Church Cancelled?

Yes, you heard that right! The snow fall and ensuing icy road conditions meant that many churches in our area canceled today's services. We were at the the KCAA state basketball tournament last night when we learned that our church had canceled this morning's service. I was surprised, but the church building sits up on a large hill, so I could understand, especially after driving home last night in icy conditions. We did have a plan B though, and just thought we would go to another church service, one where we have been before and our friends attend. Imagine our surprise when we got there and the parking lot was empty! We hadn't seen it listed as canceled on our local TV station.

Any way, I used it as a chance to catch up on my reading through the Bible in a year. I always seem to fall behind. If you miss one day it's a bear because of the old testament reading!

Hostess Gifts

Been invited to a friend's home for dinner and just now thought of what to take for a hostess gift. Sometimes it's nice to think outside the box of the usual things - wine, candles, candy, flowers. I went scrounging through my prebought gifts, you know, things I pick up when I see them. This is what I had on hand:

Wine
Candles
Stationery (small pretty boxes)
Teddy bear in a matching gift bag
Specialty soap

The trouble is I know this couple well, and she shops at TJ Maxx just as much as I do, so there would be no surprises as she thinks a lot like me as well.

I scrounged some more and found the perfect thing that I had picked up quite a while ago, Maker's Mark Bourbon Flavored Cherries! And I also was able to throw in some red Maker's Mark cocktail napkins.

If anyone else has ideas on what to keep on hand to give as hostess gifts I would love to hear from you.

Now I'm going to go do one of my favorite things, eat a meal that someone else has prepared!!

Six to Eight Inches of Snow?

After experiencing some near 70 degree days we are now in blizzard conditions with an accumulation of six to eight inches expected today. Wow! Even I am excited about this, though school went on as scheduled because this is that wonderful soft kind of snow that is falling pleasantly like a Christmas snow globe scene. I wasn't daunted by it and went out on my usual morning run. I did have to shorten it though, because it was globbing on my glasses and it was just beginning to get a little slick. Fun!

Crazy California

There's been another story coming out of California that reaffirms that they are just Crazy out there! This one is about something that is near and dear to my heart, homeschooling.

A ruling from the California appeals court could subject the parents of 166,000 students in the state to criminal sanctions, if they don't meet certain state requirements or send their kids to government schools. Here we go again, we've been down this road before!

Right now the argument seems to be over the language of the state requirements, that is what constitutes a "private school" and credentialed teachers. I don't want to get into all the details and all of the rhetoric about best interest of the child, because there's just too much to go into.

This particular ruling concludes that the state provided no circumstance that allowed parents to school their own children at home! That means that those 166,000 students that are being home schooled, well, their parents got some 'splainin to do.

Get some popcorn, this is gonna be good!

Other crazy things about California:

*Using the terms 'Mom' and 'Dad' banned in public school setting

*Parents who spank are considered criminals

*'State interest' argued in teaching homosexuality

*State education chief pushes 'gay' pornfest

I'm telling you, instead of Eureka their state motto should be Deleterious, because they are Crazy in California!

Thumper's Rule of Entropy

Yesterday my Science Fair post had some trouble due to a little known law of nature, Thumper's Rule of Entropy. This law states that "if you can't say nothin' nice don't say anything at all, but if you do say something in the comment section that is crass, or mean , or unkind the post will immediatley go from order to disorder, and implode!"

So that's what happened to my Science Fair post :-)

Big Guys Eat a Lot

Hey, I've snuck up to the office while there are 16 officers eating dinner and dessert downstairs. So shh! I just wanted to report on the dinner, it all went very well, except maybe I fell short on the pork tenderloin, maybe, just a wee bit . . . and that's because I always underestimate what these big guys can put away. I fixed 5 tenderloins, so really that's roughly 1/4 tenderloin per person. Now to me that's a lot . . . and these guys are all officers with PT tests, weigh ins, etc. The colonel doesn't eat that much, but some of these guys!!! Next time I will do better with allowing more, because like any cook my real reward is seeing folks enjoy the meal. Or maybe I will serve more filling appetizers :-)

Update: There were 18 officers plus the 3 of us. When did those two guys sneak in? Hey it was the General and the DCO, am I going to turn them away?! No, that's when you add water to the soup, right?

Thoughts On the Adornment of Women

Last night I went to a ladies get-together that was also a jewelry party. You know the catalog ponzi scheme type. You know when you go that you will buy something simply out of peer pressure, and sometimes that is exactly why you go. It's a fun way to browse and get opinions from your friends, it's kind of like the old quilting bee get together, accept of course the only thing produced is a purchase. I actually almost always enjoy these types of parties, escpecially if its a group of fun women, and last night's really was; the jewelry was just an excuse to enjoy each other's company.

Anyway, I got to thinking about why we women like to adorn ourselves. It goes without saying that we all (generally speaking for our gender) do like jewelry. The colonel always thought that I really didn't go in much for this, but lately I've been purchasing some things, and he asked me about it. I replied to him that, no I've always enjoyed jewelry, we just couldn't afford it so much.

But that doesn't really answer the question as to why I like jewelry. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into flashy, look at me stuff. But things that enhance what I'm wearing, yeah, that's the ticket. Hey, I'm not going to get on the psychiatrist's couch over this, but I just hope there's no underlying need for attention here. Nah, I just like jewelry :-)

But my all time, anywhere, any occasion favorite? Pearls, of course!