was enough denim to make lap quilts for the seniors at the local retirement home. We asked all of our church members to donate old jeans, but only if they were unwearable. And boy did they ever. We had boxes and boxes full of worn out jeans, flannel shirts, and several old sheets. We were in business.

Everyone took home something to cut into squares, and we met together for two Saturdays to assemble them all. We had a fabulous time fellowshipping and working together to make those quilts. And y’all, I thought my quilt was cool. It was nothing like these. The ones we made were denim and flannel on one side and muslin or cotton blend on the other. Durable, but not too heavy. They were very nice.

The best part was delivering the quilts to the nursing home residents. The way their faces lit up when we presented their gifts was unforgettable.

It truly is more blessed to give than to receive.

Ties That Bind

I tend to outgrow my jeans before they get too worn to wear, and I cling to them in hopes of one day being able to fit into them again. But this was not always the case. No, I actually did wear out several pair in the days before desk jobs and blogging. I became attached to them because they represented a time in my life when I was finally the size I wanted to be. I had worked hard to achieve that goal, and I maintained my weight for almost 15 years. Those were the days.

Anyway, I didn’t want to just throw out my favorite jeans, so I made a quilt out of them. I cut them into 6-inch squares and laid the pieces on the floor in rows about the width of a twin mattress and columns the approximate length. I rearranged the squares until the color pattern suited me, then I stitched them all together using a 1/4″ seam allowance. This would be the quilt top. Then I cut a sheet to the same size at the quilt top to use for backing. Denim is heavier than most quilting fabrics, so no batting was needed. I sewed top and back together (outsides facing in) around the edges, leaving an opening in one end for turning. After turning, I stitched the opening closed and continued the seam along all 4 edges to give it a uniform look and to prevent ravelling. The finishing touch was to take contrasting yarn and tie the quilt back to the quilt top at the corner of each piece. I had made my first. quilt. ever.

When we were dating, my husband wanted me to show him how to make one. We gathered up all his worn-out jeans to make a quilt for his son. We cut squares from the jeans and from an old sheet and alternated the blue and green squares. We backed it with a dark blue sheet and tied it with orange yarn.

I showed him how to use the machine so he could finish the project himself. He enjoyed it so much, he even made a binding for the finished quilt! (Don’t you love a man who can sew? And quilt? I do!)

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about a ladies’ group project I led.