Spring project #1

I don't think the dog is thrilled with the kitchen project. So far, David's taken all the white tile off and scraped off the gluey cement stuff, which was an incredibly noisy process involving a coal shovel, and gotten down to the old linoleum that he's just going to put the new padding and floor over. To the dog, it  means he wasn't allowed in the kitchen for a couple hours on Sunday and again Tuesday, even though David was in there and the treat cabinet's there. And it was too noisy when they were scraping off the junk. We moved his food and water dishes, the fridge is blocking all the light coming in the dining room window and the big islandy thingy is right in front of the living room window, the window he always looks out of. Yeah, he can't be real happy. And of course he doesn't realize that we're doing it a lot for him....
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Worst Drive Ever

I don't really have a favorite place to drive. To be honest, I don't care about driving and am more than happy to let my husband take over the wheel most of the time - as long as he's not yawning. When I do drive a long distance by myself, I put a book in the CD player and stick to the highways. I do remember the worst drive I ever made. We were on our way back from North Carolina. Amber was 3 or 4 at the time, so it must have been 7 or 8 years ago. The way we went took us over the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. I don't remember who though of it first, but we got the brilliant idea to drive down to the bottom. And of course I was the one driving at the time. It was this steep narrow winding road and I must have been white-knuckled on the steering...
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Meet the Quagga

One benefit of reading, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, is learning new things. This week I learned about an extinct animal, the quagga. Amber picked up a bunch of animal books at the library last week, one of which was The Quagga by Tamara Green, part of the Extinct Species Collection. I had never heard of this subspecies of zebra before, but apparently it lived in the grasslands of  southern Africa up until the late 1870s. I learned a lot from the book and from doing some quick research on-line. The quagga had stripes like a zebra on it's head and neck, but a little way down it's back, the stripes fade into a solid brown color. It was an herbivore, horselike in many ways, with slim hooved legs and good hearing. Quaggas could be trained and were used by farmers as guard dogs to protect their livestock. They were brought to England in the 1820s, where they were taught to...
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Favorite Word

It's hard to choose a favorite word. Is it meaning that's important - passion, faith? Is it the way the word sounds - mellifluous, opulent? Is it a word with a special, personal meaning - sunshine, amber? What about a favorite word as motivation - believe, flourish? A couple of weeks ago during our mid-week praise service at church, the speaker asked people to share their favorite words.Words like love, trust, forgiveness were mentioned. So was beautiful, an interesting choice I though. I didn't share my favorite word, mostly because I couldn't come up with one. And to be honest, I still can't. There are several words that I could claim as my favorite and even write a fairly convincing reason why, but none that I feel attached to. Maybe extravagant. Not as in spending more than is wise, but as in "going beyond," "exceeding the bounds of reason." Love extravagantly, give extravagantly, live extravagantly. I'm not good at extravagant, actually, but...
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On a desert island

Today's question is, "If you were stranded on a desert island alone, and could only bring one book with you, which would it be?" Can't I bring my kindle? And a solar-powered charger? I could load it up with all kinds of books, mysteries, romances, classics. Imagine all the places I could visit, all the people I could meet if I had nothing to do but read? (And find food, and build a shelter, and tend a fire, but you get my point.) Okay, I guess that's not really a fair answer. If I could only bring one book, I'd have to choose the Bible. I wish I could say it was for some deep spiritual reason, nourishing my soul, developing a deeper relationship with my Father, and those are wonderful reasons, but not my primary ones. First of all, it's long, and with hours and hours to read that's important. Second, it's so chock full of drama, wars, romance, betrayal, murder,...
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Funny Authors

I really don't read many funny books, so coming up with three authors I truly consider funny was harder than I thought it would be. Christopher Moore I'm pretty sure the first Christopher Moore book I read was the Island of the Sequined Love Nun, which I loved. Hilarious! I made my husband read it and he enjoyed it too. And I found out today that he was actually born and raised in Ohio. Nifty, huh?   Douglas Adams He's a must-read author as far as I'm concerned. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is classic. It's a shame that I've never listened to any of the radio series, might be a good idea for the next long car trip. I have to admit that I'm also a fan of his Dirk Gently series.   Brian M. Wiprud I fell in love with his writing when I first read Pipsqueak. It's a smart, funny, quirky mystery and I adored it. I've since read all of his books...
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