oh, the places i'd go

this week's ten on tuesday asks us to give the top 10 countries we would want to visit.

at first, i wasn't going to participate. because, although there are countries i would want to see (and they are listed below), i probably wouldn't visit them even i was given the chance to. it may seem silly, but i'm not comfortable traveling abroad right now. maybe that will change someday, maybe not. but here's my list:

1. tanzania; i've always wanted to go to africa. i think going on a safari would be the coolest thing ever. of course, that would be a photo safari. and i'm not sold on tanzania. it could be some other country in africa. we had friends who went to tanzania and loved it.

2. greece; another place i've always wanted to visit. when i was young, i saw a movie that took place somewhere in the grecian isles. i thought it was breathtakingly beautiful. i still have that image in my head and would love to experience it first hand.

3. australia; it seems so familiar yet since it's half a world away, most people don't get to visit the land down under.

4. new zealand; this is someplace my husband has always wanted to visit. so the little i've seen in pictures and what research i've done, it looks beautiful.

5. england; again, because it feels so familiar.

6. italy; i'd like to see venice and the canals, among others sites.

7. vietnam; because my dad served in the war there, i would like to know what it looks and feels like. i'd also like to see the jungles there.

8. brazil; i think it would be super cool to see the amazon river and the rain forest.

9. indonesia; from what i've seen, this area looks absolutely beautiful - tropical and mysterious.

10. israel; i would love to walk the same part of the earth as Jesus did. i would love to just soak up the atmosphere that's so rich with history.

added note: i've been enjoying these 10 on tuesday memes because it has become a topic of conversation and comparison in my family. since my daughter usually posts about the topic each week, her and i obviously talk. today my son joined in the conversation. he took european history last year and had a lot to offer about some of the countries we talked about.
thanks, jake.

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link of the day:
http://www.johnsadowski.com/2007/07/10-rocks-that-look-like-faces.html

this and that

i didn't think i would do another caption contest, atleast not this soon, but i came across this picture and it's begging for a caption. so let me hear from you. i'm counting on you coming up with something good. i'll announce winners on thursday.


i also want to tell you about a contest over at 5 minutes for mom. i usually don't promote contests, but this one is pretty incredible. they are giving away an insignia 37" flat-panel lcd hdtv valued at $700 courtesy of best buy. so head on over to 5 minutes for mom and find out how you can win.


i have a question... why don't you readers click an answer on my poll (found at the top of the left sidebar)? is it just this poll? or do you not do polls? why wouldn't you do polls? they're easy enough and i think they're fun. but i've noticed polls on other people's blogs aren't showing large numbers of involvement either. so, i was just curious.

oh, one last thing. if you haven't been over to momma roar's place today, you've missed a super funny video. go visit her or check it out through my link of the day. make sure the volume on your computer it turned up because you won't want to miss a single word.

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link of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlY8STkhopc

home schooling - part 2

okay, let's see if i can make this short yet say everything i want to say. if you didn't read part 1, please do so by scrolling down to yesterday's post. there i said the difference i noticed in kids who were home schooled and those not, has had the biggest impact on my opinions of home schooling.

as a youthworker, i can't help but notice how stressed-out and beat-down a lot of the kids in my youth group are. as i take the time to listen to their stories and get to know them better, i've come to realize how the time they spend in a public/private school environment impacts them.

but this issue has more to do with the social aspect of school, not the educational. it has to do with the other students they hang around with and the microcosm of school life. and although i care about the educational side and know how important it is, it's the social aspect that makes me scream for change and see the advantages of home schooling your kids.

i saw this aspect play out personally in my own family. my daughter, danielle, suffered during her middle school years. this is the first time i considered home schooling for my family. had i felt more confident in my abilities, i would have yanked her out and started right away. she was being attacked by "mean girls" and the little self-confidence she had was eroding quickly. she made it through but chose a different high school to go to. it wasn't easy for her, but she made it through and now is doing well in college.

this is why i say home schooled kids are more self-assured, self-confident. they are not exposed to this life consisting of students looking for their place, for acceptance at the expense of others. they aren't beaten down on a daily basis. kids and parents alike are unaware and don't understand how this affects how johnny and susie survive and who they become because of it. it's sad to watch, and even sadder knowing there's really nothing you can do to change it for a student. i could write a book on this subject, so i'll end this part here.

the other thing i wanted to share was about my other child, my son, jake. he is a very bright child. he's smarter than his mom and dad combined. so when i think about his education, i'm glad he's attending public school. of course, we're in a very good school district and he's part of a higher level curriculum program.

he's going into his fourth year in the internatinal baccalaureate (i.b.) program. this has been a great program for him. it has challenged him and given him a fantastic education. it teaches it's students how to learn as opposed to teaching them what to learn. and if he does well on his i.b. tests, he can knock off up to two years of college.

i tell you all of this because i can't even imagine trying to home school this kid. he's been in advanced classes since elementary school. it was obvious at an early age that he needed to be challenged. and i don't think i would have done him justice if i had home schooled him. i don't think i could have offered him what the school district has given him.

but i want to be clear... this is a reflection on me, not on home schooling. i'm sure there are many bright kids out there being home schooled. and that their teacher(s) have given them curriculum that challenges them and has brought them into higher levels of education. this just goes towards my thinking that not everyone is cut out or qualified to be a teacher or to home school their children. i think home schoolers can agree with me on this.

i want to close this with what many feel and others have said. home schooling shouldn't divide us as much as it has. we shouldn't be so judgemental of either side because we should know what works for some, doesn't work for others. we should embrace the differences and then learn from them. we, as parents, need to do what we think is best for our children, and then not be judged for those decisions.

thank you for taking the time to read all of this. i would love to hear your thoughts on home schooling and/or on what i have written here.

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link of the day:
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/sharkweek/sharkweek.html

home schooling - part 1

jen, over at pen of jen, wrote about home schooling today. i wanted to leave her a comment giving her my opinion on a couple of things when i realized the comment would be way too long. so since i didn't really have something pressing to write about today, i'm going to put in my two cents about homeschooling. i'm thinking, though, that it's going to end up being a two parter.

i will start by saying that i didn't know anything about home schooling until i moved here to colorado in 1990. when i first heard and met some families who were doing it, i did not think it was a good thing. in fact, i thought only weird families did such a thing. and yes, my biggest and number one question was, "what about socialization?"

to be honest, i thought this way for a long time. i tried not to judge, but i just didn't get why families wouldn't trust the public or private school systems. a few things have made me look at home schooling in a different light.

1) columbine. living here in colorado, we lived and breathed the tragedy of columbine for months (and beyond). my eyes were opened to what high school life was really like for some kids. it was obvious that for some, there was no escape from the misery of high school. i don't think most parents have a clue of what these years look like.

2) testing. i got to the point that i hated all the testing that was/is taking place in our schools. from where i sit, the schools spend more time prepping and practicing for these tests than they do teaching the rest of the curriculum. and mostly, this is for the measurement of the schools - not the students. our kids would be learning more if less time was spent on testing.

3) the kids. when i started doing youthwork in 2000, i started noticing things about the students i came in contact with. to put it simply, kids that have been homeschooled are nicer, smarter (generalizing here), better mannered, and have a higher level of self-confidence.

this last issue has had the biggest impact on my opinions on the subject at hand. i'm thinking i will have a lot to say on this, so i'm going to save it for part 2 on this subject. i also want to express why i'm glad my son is in the school and program he is in, both being public.

so please come back for part 2. and as usual, i'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions. and don't forget to vote on my poll. c'mon... it's not hard and i would really appreciate it.
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link of the day:
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/

mmmm.... i'm lovin' it

it's show & tell time again. head over to kelli's to see who all is sharing today.
i'm sharing a new discovery i've made. and i can't describe to you how much i'm loving it. this is a mcdonald's iced coffee.



i love iced coffees. i stop in at starbucks every once in a while and order an iced white mocha. the problem is, i guzzle it down like a glass of chocolate milk. it's gone before i know it. at over $4 a pop, it gets too expensive to do on a regular basis.

well, i was picking up a quick dinner at mcdonalds the other night for don and dani and saw the iced coffees on the menu. i decided to try one. i couldn't believe how good it was and how much i liked it. so much, that i was craving it the next day and had to make a special trip to pick one up.

the great thing is the price. this large iced coffee from mcdonalds is only $2.19 and it's probably twice the amount i would get at starbucks. i can pay half the amount and it lasts me a long time (for some reason, i don't guzzle it - i sip it more).

my favorite is vanilla. they also have hazelnut and regular. if you like iced cofffee, i recommend you give mcdonalds a try.


i'm telling you.... i'm lovin' it.

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link of the day:
http://walkscore.com/

pray for the children

i wanted to get this post out early - earlier than my normal posts - as a plea for anyone who reads this to say a prayer for those who are in need.

click on the above button (or here) to link to janne's jabberwocky post on praying for the children. she has designated this day, july 26th, as a day to lift unified prayers for children who are suffering and for families who are struggling. her post today gives us a few situations in which to pray for.

as i was reading some of the comments to this post, i came across one from 5 minutes for mom, a popular blog site. i didn't know this, but they have a page designated to highlighting many children out there who are hurting and could use prayer. the page is appropriately entitled, faith lifts. hope you can check this out, also.

the LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. (psalm 6:9)
He hears us and does answer prayer!

isn't it beautiful?

this week i'll make it a true wordless wednesday. go over to the official site and check out everyone else's wonderful pictures.

oh, and check out the new poll (over there to the left) and don't forget to vote.




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link of the day:
http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/

be nice

today's 10 for tuesday is the 10 nicest things someone has done for you. here are mine (in no particular order):

1. my good friend, terri, offered to run any errand(s) i needed to have done before i left on an extended trip. this was after staying up half the night with a family who had the husband/dad die during the night. terri's good deed was appreciated more than she'll ever know.

2. another terri act of kindness: she brought over a breakfast dish for the weekend of dani's graduation when we had a houseful of guests. her kindness never ceases to amaze me.

3. on one of my birthdays, my friend sara brought me a cupcake with a candle in it and sang happy birthday to me when she came to pick up my son for carpooling to school. it made my day.

4. when dani was very young, out of the blue, my step-dad, lee, sent us money to buy a cam-corder. back then, they were more pricey than they are now. it meant a lot to us.

5. when don and i were youth leaders at our previous church, we had a mom/friend who always made us cookies at christmas time. for some reason, i was always surprised and it made me feel valued.

6. when my kids were young, i had a friend offer to watch them for a day so i could do some christmas shopping. it was such a treat to be able to have a day to myself and get some quality shopping time in.

7. we have some good friends who invited us (just don and i) to go with them to hawaii. we had never been before and they had been once. if you think about it, it was gamble for them to take. what if we didn't get along. it would have been one looooong week. but it was great. we made 2 more trips with them and we included all of our kids.

8. we have some other good friends who have done so many nice things for us. so many, that i can't put one over another. so here's the top three: we were their guest at a dude ranch, we were their guest for a stay in a beautiful house in beautiful vail (colorado), and we have been the guest to countless rockies games where they have some of the best seats in the stadium.

9. i love receiving cards from my kids. they usually pour out their hearts with such kind and loving thoughts. they make me cry every time. those are some of the nicest things i've ever received.

10. don has done so many nice things for me but i'll just name one (okay, two). he actually did this one thing many, many times. when the kids were younger, he would give me time away from them without any explanations. i could just say, "hey, i need to get away for a little bit." and he would say, "no problem." those times helped me keep my sanity and hopefully, made me a better mom. the second nicest thing he's done is buying me my laptop :D

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link of the day:
http://www.wickeddelicious.com/

the world of videos

i'm amazed at the videos you can find on youtube. i remember when videos started getting popular. there was one good one out of every 10 or so. but it quickly became main stream and ever so popular.

tonight, youtube became a major player on the political front. they helped organize a new format for political debates. here's what one reporter wrote:

In this sunny, sultry setting bursting with Southern military tradition, CNN and YouTube hope they'll break ground on a new tradition in televised political debates. It's here at the Citadel, the 165-year-old South Carolina military academy, where the two media companies will test, with the help of the Democratic Party, a new wrinkle on the admittedly tired old debate format. Monday's two-hour broadcast will feature all eight declared Democratic candidates answering no questions from the 2,000-member audience gathered at the McAlister Field House; instead, they'll look to a 25-foot video screen at 30-second clips recorded by YouTube users young, old and interested in the future of the country. (source)

on a lighter note, you can find just about anything on youtube. and youtube isn't the only video site. new ones are popping up all the time. and there's more available than just personal videos. if you see something funny on tv, you can pretty well bet that it will be on youtube the next day. car makers show off their vehicles via videos. there's how-to videos and amateurs showing off their artistic abilities in animation, music, and comedy.

want to reminisce? they have old commercials. some are entertaining. check out this one i found. you can find it at the bottom of this post. they say it's mcdonald's first commercial. it's kinda freaky if you ask me. but i thought you might be interested in seeing it.

i really have no point to post. i just find it interesting how prevalent videos have become. and i can't help but wonder what the future holds for them. of course, my favorite videos are the homemade ones made by proud parents showing off their kid(s).



this post came to me after watching the video highlighted in my link of the day. it's entitled; to blog or not to blog.

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link of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WczaqwhyYvk

100th post

guess what?! this is my 100th post on this blog. hard for me to believe, but it's true. so staying with the tradition here in bloggyland, i am giving you a list of 100 trivial facts about myself. here we go.


1. i was born in long beach, california
2. my father was in the air force so we moved around a lot
3. i have lived in california (several different places)
4. and oklahoma
5. and florida
6. and maine
7. and ohio
8. and texas
9. now i live in colorado
10. i have one sister, karen
11. and one brother, steve
12. and one half brother, mike
13. i lived in southern california while my dad served in the vietnam war
14. i learned how to body surf (3rd grade) in the big waves of huntington beach
15. when my dad returned home, we moved up the coast - lompoc
16. i moved back to southern california for 6th grade.
17. fell in love with the ocean. spent much of my teenage years on the beach.
18. went to a new school for almost every grade, until i got to jr. high
19. including my last move four years ago, i’ve moved 23 times
20. due to all the moving as a child, i don’t really have any childhood friends
21. i played soccer for three years
22. one of those years, my team won the state championship
23. my parents divorced when i was a freshman in high school
24. after a short period, i went to live with my mom
25. i tried out for the high school drill team and didn’t make it
26. although i was crushed, probably one of the best things to ‘not’ happen
27. i met don, my husband, in a gym class my sophomore year
28. we got together the summer after our sophomore year.
29. this summer marks 32 years we’ve been together
30. my first job was a cashier at k-mart
31. i quit after a couple of months and got a job doing the same thing at a small independent drug store
32. while at the register one day, i was robbed by a guy with a gun in the belt of his pants. he didn’t take it out, just showed me. it was enough for me to let him take everything in the drawer
33. i quit a month later and got a job at sears, working in the linen department
34. my first car was a 73 chevy nova, but it didn’t hold up too long
35. my second car was a datsun b210 – ugly mustard yellow but a good car
36. during my senior year, i took a course in graphic design at a vocational school
37. i really wanted a career in graphic design
38. i graduated from high school in 1977
39. i helped a friend out by house sitting for the entire summer after i graduated. it was a small studio apartment but it was down near the beach. i loved it!
40. i went to a local community college the next fall
41. i only attended one year because…
42. my mom remarried and moved to oklahoma
43. my sister came and lived with me (my brother with my dad)
44. i went to work full time for financial reasons thinking i would return to college later
45. one of the classes i took, that one year at college, was a photography class
46. i’ve been an amateur photographer ever since
47. we owned a burmese python. don had it since it was a baby. when we sold it to the pet store, it was over 6 feet
48. i fulfilled a childhood dream by joining a group of friends and going skydiving. a true thrill but wouldn’t be able to do it again due to my fear of heights. Hmmmm… maybe that’s where i got that
49. don and i were married in 1981. we were both 21.
50. shortly thereafter, we moved into a rental house owned by don’s parents.
51. we owned a jeep cj5 in which most of the time we drove around without the top on
52. danielle was born 7 years after we were married
53. i was in labor with her for 35 hours
54. before she was born, don and i spent a lot of time camping, water skiing, and spending a lot of time on the beach
55. after she was born, don and i realized we wanted to return to the church
56. we attended a calvary chapel and gave our lives to Christ (again)
57. we also realized that we didn’t want to raise a family in southern california so we started looking for a place to move
58. i used my skills in desktop publishing to start my own business so i could stay at home with danielle. i created mostly newsletters and brochures, but also worked on a magazine layout.
59. when danielle was a little over 2 years old, we moved to the denver area
60. i was 7 months pregnant with jake
61. we knew NO ONE here
62. we’ve lived here since 1990
63. shortly after moving, we could call ourselves homeowners for the first time
64. we loved that home. mainly because our view from the backyard was a lake and then the mountain further west. beautiful!
65. jake was born 2 months later
66. even though we committed ourselves to church shopping, we fell in love with the second church we visited
67. God had some great plans for don and i while attending this church
68. i quickly became the head of the communications ministry, which involved mailings and newsletters

i might as well get this out here. during the 13 years of attending this church, i was also:

69. women’s ministry director
70. bible study leader
71. children’s ministry assistant
72. stephen minister
73. jr. high admin assistant
74. youthworker
75. some of my most favorite times have been spent at jr high summer camps
76. after 13 years, don and I left this church and joined a small start-up church as youth directors for both jr and sr high
77. i was introduced to scrapbooking when jake was still a baby
78. i have been scrapbooking on and off ever since
79. i have been to maui, Hawaii 5 times. and i LOVE it!
80. i truly enjoy snorkeling. come to think about it, i enjoy everything about hawaii
81. we moved into our current house nearly 4 years ago. we moved because the kids got bigger, they had their 'bigger' friends over, and our house just wasn’t big enough anymore
82. we have owned 2 pop-up trailers and, as a family, enjoyed camping
83. i’m a movie junkie
84. i meet with two very good friends just about every week during the school year. we try to go to a movie, but sometimes we just go to lunch or go shopping
85. i have been meeting with these two friends for nearly 10 years
86. i’ve been part of a moms in touch prayer group for the past 2 ½ years
87. i'm a reality tv junkie but don't like all reality tv
88. i enjoy reading.
89. i own an ipod but don’t use it much
90. i love chocolate covered strawberries (but you already knew that)
91. for some reason, this summer, i can’t get enough of watermelon
92. i’ve had a myspace for 2 years
93. i’ve been teaching myself how to make a web page for 2 years now
94. i started blogging about 2 years ago
95. i enjoy reading other people's blogs
96. i love God
97. i love my husband
98. i love my kids and am so proud of who they are
99. i have been very blessed
100. and i look forward to what God has in store for me

whew! that's a lot. and i thank you for reading it all or any part of it.

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link of the day:
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/testyourself/default.htm

rude!

one thing i left out of my post yesterday, about spending time at the county fair, was that i was originally there because the church i attend had a booth and i helped man it. tonight, don and i were over again to man the booth. we pretty much stayed at the booth, but we were still able to experience the fair in a small way.

i tell you that because as i sat there in our booth, i observed the lady in the booth across from us. she was selling jewelry and was by herself. at one point, i noticed she was on her cell phone. due to a pretty big thunderstorm that swept through, traffic was light. so i didn't think much of it when i saw her talking on her phone. heck, i had even taken my cell phone out and was talking to my son via text messages.

what bothered me was when a group of people stopped and started looking at her jewelry, she remained on the phone. at first she stayed in her seat and talked away, but then she got up and approached the showcases where they were standing - but still talking away on her phone. she talked for another minute before hanging up.

i thought that was incredibly rude. there have been other times where i saw people talking on their cell phones or using them for text messaging at inappropriate times. one that comes immediately to mind was watching a lady chatting away while she was in a check-out line and then while the cashier was ringing up her purchases. she never said anything to the cashier and the cashier was never able to talk to her. again, rude!

it's great having the technology that allows us to talk to anyone at anytime and anywhere. but there should be some etiquette attached to this privilege. and i'm not saying that i've never been in one of these rude situations. even tonight, i shouldn't have had my phone out and using it. if someone had walked by and stopped, i wouldn't have been able to put it away fast enough since i was in the middle of a conversation.

we all have our own cell phones here in my family. sometimes my kids are constantly using them while we're out to dinner, or playing a card game, or whatever. they're either texting someone or playing a game on the phone.

i, too, find this rude. sometimes i say something - sometimes i don't. but i think i'm going to speak up from now on. i need to try to teach them some cell phone etiquette. and i, myself, am going to be more aware of when i'm using my phone. i don't ever want to make my phone more important than the people, or anything, around me.

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link of the day:
http://www.virtualcourtney.com/paperdoll.php

a trip to the county fair

thank you, kelli, for hosting show & tell friday. it give us just one more reason to look forward to friday. my show & tell is a little different this week.



i'll share my experience at our county fair yesterday. to be honest, i don't think i've ever been to a county fair before. i've been to fairs. i've been to the denver stock show. this was a combination of the two.

there were the rides, the booths, the food stands, and the porta-potties. there weren't many people - yet - because it was only thursday. i'm sure it will be much more crowded this weekend.

there were actually some cool looking rides but i didn't go on any. i just don't trust carnival rides. there's been too many accidents and the operators look a tad bit shady. plus, i don't like heights, so that leaves a lot of them out.

one of the things i really enjoyed was seeing the livestock and watching kids from the 4h clubs caring for and parading around their show animals.

but my favorite was watching the mutton-busting. for those of you who don't know what that is (hey, there may be people who don't know what it is), it's where they put a young kid (under 6 years old) on the back of a sheep and see how far down the stadium he/she can get.

they were so cute. i was standing right at the chute and i got to watch the process of a kid deciding he/she was brave enough to try it all the way through to watching them shoot out of the chute. and there were many kids who chickened out at the last minute. they were still cute.

here i am standing with a walking tree. no kidding... there was a person in there. he must have been standing on stilts and had some kind of extensions on his arms. they (who ever they may be) did a great job and making him into a tree. and he was very friendly. mostly little kids were having their picture taken with him. but i thought, what the heck - i want my picture with him, too.

so there you go. that's how i spent a few hours on a thursday afternoon in the middle of july. it was a nice diversion from the normal stuff i do.


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link of the day:
http://www.genarians.com/

caption contest winners

picking a winner for this caption contest was harder than i thought. all of the answers were so good. i asked my family for their input and here's what we came up with.

by the way, did you notice there were llamas/alpacas inside of the car, also. crazy. i hope the ride wasn't very long.

1st place: lynne said... Yes as a matter of fact officer, we were just at "Six Flags Safari". Why do you ask?

2nd place: aimee said... Mitt Romney takes his family on vacation to Argentina.

3rd place: jennifer said... In America it is all about horsepower in the engine, Here it is all about llamapower on the roof.

thanks everyone for playing. all of your answers were cute and clever.

i just recently started reading confessions of a pioneer woman. her blog is funny, imaginative, interesting, and well written. i really enjoy reading her posts. she's a great photographer and evidently, a good cook, too. she also has pioneer woman cooks where there are some scrumptious looking recipes.

she just had a photo caption contest and she gives out BIG prizes ($200 gift cert to williams sonoma). why am i mentioning this? because i was flabbergasted when i saw how many people left their answers for this contest. drum roll please (tatatatatatatata).... 1061 comments. can you believe that!? can you imagine going through 1061 comments/captions? and then coming up with the best along with 2nd and 3rd place. she also mentions a few given captions as some of her favorites.

although i read her posts just about every day, i don't ever comment because my comment would just get lost among the many other comments. she usually has 50-100 each day. and that's okay with me. sometimes i don't have enough time to comment all the blogs i want to. so this one i can just read and leave. if you have time to read another blog, you should go check her out.

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link of the day:
http://www.humanbraincloud.com/

the difference 9 months makes

here's another wordless wednesday.

kids aren't the only ones that grow up too fast. here's our puppy, brody, and snickers last october and then a few days ago. brody will be having his one year birthday party next month. snickers will be 6 in september.




and, as you can tell, i finally finished with this new design for my blog. i like it. but don't be surprised if it changes some day. now that i'm getting the hang of coding, i plan to continue playing around with it to see what i can come up with. now that i'm done, my daughter has asked me to redesign her blog.

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link of the day:
http://mushygushy.com/
(thanks boomama)

favorite childhood movies

it's time for ten on tuesday. this week's ten is your ten favorite childhood movies. so here's mine (not necessarily in first to last order):


1. sound of music i put this at the top of the list because it truly was my favorite childhood movie and still is a favorite. i would put this movie in my top 5 of all time. i love this movie. i know every song. and i can watch it over and over and over again.

2. island of the blue dolphins this movie will always hold a special place in my heart because i saw it all by myself - when i was in 3rd grade. there was some kind of summer movie going program in my neighborhood where i went to 10 movies throughout the summer. it was certainly a different time back then when you could send your 3rd grader to the movie by themself.

3. wizard of oz not a movie that i saw in a theater, but still just as special. i remember every year when it showed on tv. it was a family event complete with popcorn and soda. and those darn monkeys scared me every time.

4. jungle book i don't know how many animated movies disney put out during my childhood but this is about the only one that i remember and that's because i loved it so much. part of that love is for the songs. hearing the bear necessities transports me back being an 8 year old.

5. mary poppins what can you say about this classic. i remember seeing it nearly 10 times while it was out in the theaters. i'm sure that's because my parents loved it as much as their children did. great upbeat happy movie for every kid during that time.

6. oliver this movie was so different from the usual movies my parents allowed me to see - and that's probably why i liked it so much. i did not know the story of oliver twist and i just fell in love with the story. it helped that i had a crush on the two stars, mark lester and jack wild.

7. born free i don't know if anyone from my generation remembers this movie or if you're younger, if you've ever heard of this movie. it was about a pride of lions and i remember the cubs being soooooo cute. that appealed to my pre-adolescent heart :)

8. the absent minded professor today's generation would know this movie as flubber. although flubber was good, it wasn't the original. and the original is always better.

9. the love bug this and #8 were disney classics. they knew how to make fun family movies for that time. i think there was a sequal or two, but like i said, the original is always better.

10. any shirley temple movie again, not movies i saw in a theater but what fond memories of i have of them. most of the time i watched these when i went over to a girlfriend's house after church.

all of these movies were ones that i saw before i hit middle school and i included them because i consider those years as my childhood. as i was coming up with my top ten i came across a few others that i absolutely love but didn't see until i was in middle school. those would be: willy wonka and the chocolate factory (in my top all-time 5), bless the beast and the children, butch cassidy and the sundance kid, and fiddler on the roof.

feel free to let me know some of your favorite childhood movies or if you loved some of mine as much as i did. i'd love to hear from you.


::REMINDER::
don't forget to enter a captionfor the picture in my previous post

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link of the day:
http://mentalfloss.com/quiz/quiz.php?q=82

let's try a photo caption contest

here it is... getting late... and i haven't written my daily post. worse yet, i don't even know what to write about. i usually write at night because i'm a night owl and because i've had the whole day to think about it or have something happen that i can write about.

but here it is, approaching 11:00 and i need to put something up. you may be asking, "what have you been doing all night?" (okay, you're probably not asking but it sounds good) let me tell you what i've been doing. i've been working on a new look for my blog.

i've been wanting to change my look for a while now. i've thought about paying someone to design something for me. but i don't know what i want exactly so i didn't know what to tell a designer. so i've been inspired and i worked on it a little bit over the weekend and a little bit today and then a lot tonight. i'm getting close (i think).

so this is all i have for tonight. except for this photo. i'm always looking for good or interesting photos. this one falls into the category of bizarre. then i started thinking, maybe i should have a photo caption contest. a lot of people do this and i think they're fun. so if you feel so inclined, leave a caption for this one and i'll pick the top three winners in a couple of days.


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link of the day:
http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html

no greater love

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ... (Ephesians 2:4-5)

God's love just amazes me sometimes. everything i know about Him just screams LOVE! sometimes His love is easy to understand and i know i take it for granted. but other times i struggle with how He can love this world - including me. it's my human brain that cannot fathom how great... how far and wide... how endless His love really is.

i consider myself a "love" person. i really try to love at all times. as you can imagine, that's not easy. and i fall short more times than i hit the goal. but i keep on working towards that goal of sharing the love God has given me with those He puts on my path.

Lord, thank you for loving me. thank you for showing me what love is supposed to look like. please continue to help me love even when it's not easy, or pretty, or convenient. i don't ever want to take your love for granted and i acknowledge that i can only love others because you showed me how.

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link of the day:
http://www.mychurch.org/

link of the day

i was just wondering if anyone checks out my link of the day that i include with each post. i really have no idea. no one has ever mentioned that they have, except for momma roar (thanks leigh ann).

i only mention it because if you don't, you're missing out on some cool links. not every link will appeal to every person, but i bet you'd be able to find something that interest you. here are some recent ones:

http://www.virtualsandcastle.com/ here's a site where you can build your own sand castles by dragging different "castle" pieces to the sand to form the sand castle of your dreams. fun for kids, too.

http://militantplatypus.com/games/gamepage.php?game=crossword yesterday's post featured this different kind of crossword puzzle. it's quick and fun.

http://www.mentosintern.com/ have you heard of the mentos intern, trevor? he's the hottest thing of the summer - atleast for those who have nothing to do but watch a guy on a webcam. his day consist of carrying out various jobs - ones that the viewing public (you and me) give him. worth checking in on him.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf this is just some fun animated artwork done in flash. i wish i was as talented.

http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/ this is one of my all-time favorites. i love going to this site and making my own snowflakes. it's theraputic for me. very easy to use.

these are just some of the fun and silly links. there have been more serious ones, too.

someone once asked me why i didn't give a description of each one. i decided when i started this blog that i wouldn't do that because i didn't want a description to detract from the main content. plus it's just more time and energy that i don't want to expend after writing my post =]

i was also asked why i did it at all. i really do it more for my own purposes. it's my way of recording some of the fun, crazy, interesting, weird, and helpful sites i come across. it's just for fun. and i hope you join in on the fun every once in a while.

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link of the day:
http://mingle2.com/blog-rating

feels good, but not right

friday the 13th has the reputation of being unlucky. well, mine was pretty nice. after having my usual bowl of cereal, i started reading some of my favorite blogs. i found that one of my new blogging friends, amber from trust in the Lord, has given me the blogger reflection award.


i was very surprised and greatly honored. here's what amber wrote when honoring me with this award. thank you amber for these kind words.

Diana @ Sunshine on My Shoulders is a SWEET woman and mother who SPIRIT definitely SHINES! Not only does her sweet spirit shine, but she is very insightful too. She graciously shared with me her insightfulness (I don't know if that's a word) with me in my previous post, Patience. The comment she wrote made me cry, and made me realize that I'm being the best mother I can be. So in return I wanted to give her this reward.

now i am supposed to pass this on to five other bloggers. this is where i'm struggling. i don't want to offend anyone - especially you, amber, who thought enough of me to give me the award. here's what i'm thinking. i believe just about everyone is deserving of the many awards that go around the blogosphere. but not everyone receives the awards. i think some bloggers get left out and that doesn't sit right with me.

i guess i'm like the paul newman of the academy awards. i'm sure he's honored for being nominated, but he never accepts the award. everyone should feel like winners. no one should feel left out. and i know we're just talking about simple little awards given through cyber space, but i don't want anyone to feel left out by me naming 3, 5, 7, or whatever number of recipients.

so i'm not going to pass on this award to anyone in particular because i feel like we are all deserving of the blogger reflection award, and whatever other awards that are being passed out.

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link of the day:
http://militantplatypus.com/games/gamepage.php?game=crossword

freeze-frame

freeze-frame (frēz'frām'):
1. a still picture in the course of a movie or television film, made by stopping a reel or videotape at one desired frame.
2. a vivid, motionless scene or image.

let me give my own definition:
capturing a moment in life by stopping time for one desired frame and preserving it as a vivid, motionless scene or image.

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i am jealous. i'm jealous of most of you parents out there in blogosphere. and i'll tell you why.

most of you have younger children and are able to write about the daily happenings that involve them. or take a picture capturing a certain moment or occasion. there are so many special moments in a child's life and in the life of a family. i'm going to call these moments; freeze-frames.

for example, just today, i saw a picture of a precious little girl peeking underneath a garage door... freeze-frame. i watched a homemade video of another little girl learning how to swim under water for the first time... freeze-frame. and then another picture of a little girl on her first day of school along with her mom writing about her own personal thoughts and fears as she watches her baby go off to school... freeze-frame.

with the help of the blogging world and digital photography, you can not only save those freeze-frame moments, but then share them with friends and family. you have a record of those moments. your moment as proud parent increases with each and every view of your blog.

and i am very jealous of that. my kid's childhoods have come and gone (for the most part). i wish i had had the opportunity to blog when they were smaller. to record that first step, or them dressed up in the ballerina tutu or baseball uniform, or something they said which was funny or profound. or how it felt when they were baptized or to rush them off to the doctor with a broken arm. and even though i remember the events, my recollection of the details and how i felt during each, fades with each passing day. that saddens me more than i can say.

even though i'm jealous of you, i also applaud you and want to encourage you to keep your camera close by at all times and to write about not just the special occasions, but the everyday happenings. write about your feelings. write about your children. write about life as it unfolds each and every day.

i also want to say that even if your children are grown, or maybe you have no kids at all, you can still have freeze-frames. life is full of them... whoever you are or wherever you are. i had one this morning with my 19 year old daughter. sorry, dani - i have to share ;-)

this morning, my daughter came into my room and asked me to make my bed because she wanted to lay on it. i was about to hop in the shower so i told her just to lay on it unmade or even crawl into it. she was pretty adamant in her "no, i want you to make it." as i started to make it (it needed to be made anyways) i grumbled something like, "i don't see what difference it makes." her reply was, "i can't lay in your bed unmade because i don't know what's happened under those covers!" i laughed heartily. i guess some freeze-frames are for a more mature audience. lol.

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link of the day:
http://www.virtualsandcastle.com/

chocolate covered strawberries

i love wordless wednesday. so many pictures... so few of wednesdays. if you know my love for chocolate covered strawberries, you know these are mine. i got your mouth watering now, didn't i?

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link of the day:
http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/

(photo) favorite things

this week's 10 is your favorite things
with photos (optional) ..... want to play? .....

it was actually harder than i thought to pick only 10 things, but here they are - in no particular order...


my family
(photo by diana)


photography
(photo by danielle)


my computer
(photo by chaparral/flickr)


going to the movies
(photo by final station/flickr)


scrapbooking
(photo courtesy of google images)


chocolate covered strawberries
(photo by diana)


hawaii
(photo by diana)


thunder storms
(photo by robrealm/flickr)


anything mary engelbreit
(photo courtesy of google images)


starbucks
(photo courtesy of flickr)

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link of the day:
http://www.servingheroes.com/

latest software in

when i was looking through an old blog for the topless sandals i wrote about a couple of days ago, i found this and have always loved it. i hope it speaks to you today.


tech support: yes, .. how can i help you?

customer: well, after much consideration, i've decided to install LOVE. can you guide me though the process?

tech support: yes. i can help you. are you ready to proceed?

customer: well, i'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. what do i do first?

tech support: the first step is to open your heart. have you located your heart?

customer: yes, but there are several other programs running now. is it okay to install LOVE while they are running?

tech support: what programs are running?

customer: let's see, i have past hurt, low self-esteem, grudge and resentment, running right now.

tech support: no problem, LOVE will gradually erase past hurt from your current operating system. it may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. LOVE will eventually override low self-esteem with a module of its own called high self-esteem. however, you have to completely turn off grudge and resentment. those programs prevent LOVE from being properly installed. can you turn those off?

customer: i don't know how to turn them off. can you tell me how?

tech support: with pleasure. go to your start menu and invoke forgiveness. do this as many times as necessary until grudge and resentment have been completely erased.

customer: okay, done! LOVE has started installing itself. is that normal?

tech support: yes, but remember that you have only the base program. you need to begin connecting to other hearts in order to get the upgrades.

customer: oops! i have an error message already. it says, "error - program not run on external components." what should i do?

tech support: don't worry. it means that the LOVE program is set up to run on internal hearts, but has not yet been run on your heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to LOVE yourself before you can LOVE others.

customer: so, what should i do?

tech support: pull down self-acceptance; then click on the following files: forgive-self; realize your worth; and acknowledge your limitations.

customer: okay, done.

tech support: now, copy them to the "my heart" directory. the system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. also, you need to delete verbose self-criticism from all directories and empty your recycle bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

customer: got it. hey! my heart is filling up with new files. smile is playing on my monitor and peace and contentment are copying themselves all over my heart. is this normal?

tech support: sometimes. for others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. so LOVE is installed and running. one more thing before we hang up. LOVE is freeware. be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. they will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

customer: thank you, GOD.

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link of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaOEmDJUNmM

mad church disease

i always try to make my sunday posts about God or my chrisitan walk. this one isn't exactly along those lines, but it IS about the church.

i came across a blog yesterday asking readers to go over to the mad church disease site and take a survey. i'm usuallly up for a quick online survey but i was more interested in the title. mad church disease - what was that? one click later, i was there.

the name mad church disease is actually the name of a book being written by anne jackson. it's about church and ministry burnout. i was intrigued... very intrigued.

i don't know most of my readers well enough to know if this would be interesting to anyone, but it might be worth taking a look at. for one thing, anne is gathering information through three different surveys. if you are currently or have been working for a church (paid or volunteer), or married to someone who is currently or have been working for a church, you could help her out by filling out one of the surveys. they're short and easy.

i also found the author's bio very interesting. i'm not sure how much of her personal story will be included in the book, but she definitely has a story to tell. she also has a personal blog. again, some good reading. i encourage you to check out both sites.

reading from anne's blog has stirred up some deep emotions. i have a long and tangled history with the church. i could be sitting here as a completely different person with a completely different attitude toward the church and God. but God had something else in mind and didn't stop pursuing me. i am so glad He didn't give up on me. i can't imagine my life without Him in it.

thank you, dear Lord, for loving me in a way that i still can't fathom. thank you for the many blessings you've given me and for filling my life with joy. amen.

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link of the day:
http://www.klove.com/Ministry/WallOfPrayer.aspx