Pastor For Sale?!!!

Seen on Ebay:

"You are looking at/bidding on a very contemporary out of the box Pastor. As you can tell by the pictures He preaches and teaches in a very unorthodox manner. He does it without compromising the true written word of God. He and his family has chosen to go this route of putting themselves on the market in hopes to find a church that is untraditional and is ready to reach their community. He and his family will consider relocating in the contentinental United States. For any questions or more information feel free to email Pastor Chad at pastorchad72@gmail.com or visit his my space at http://www.myspace.com/pastorchadsmith"

Only 14 hours left! You'd better get on over there and bid:

Bloglines

I finally signed up for Bloglines and I really like it. I have a little icon at the bottom of my page that alerts me when one of the blogs I read has a new message. Pretty cool! I don't have to surf all over the net trying to find out who has blogged.

The downside to Bloglines is that some of my friends also have it, and they don't post on my blog much anymore. I can understand because you can read the post on your Bloglines page, but I miss my friends coming and letting me know they were there! So, if you are one of those friends, please pop on over every now and then and leave me a message! I need the encouragement. :o)

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm......

I read this on Amy's blog and thought it would be fun to do.

The rules are: Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the questions. They must be real places, names, things … nothing made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question. If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can’t use my answers! So join in the fun…

My name: Teresa
Famous Singer: Tony Orlando (that's a blast from the past!)
Four letter word: Trip
Street: Taylor St.
Color: Tan
Gifts/Presents: Toys
Vehicle: Taurus
Things in a Souvenir Shop: taxes
Boy’s Name: Tony
Girl’s Name: Toni
Movie Title: Top Gun
Drink: Tea
Occupation: Taxicab Driver
Celebrity: Tom Hanks
Magazine: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
City: Tallahassee
Pro Sports: Tennis
Fruit: Tangerine
Reason for Being Late for Work: Tire was flat
Something You Throw Away: Toenails
Things You Shout: Totally!
Cartoon Character: Tom (as in Tom & Jerry)

TAG! If you’re reading this and want to Participate, then you’re tagged! But please let me know you did it so I can come read your answers! It’s fun to do!

Too much FOX news???

At the Awana Grand Prix on Saturday (which I promise to blog about very soon) we all had to say the Pledge of Allegiance. As I was standing there saluting the flag and proudly lifting my voice in pledge, I heard this come out of my mouth: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republican for which it stands..."

Can you tell I've been thinking about elections too much lately? LOL

What's New?

Just staying busy with regular stuff. :o)

We had a good weekend. I already talked about the play on Saturday...that was fun. Sunday was a great day at church. We had excellent speakers, both Sunday AM and PM. Our men had a retreat this weekend, so we heard from both of their speakers. Sunday morning we listened to Dr. Jeff Myers share his heart. (Myers Institute and Passing the Baton) He has a real burden to train our next generation to take a stand for Christ and be godly men and women. Sunday evening we had another speaker from Passing the Baton, and he was really good, as well.

After church we went to the home of some friends of ours. Their son's birthday was last week, so he had a lot of the youth group over for a fellowship time. We had a nice time of fellowship with some of our friends, as well. :o) It's always fun to eat and talk!

I started another handwriting job on Monday, and I'm already behind. I took 1,000 envelopes this time and have until next Monday to complete them. But, tonight I have church, tomorrow Neal and I are going to hear Josh McDowell speak. He is doing a seminar for parents called "Why Belief Matters." Friday afternoon/evening we're watching the children of a friend of mine. Saturday we have out of town guests that we'll be spending time with. Sunday -- church. All fun stuff, but I have to fit handwriting in somewhere. Soooooooooo....

I guess I'd better get to it!

Crazy For You

That's the name of the Gershwin musical that Beth and I, along with a few others from our homeschool group, went to see this afternoon at Liberty University. Liberty has a wonderful Theatre Arts program. Next month we'll go see The Rainmaker and in December we'll see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Here's a synopsis of what the play is about:

"Crazy For You" is an adaptation of the George and Ira Gershwin 1930 hit "Girl Crazy." It is crammed with standards like "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You," and "Crazy For You." Delight in the adventures of a stage-struck playboy in a Nevada mining town -- where romance, mistaken identities, and show-stopping musical numbers all add up to irresistible fun.

It was a lot of fun!

Our Weekend

I need to be in bed, so I'll make this quick.

Friday night: After dinner I built up my courage and went to the grocery store. Why did I need to build up my courage, you ask? Because I did my "once-a-month" shopping. I was doing this regularly this time last year, but then slacked off of it. This is my first month back doing this in quite some time. I had lots of coupons that could be doubled, and I had some coupons that were specifically for Kroger, so that's where I went. Before coupons my bill came to over $230, but after coupons it was less than $203! That was the bulk of my shopping.

Saturday morning: Beth and I left for MTW (Ministry Training Workshop)at our church at 7:30 am. They served us breakfast from 7:45 to 8:15, and then we had four different workshop sessions to sit in on. Each session started with a skit by our pastoral staff. Every year they spoof a movie or tv show. Last year was our first year going and they spoofed "Home Improvement." This year they spoofed the movie "Back to the Future." It was hilarious!

The theme of our workshop was Unity, and making decision that will effect the future of our church. It was a very timely theme as we are in the process of building a new sanctuary. Beth and I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting. During the last session, instead of a speaker they gave us a tour of our new building. It will not be ready to move into until Easter, but we were able to stand in the sanctuary and see what it looks like. Our pastor told a funny story while we were waiting on everyone to file in, and his wife told him that would be remembered as his first "sermon" in the new building. We also had a question and answer session, and then we prayed and sang the Doxology. It was beautiful. After the 4th session we had a pizza lunch and a time of fellowship. It was great fun!

After MTW, Beth and I went to SAMS Club to finish my monthl shopping. I spent $118 (that included some flourescent lightbulbs and a huge bag of catfood). So my total spending for the month was $320. I know I'll have to purchase perishable items and milk and eggs, but I should stay under $400 for the entire month. My goal is $100 a week (including pet stuff, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc.) so it looks like I may make it.

In case your wondering what the benefit of monthly shopping is, this is what I've found. When I walk into Walmart once or twice a week for food, I end up making impulse purchases. I spend much more money on groceries that way, than if I do a once a month trip. It's a little time consuming to make a monthly menu and food list, but it's worth it! Plus, for an entire month I don't have to ask myself "what am I going to cook tonight?" I just have to look at my calendar on the refrigerator and say "Oh, tonight is chili night." Pretty nice!

Today was a pretty normal Sunday. We went to church this morning and then rushed on home for lunch. Neal took a hunter safety class Saturday and Sunday and I had to get him fed before he went to his 1:00 class. I took a nice, long nap this afternoon, and then went back to church tonight. After church I met a friend at Barnes and Noble for coffee and then took Ben to McDonald's after that. Beth was at an "After Glow" with her youth group, so I had to kill time until I could pick her up.

I spent about an hour down at Mom's tonight talking and now I'm ready for bed. After all....

...Tomorrow is another day

What's that Smell?

What's that smell? It's a smelly smell. It's a smelly smell that smells..............SMELLY!

That's what I have heard my children say a time or two around our house or when we're out and pass a skunk on the road. They've had the opportunity to use that phrase twice at our house in the last two days!

Yesterday we tried out a recipe for homemade microwave popcorn. The recipe works great, however, I tried to get as many pops out of the kernels as I could and took it a little too far! Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for me, we were at my mom's when we burnt a bag of popcorn. Yuck! There are not many smells worse than burnt popcorn! I quickly carried the bag outside and poured water on it, but the smell permeated my skin and my right hand smelled like burnt popcorn all day!

The past couple of days I've been smelling something unpleasant in my house. You know how it is when you walk in the door and take a deep whiff to see if your house smells okay? (or am I the only one who does that?) Anyway, it hasn't been smelling "just right." Today I opened my pantry door to check on our supply of oatmeal (I buy it bulk), and when I grabbed the bag of potatoes off of my oatmeal container I knew something wasn't right. It had a smell....a smelly smell...a smell that smelled NASTY!!!

Okay, besides burnt popcorn, what smell is worse than rotten potatoes? They were so rotten they dripped across the floor as I carried them to the garbage. I yelled for Ben to get here quick and carry out the garbage. About 3 seconds too late I realized there would be more garbage to take care of...the napkins I had to use to wipe up the nasty potato drippings, the bag that the other bag of potatoes was in because the nasty drippings were on that bag, the onion bag, etc. So I filled up another walmart bag and carried it out, then came back and used Clorox wipes to clean up any lingering smells. Phew! I'm glad I found it, but that was one stinky, aka smelly, job!

Yummy!

My friend Perri is a consultant for Tastefully Simple. A few months ago I was going to have a party for her, but the timing was not good and I had one person who could come. So I cancelled. I was going to send back the samples, but Perri insisted that I keep them...so we've been enjoy some Tastefully Simple foods! Here is one that I highly recommend:

This is called Bountiful Beer Bread, but if you don't like to purchase beer you can do like I did and use 7-Up. It was delicious! If you want to order some mix, or any other Tastefully Simple item, check out Perri's website!

Whadda Day!

Here was the plan for today...

9:30 Mom's eye doctor appointment
10:00 Beth's eye appt.
10:30 Teresa's eye appt.
11:00 Neal's eye appt.

Reality:

9:30 sit down in waiting room at eye doctor
10:00 still sitting...
10:30 still sitting...
10:50 Beth was finally called back!

:::not sure of times, but we eventually all make our way back there:::

2:20 Leave eye doctor...THAT'S RIGHT! Almost 5 hours later we finally are finished! I am SO glad I took school work for the kids to do, and that they had Andy Griffith playing the entire time on the TV.

2:30 Arrive at Sears to pick out frames because we have a coupon.

3:30ish Leave Sears...weak...from...hunger....

3:45 Arrive at Bob Evans restaurant where Mom graciously buys us lunch, or was that supper? Maybe it was Lupper...or was it slunch?

5:05 Finally arrive back home...return phone calls from messages on machine...make Neal's supper

6:30 leave for church and Walmart.

9:30 Home for the night.

By the way, Beth has to get glasses. I got glasses in 3rd grade, and I believe Neal did, too. So I guess 7th grade's not too bad. She's near sighted with an astigmatism in both eyes. She picked out some really cute red glasses. I'll take a picture when she gets them. Boy is it hard to pick out your first pair of glasses!!!

Postcards Across America!

Ben has started working on a geography project for our homeschool group's Project Fair. The fair isn't until May, but it will probably take us all year to complete it. For geography this year he is learning all the states and their capitals, and he's writing a page of interesting facts about each state. For example, he wrote about Alaska today. Did you know that:

Alaska's state capital is Juneau?

the state flag is blue with the North Star and a dipper on it?

the state flower is the Forget-Me-Not?

the state bird is the Ptarmigan? (Have you even heard of it???)

the state tree is the Sitka Spruce?

the state nickname is "The Last Frontier?"

the state motto is "North to the Future?"

the state gem is Jade?

the state fish is the Giant King Salmon?

and last, but not least....

the state mineral is gold?!!!

These are things Ben found out today. Pretty cool, huh?

He will make a notebook of all of these state pages, but the second half of his project is where we need some help. He is collecting postcards from every state. So far he has 26 (with help of his two truck driving uncles, and several friends and family members). These are the states he has:

Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Maine
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

So, if I know you either in real life, or I've known you a long time on the computer, and you can help Ben out with a postcard he doesn't have...let me know! He would greatly appreciate it!

Meteor Showers

Ok...this is something I've been wanting to blog about for a couple of weeks now. On Sunday night, August 12th, we read that there was going to be a magnificent meteor shower, but the best viewing time was between 2 am and sunrise. Beth was leaving for camp the next morning, and, of course, Neal had to work, but we decided it would be a great experience and memory maker for the kids. So we went to bed a little early that evening, and set the clock for 2:30 am.

We got the kids up and grabbed blankets, pillows and ....
POPCORN...of course!

And headed on outside at 2:41 am!

Neal layed these tarps and blankets out on the damp grass, and then we laid down and watched God's dazzling display! We probably saw about one a minute. A couple of times we saw two shooting stars (or meteors) at once. It was so beautiful!
We came in at 4:10.
The kids were pretty tired by this time. So we went on to bed. 6:30 came kinda early, but it was worth it to build these precious memories with our kids!

Life

No, I did not float into outer space because gravity stopped working in VA. I'm still here. I was going to say that I didn't fall off the end of the earth, but since I was being philisophical and that didn't make sense, I decided to come up with the gravity theory. Anyway, I'm still here and everyone is fine. We're just extremely busy.

I have so much I want to blog about -- with pictures -- and no time to do it. I feel very overwhelmed at the moment. Hopefully, soon, I will be able to blog to my heart's content.

In the meantime, this is it!

We had a great time camping. Lots of heat and some rain. I stayed more dry when it was raining than I did in the heat. (I'll let you think about that one for a minute)

I ran out of wheat last week, but thankfully my co-op order from Bread Beckers came in this week and I was able to pick up wheat on Tuesday. We had to drive to Charlottesville to get it, so while we were there we went to the Whole Foods store. I wish we had one of those near us! Anyway, they have wheat, as well. It's a bit cheaper to buy it in bulk from Bread Beckers, but in a pinch I could drive to C'ville and get it. The kids had fun eating all the fun snacks I bought them on the way home.

My Mom bought a new car yesterday! We went car shopping and she traded in her 1998 Buick LeSabre for a 2007 Pontiac Vibe. I love that car! That's the car Neal and I wanted when we shopped around last year, but we got a better deal on our Cobalt. So I guess this is the best deal for me, since I can drive Mom around in her car from time to time and not have to make the payments! :o)

Well, gotta run. I'm making supper for a couple in our Sunday school class who just had a baby. Ben has a birthday party from 4 to 6, and Beth has a sleepover that starts at 6:00. I just returned from a 2 hour shopping trip to Walmart (YUCK!), so this was my treat. Now back to the real world!

A few updates

Some of you have asked about the little girl who's finger was cut off at church. I talked to her mom on Sunday and she said they may have saved about 25% of it. The end is still attached, however it is "dying." I saw her leaving for camp on Monday and she doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all!

Canning update: 80 pints of regular salsa were made, and now we've also made 20 pints (I think) of fresh salsa. We've canned 62 qts of green beans...we'd like to have one more canning of 7 qts.

The movie I mentioned, just in case someone didn't know what it was, was Tombstone. I would suggest watching the TV version or use a TV Guardian...the language is pretty rough.

I have so much I want to blog about right now, but no time!!! We're going camping tomorrow and we're starting back to school next week. One thing I will blog about soon (I hope) is this past Sunday night. We got the kids up in the middle of the night to watch the meteor shower. It was spectacular! More later....

Be Still...

And know that I am God.

I just read a wonderful post on my friend Gwen's blog. She talked about letting God be the main voice we listen to, instead of listening to all the other voices out there...radio, television, internet, etc. I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all of the varying opinions I hear all day long. I need to take the time more often to ask God to reveal to me what His opinion is for my life. How many times do I have actual "quiet?" Not often enough, I know that.

This morning I was outside picking green beans before 7:00. I enjoyed that quiet. My plan was to wake the kids up at 7:30 to have them come out and pick their rows. Around 7:15 Neal looked out and saw that I was out picking by myself and woke up the kids and sent them out. He was being helpful...not knowing how much I was enjoying the solitude. The problem with the kids picking with me is that they complain and bicker about all sorts of things. Ben was the first one out and right away I hear this big sigh, and then the first complaint spewed out of his mouth. I immediately said "Ben, I was out here by myself because I didn't want to hear any complaining." He replied with an "oh," and quietly picked beans. Beth came out and just started picking without talking (I think she was half asleep). It was the most enjoyable time I'd had with them in the garden all summer!

Remember to "Be still, and know that He is God!"

Mom/Daughter Movie Night

We had a fun night tonight at our friend Heather's house. She had a few of us moms and daughters over tonight for a movie night. We watched "The Last Sin Eater." In case you haven't seen it, it is a very good movie. It takes place in the 1800's in what is probably the Appalachian mountains. A group of people came from Wales and settled there and they have what is called a "sin eater." When someone dies, they lay them out at the cemetary and put bread and wine on top of them. The sin eater comes and eats the bread and drinks the wine and then he absolves them of their sin. We, of course, know that this is not possible, and when the "man of God" comes to their land he tells them the same thing. It's a very interesting, thought provoking movie. I have to say though, that the book is better (of course). It has the same title, and the author's name is Francine Rivers. But it's pretty good for a movie that was made from a book. We, of course, also had good snacks. :o) I took some chips and salsa, and then Heather had some kind of wonderful chocolate lava cake or something and vanilla ice cream, raisin cookies, and popcorn.

Yesterday a few of us moms and daughters (and Ben) went to the dollar theater to see the Nancy Drew movie. Surprisingly I liked it. It's a modern day Nancy Drew movie, but Nancy is still pretty squeaky clean and she likes to dress "retro." Her only fault is that she disobeys her Dad...sleuthing when she promised him she wouldn't. But hey, it wouldn't be Nancy Drew if she didn't solve mysteries, now would it?

We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the pool today. I had only planned on stay 2 hours, but about 20 minutes before we had to leave some of our friends showed up and I didn 't really have a good reason why I had to go home. :o) So we enjoyed our visit. Tomorrow I'm watching a friends daughters, so we'll go to the pool again. We paid for a summer membership and we only have three weeks left....better get our money's worth!

One more thing

I forgot that Mom and I went yard saling this morning. We left a little before 7:00 and went to about 8 or 9 yard sales before I had to get back home. I spent $15.00...not too bad for all I got. Let's see if I can remember...

Brand new, never before opened, battery operated light saber (the blue one). This will be a birthday gift or Christmas gift for Ben -- PLEASE do not tell him! ;o)

Three Karen Kingsbury books that I promptly put on Ebay for resale. I got them for .50 each and I started bidding at $2.50 each. We'll see!

A boxed set of Tracie Peterson books...which are also now on Ebay.

Another book called "Ain't No River" by Sharon Ewell Foster.

Two oversized I Spy books.

One I Spy computer game.

A boxed set of Little Rascals vhs movies

A pool frisbee and some diving sticks

25 Highlights magazines that have not been marked in!

A bag of Sharpies

The book Dreamer

A Cranium game

A Pirate game

A 5-candle candler holder

A book on teaching teens about finances by Larry Burkette

Hmmm...it seems like there's more, but I can't think of anything else right now. I think Mom's best deal was a quilt that still had the tags on it. It was purchased at Cracker Barrel (which means it was pretty expensive), and she paid $4.00 for it!

We had a great time! (okay...now I'm off to bed and my book!)

No Tax Weekend

For the second year in a row, we've had a "no tax weekend" here in Virginia. It's, of course, only on certain items such as school supplies and clothes, but hey...I'll take what I can get! Ben needed some clothes and shoes, so today was the perfect day to get them. We found him two pairs of casual dress pants at KMart and a pair of shorts there. I got him a pair of cargo pants at Old Navy. I love Old Navy when they have sales! His pants were regularly over $20 and I got them for $8.59! Beth and I picked up a couple of pairs of flip flops -- 2 for $5.00. I'm not a big "flip-flops" fan, but I needed a pair for camping and slipping on to go outside. After Old Navy, we went to Walmart, and I found Ben a pair of penny loafers for church and a new pair of tennis shoes. I really like the Shaq brand. That's what he had last year and we found him another style this year. They were on sale as well. I got them for $13 instead of $20. Not too bad.

Tonight we canned 30 more pints of salsa. That puts us at 80 pints! Our goal is 90. I think this is the best batch yet. Neal and I made it last night and then canned it today. Yummy!

We went to our friend's graduation party today. The name tags were cute. They were big band-aids that said: My friend is a doctor (for friends), My Mom is a Doctor (for her kids), My Wife is a Doctor, My Sister is a Doctor, you get the picture. Very cute!

Well, I'd better get to bed. I still need to do my reading for Sunday School. Not a good time to try to read something and retain it!

Feast or Famine

It's either feast or famine with the TV. I rarely watch TV, but sometimes I enjoy sitting down and watching a movie or some good show. Usually there isn't anything on. Today two of my favorite movies were on back to back. I didn't get to sit down and watch them from start to finish, but I did get to go in the living room occasionally and watch favorite parts. :o) Neal was stringing beans, so he told me when the good parts were on.

The first movie was "Remember the Titans." I love that movie! It's funny, I came in at the part where one of the characters was in a bad car accident. I hadn't even been watching it prior to that scene, and I started crying. Neal just shook his head. :o)

The second movie was ... nope...I'm going to see if you can guess the movie. Here are some of my favorite lines:

"Johnny, I apologize, I forgot you were there; you may go now."

"Does this mean we're not friends anymore?"

"I have two guns...one for each of you."

"How are you feeling today? 'I'm dying, how are you?"

"Why Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave."

"Poor soul, he was so high strung. I'm afraid the strain was more than he could bear."

and my all time favorite line from this movie:

"I'm your Huckleberry."

What's the movie?

It's Friday!

Yaah! I love Fridays! So, what's on the agenda for today? Swimming, baby! ;o) Neal and I got up again this morning at 6:30 and walked and then worked out down in our gym. I made breakfast for all of us while the kids picked green beans. Now I just finished eating here at the computer, so I'm going to write this and get off of here! We have to leave at 9:45 to take Suzi and Shadow to the vet. Suzi needs her kennel cough shot, and Shadow needs rabies and feline leukemia (I think). I was scheduled to watch my friends kids today from 2 to 6, but we wanted to go to the pool early, so their mom is going to drop them off at 11:00. We'll pack a lunch and stay at the pool for several hours. We're meeting up with four other families. It should be a great day. Hopefully I'll get some pictures today. I took the camera yesterday and forgot to use it! I got to caught up in talking. :o)

Tonight we're making salsa again. Yum! Tomorrow we have a graduation party to go to. An old friend of ours just received her medical degree, so we're going to celebrate with her and her family and friends!

Judgement House starts on Sunday at our church. We helped by handing out prayer bands at church the last couple of weeks. We wear a prayer band to remind us to pray for the person who's name was written on our band. I say "was" because it doesn't take long for the name to wear off. We pray for our person every day and cannot take off the band until the end of Judgement House. I think there were around 90 people saved last year at JH. It's a great ministry. Ben was saved last year on September 11th after he had gone through JH the night before. He didn't even go through the "scarier" scenes. He just wanted to make sure that he knew for certain that he would go to heaven when he died. What a blessing!

Okay, I'm outta here. Have a great weekend!