Category Archives: Challenge

Fun Monday ~ Bedside Table?

 Make sure you scroll on down to the next post for my Bloggy Giveaway which is going on all week…

Our hosts for Fun Monday this week are the Lurchers. Here’s their assignment…

So continuing in the spirit of “being interested in people”, I would like to know, or see, what’s on, in or under your bedside table! So open those draws and bare your soul to us! Is there anything special there that has a story or a memory that you can tell us about? Books that you keep there to delve into from time to time? Trinkets that you don’t know where else to put? Let’s see!

My condo here in Southern California is nice and small. I had to find a very little bedside table that would fit next to my bed and still let us open the doors to the armoire. So not much room for clutter but let’s see if there are any surprises in the drawer of the night table…

 

On top the current reads. On the bottom shelf a basket filled with additional books I want to get to soon. If I was in my home in Washington for this Fun Monday I’d have a lot more fun stuff to reveal like notes from my kids when they were little. Costume Jewelery from my mother-in-law’s stash. Old goodies that have never gotten cleaned out…

 

We’ve been in our condo for a little over a year. I haven’t had enough time here to find surprises. My tabletop has my current reads; Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge, My ESV Bible, Taste & See a devotional by John Piper, Ancient Christian Devotional (A year of Weekly Readings),  A notebook to write down anything noteworthy. The last thing on my table top is a coaster that we got in Ventura at Anacapa Brewing Co. for my coffee cup when my Dear brings me coffee in bed on Saturday mornings. In my drawer there are a couple pens, lip gloss, hand lotion, and sermon notes that end up in my Bible that I clean out and put in the drawer.

 

Here’s a photo showing how close the armoire door comes to the table.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my little corner of the condo. Head over to the Lurcher’s for more Fun Monday. You’ll find the participants in the sidebar…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

 

Love and Hate Meme ~

Maryt tagged me for a love and hate meme. She had ten.  I prefer not to use the word hate too much, especially about people so here’s what I came up with…

1. I love peace in relationships and I hate to not be forgiven.

2. I love to watch Soccer and I hate to watch wrestling.

3. I love to eat with joyful people and I hate to eat with pouty people.

4. I love to watch clean action packed movies and I hate to watch dirty sleasy movies. (so I don’t)

5. I love a clear smooth flowing freeway and I hate gridlock, bumper to bumper inching along freeways.

6. I love to be full and satisfied and I hate to be hungry, craving everything in sight.

7. I love fresh air and I hate cigarette smoke saturated air.

8. I love the texture of tender meat and I hate the texture of liver.

9. I love honesty and I hate deception.

10. I love what Jesus brought to our world and I hate what Satan brought to our world.

If you choose to play this meme let me know and I’ll come by and read your answers…

Know & Tell Friday

Question 1
What is your favorite fairy tale?

I think my favorite fairy tale is Snow White. It might have been the first one I saw when I was little and it made an impression on me. I also like the 7 Dwarfs.

Question 2
If you could be guaranteed a spot on the reality show “Survivor”, would you go?

No, I really would not want to expose myself to the elements in that way. I’m past my physical prime and I wouldn’t want to be without my hormone pills. 🙂 I also wouldn’t want to be at the whim of the producers manipulating and exposing me in a bad light.

Question 3
Meanest thing you ever did to a sibling??? I know…. what kind of question is this 🙂

This one is easy for me. I would hide in the closet or under the bed and when my older sisters would come home from dates I’d grab at their legs from under the bed or I’d grab their hand when they reached in the closet for their nightgown! Made them scream bloody murder every time.

Question 4
Best Fashion Era… 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s or now…

I think the 60’s were great. I loved the classic Jackie Kennedy look.

 

Question 5
Have you ever skipped to the end of a book before you finished reading the book?

Maybe once. It is not a habit of mine to do that. If the book drags on at the end I might skim through to get to the end.

Bonus Questions (I found these questions through a website, and boy are these challenging…)  ~

Question 6
What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year? ~

To be able to move back to Seattle. ~

Question 7
What is one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God? ~

Talk to Him like He’s real and my best friend.  ~

For more Know and Tell click over to To Know Him.

Winter Flowers in California

The theme for this week! 

January 23 – 29. Wildflowers in Winter, a winter image of a flower in your area.

 

Bird of Paradise (Camarillo, California)

I live in the city and wildflowers are out of easy reach for me. These Birds of Paradise seem to grow with absolutely no effort around here. They pretty much bloom all year long from Winter to Fall. The Hummingbirds love to come and visit these. I’m still trying to catch a photo with that little bird visiting. This one is just outside my bedroom window. Today it’s pouring down rain here and this splash of color caught in a bit of sunlight is cheering me up.

  The Bird of Paradise is one of four plants in the genus Strelitzia.  The plant most often referred to as the Bird of Paradise and the one pictured above is the orange flowering Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia reginae.

For more winter flowers around the world visit Wildflower Morning.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Walking with Lovella and Company ~

So I joined an online walking club over at What Matters Most with fellow bloggers. Most everyone has pedometers but so far I do not so I am figuring it out on averages and how many steps I take on average in a minute. Sounds complicated but it’s not too hard to figure out. Anyway the point is to try to get out and walk more. Here’s my first weeks average. I am calculating 6 days and taking Sunday off.

Monday ~ 7900
Tuesday ~ 8680
Wednesday ~ 9980
Thursday ~ 3500
Friday ~ 9000
Saturday ~ 12,350 (woohoo)

Total 51,410 divided by 6 = 8568

I’d like to get to over 10,000 steps a day….

WFMW ~ Backwards Day

So it’s January and all minds shift to eating less and getting into shape. I got confused over the holidays and thought I was a bear getting ready to hibernate. Needless to say I put on a few! So it’s high time to stop watching people exercise and to exercise myself. See my 5# weights are all ready to go.

I would like someone out there to recommend a good workout video to me. Nothing too strenuous. I don’t have any equipment and can’t fit any in my condo. So a workout DVD without needing equipment other than weights. Something easy for me to follow along with. Anyone, anyone???

For more Backwards WFMW click here.

8 in 2008

Play Along…It is easy to play along. Just pick out 8 things you’d like to see, do, feel, or experience in 2008! Your list can be spiritual, physical, or emotional, but hopefully not too material! If the Lord leads you, dream big as you share your heart’s desires with Him along with a willingness to see His work accomplished in you and through you in 2008.

So I’m joining in with others at Extravagant Grace and considering 8 things I’d like to see, do, feel, or experience in 2008. ~

Here are my Eight…

1. I’d love to see some of the people I’m praying for who aren’t Disciples of Christ respond to God’s call this year. I realize that my responsibility in this is to keep praying diligently for them…

2. I want to try to walk at least 6 days a week. I’m over 50 now and my body just needs an extra push in burning calories. I don’t eat excessively (except at holidays, birthdays, every 3rd Tuesday, etc. ) I need a lot of help in keeping my weight stable as opposed to gaining…

3. I want to Abide in Christ and here’s a great quote that I saw at “Of First Importance Blog” that describes abiding well. “In a nutshell, abiding in Christ means allowing His Word to fill our minds, direct our wills, and transform our affections. In other words, our relationship to Christ is intimately connected to what we do with our Bibles!”– Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 114 ~

4. I want to spend more time with my parents and family. ~

5. I’d like to cut down on some monthly expenses and try to pay down some debt this year. Along with this I’d like to convert to on-line bill paying. ~

6. I’d like to call and write our older surviving Aunts and Uncles more this year. ~

7. I want to keep learning new things by reading and traveling. ~

8. I want to honor my husband more this year. I think I’ll need to come up with something more specific to accomplish this, like listening better, etc. To see more 8 in 2008 click over to Extravagant Grace.

 

Fall Reading Wrap-up

So here we are at the end of Fall and it’s time for true confessions. I did read some of the books on my list.

Holy Bible ~ year long ~ I’m moving along in my yearly reading. I’m in Ephesians right now and I’m being blown away!

Hood ~ Stephen Lawhead ~ This is going on my Spring List

The Documents in the Case ~ Dorothy Sayers ~ Fabulous! I highly recommend it.

The Dean’s Watch~ Elizabeth Goudge ~ I thoroughly enjoyed this and Goudge is on my new favorite author list! Here’s something I wrote about it when I finished it.

“I just finished the last page of this book and I’m so sad that the story has come to an end. Elizabeth Goudge is fast becoming my new favorite author. She has a great descriptive style. The same appreciation I have for George MacDonald and how he weaves a true loving relationship with God contrasted against a cold religious relationship is growing as deep for Goudge’s fiction. I love MacDonald’s Scottish Countryside settings and I love Goudge’s English countryside settings”

Faithfulness and Holiness ~ J. I. Packer ~ Meaty and I will be reading this one again.

Peace Like a River~ Leif Enger ~ This is going on my Winter list…

Taste and See ~ John Piper ~ I’ve just started this…

The Tale of Beatrix Potter ~ Margaret Lane ~ As usual the real story is different from what you saw in the movie. I’m looking forward to going back to Lake Country in England to check out some of the inspirations for her stories.

Pierced by the Word ~ John Piper ~ I really have a huge appreciation for Piper but this one isn’t one of my favorites…

Books added along the way…

The Scent of Water~ Elizabeth Goudge ~ I’ll be trying to get my hands on more of Goudge’s books. I am thoroughly enthralled by her writing…

What I learned this time around is that there are authors out there that I still need to discover. I’m so happy that the bloggy world has introduced me to some of my new favorites.

Thank you so much Katrina for hosting this great challenge! To see more wrap ups head over to Callipidder Days on Friday.

Fun Monday ~ The Story of Your Home and Road…

We live in a neighborhood in Washington State northeast of the city of Seattle. We are surrounded by new homes. Our home is the original home that was here by itself surrounded by trees and fields. It was part of  a nursery. The owners of this home finally sold all the property around it to a developer who built many homes on small parcels. There used to be a dirt road access to our home from the main busy road. New roads were built when the neighborhood was developed and access to our home is more convoluted. We moved into this house in 1998.

 

These 4 photos are the road that comes to the back side of our house and then the drive you have to come up to get to the front side of our home.  You could say we are the “sticks out like a sore thumb” house in the neighborhood. One of the major attractions we had to this old house was the detached garage/shop/barn. We have lots of  extra junk and cars (projects and hobbies) that fit in this extra space nicely. Our chain link fence is another thing that is different than all the new wooden fences in the neighborhood!

 

We’ve made several improvements to this old house but are now reconsidering what we want to do. We have put new siding on 1/3 of the home so the front and one side of the home are different than the back of the house.

 

This is the front of our house that you can’t see from the street. You can see the new siding we’ve added here. We are now seriously considering the idea of demolishing the house and rebuilding on this property. We have some heating challenges because of how old the house is and the way things were added on over the years. We also have very uneven floors and some flooding issues when we get big storms. We can only make a wild guess as to when the original part of the house was built. We tend to think it was in the ’60’s. But it wouldn’t surprise us if the original little section of the house that’s been added on to over the years is a lot older than that. The last addition that there are county records on shows the ’70’s.

 

I decided to add this photo taken from the inside of my house looking out my stairwell window. A pretty view of my neighbor’s Maple tree in the late fall (all her leaves land in my yard!) 🙂

Head over to Kitten’s homeschool on Monday to see more Fun Monday participants.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

Friday’s Feast ~ #12

Appetizer
What was the last game you purchased?

Mexican Train Dominoes ~ We have had many a roaring game around the kitchen table with this great game in Seattle, Orange County, and Dallas Texas. Fun times with friends and cousins and aunts and uncles.

Soup
Name something in which you don’t believe.

I have never believed in Santa Claus. There were years I wished there was a Santa Claus. We do incorporate a fun version of Santa in our festivities and always say that Santa filled the stockings wink wink…

Salad
If you could choose a celebrity to be your boss, who would you pick?

I would choose Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa to be my boss. Then maybe I could learn some great cooking skills from her and maybe even be at a meal she prepares for her employees…

Main Course
What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?

That it’s not a good idea to get all worked up at your kids sporting events. I wish I could take back some of the things I said and some of the things I made a fool of myself over…

Dessert
Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.

Oh it would be a room with bookcases filled with good books, overstuffed chairs with ottomans to sit in and a wonderful fireplace or gas stove with the stereo softly playing my favorite cd’s.

For more Friday Feasts click here.