Caffeinated Randomness...Back to the Future!!

Andrea suggested this website...Yearbook Yourself...and it was a hoot!

1954

1978---WOW...I sooooo look like my MOM!

1998--picture this with blond hair and you've just about got it!

It's funny what comes to mind....

Great scripture has been popping into my mind at the exactly appropriate times. A while back Ps. 46:10, "Be still and know I am God." was perfect for my life and everywhere. It was in my devotions, in our couples' devotions, in Bible studies, in the Sunday sermons. It was strange...you know it was right up there with the feeling you get that your pastor is spying on you! HA! Now that's good preaching.

Anyhew...sometimes I find it odd...or maybe creepy...or freaky...okay, I need a thesaurus... that what comes to mind in the morning hits you between the eyes later in the day. I had decided to post some verses by the naughty mats for inspiration in difficult times. Yes, now it is mats, plural...lovely! Two spots for simultaneous weeping. One of the verses I picked, especially for Curious Georgette, was

Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing..."

Okay, those of you snickering...just stop it, right now! You know where this is going. It was very appropriate for her...she's been begging/complaining when I say no...and it's gotta stop!

But then....
...the Loverbrain came home late...and he's been gone on business for days...and me...wellllll....I was angry, grumpy, frustrated, okay...another thesaurus moment! What verse do you suppose popped into my mind!? YUP...

Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing..."

I about bit my tongue right off! I could see God's hand...wow! Because I was silent I could see my poor husband was exhausted and sorry to be late. I could see that he wanted to be home with us! Now, I'm not saying that my insides weren't grouchy for a bit but one half at a time, people!! My attitude did follow my guarded lips!

Ps. 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.

WFW- Are you seeing wondrous things??

I need to add that I do know that this verse is shortened. The entire thing ends with in Your Word. So, yes you should be seeing God in His creation but you should also be reading and seeing Him, and all His wondrous works, in His Word. I would indeed be remiss not to point you to the full text!

This is a Beebalm flower in my garden...and I thought about using "Is there no balm in Gilead?" Jeremiah 8:33... but didn't figure most would know why in the world I'd put it with this picture...so....this seemed more appropriate!

Thanks so much to all your many comments on my WFW last week. I do so look forward to seeing all your selections!

Tube Tuesday: Run For Your Life

Wicked Blueberry Coffee Cake...

Well, I've never attempted to make a recipe from a mystery novel before...but, there's a first time for everything. I think I was reading Murder on the Rocks (Gray Whale Inn Mysteries, No. 1)
by Karen MacInerney. It's one of those yummy sounding recipes that you copy down and forget about until, in my case, you have lots of fresh blueberries.
Here's a clue to how well it came out! Yummo!!
Wicked Blueberry Coffee Cake

Ingredients
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 t. vanilla
1 t. bkg. pwd.
1 t. bkg. soda
1/4 t. salt
2 c. flour
1 c. sour cream
2 c. blueberries

1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add next 6 ingredients. Add flour and sour cream alternating with egg mixture. Fold in blueberries. Place in greased 9X 13 pan. Top with creamed brown sugar and butter...with flour mixed in until crumbly. Spread over top of batter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I added 10 minutes to mine...cuz it wasn't quite as set up as I like!

3's of me...

Three names I go by..
1. Bobbi
2. Bobbi Jo (family mostly)
3. Schmoe (only my Daddy)

Three jobs I have had...
1. Jr Hi. Special Ed. Teacher (it was hard)
2. Third Grade Teacher (loved it)
3. Mommy (still lovin' it)

Three places I have lived..
1. Cincinnati, Ohio
2. Hancock, New York
3. Racine, Wisconsin (don't remember it...I was a baby)

Three t.v. shows I watch..
1. 18 kids and counting...
2. Barefoot Contessa
3. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Three places I have been..
1. Spain
2. England/Scotland
3. Germany

Three of my fav. foods..
1. Cajun/Creole
2. Chinese
3. Steak :)

Three things I am looking forward to..
1. Completing potty training of my son
2. Sleeping in Sat. morning (if you call you're in trouble)
3. Family time tonight

Caffeinated Randomness- Aging Panic!!

Well, the "gee, I'm almost 30" thing is hitting me big time. So, I decided I'm going to set some healthier plans for the future. Cuz, seriously if the downward progression of my body and mind continue at the same pace they did this past decade...I'm in BIG trouble!!

So, I started running....yikes! My sweet friend, Emily, talked me into a March of Dimes race in September. I remembered the first day I started training..."Oh yeah, i remember why I stopped running after college...I hate this..." BUT...I do love the results...and I love that it is FREE and FAST! I am enjoying the quiet, cool mornings...that's motivation cuz let's face it...there isn't much calm and quiet in the life of a mome to toddlers.

I made yogurt today...yup...my very own self! Can you say, "Cheap, cheap...come on let me hear ya! Cheap, Cheap!!" Ha ha ha! AND...tasty, smooth and creamy. I used 1% milk and it's waaayyy creamier than the stuff you buy. We decided to switch to smoothies in the evenings in place of ice cream. My Loverbrain loves ice cream...and smoothies...yeah! Any of ya'll pigeons out there with good smoothie recipes please feel free to share! I've been doing peach/blueberry...and blueberry/banana. In the words of Rachael Ray..YUMMO!!!

Oh, and in my fight against age...we've started taking vitamins. Incidentally, don't you love how I've pulled the dear hubs into this with me? Poor thing!! He's already older than me...but agrees we could be healthier. Really, what's the poor guy gonna say, right? So, we're joining in with my grandparents...who we've affectionately dubbed the "vitamin cultists" but who you have to admit are some of the healthiest "70 somethings" you've ever seen! Already, let me just tell you that B Complex makes me a much nicer person. If you've got the "grouchies" try some...but remember it takes a few months to really kick in!

Gee, where was on this random caffeinated...oooo...caffeinated...hmmm.... Now, there...that...I'm not ready to give it up yet. My coffee...our coffee...still strong in the morning (and sometimes the evenings)...Until my Sweet Boobahs suck less energy out of my body and brain...this sweet chiccy needs...needs...her morning cuppa! Yeah, yeah...I know it's not h e a l t h y...and I am cutting back...some...

So, anyway...thought I'd share...randomely...I'm not really sure I could share any other way!!

Facebook's shadow culture...

My Dad came across this article and shared it with me. He knows the "struggles" I've had with Facebook in the past...and why I removed myself from the frustrations it was causing me this year. I tried to explain in my ladies Bible study what I was going through...and let me just tell you that the older ladies really struggled with the term "de-friending." Everyone should though...think about it! At the time, I wasn't really able to clearly formulate all the things that bothered me about Facebook. This article does a great job of articulating many of my concerns. I highlighted the things I like, for emphasis!!

Facebook's shadow culture
By Emily Walshe
Thu Jun 11, 5:00 am ET
Brookville, N.Y. –

I remember the day I became blood sisters
with my friend Kristine. We planned for weeks; but in the end,
nobody noticed us steal into the cornfield, prick our
prepubescent palms, and press them firmly together.
Kris is now on Facebook and she's pestering me to join.
She's one of the 200 million Facebook users who tend
networks of friends online. I am among a dwindling number
who don't.

A common criticism of such social-networking sites is that
they cheapen friendship. But they're doing more than
reducing its value: They're creating a shadow culture of
friendship that spins cosmic sympathy into crowd sourcing.

With greater connectedness has come the ability for people to influence one another with more speed and efficiency. Social-networking sites – spurred by a resurgent "Secret" interpretation of the ancient Greek doctrine "like attracts like" – have become a potent medium for mass persuasion.


The age-old law of attraction is manifest and multiplied to the nth degree in social-media realms. Facebook's exponential success lies in its ability to get its users to do the work for them – friends persuading friends to join, comment, and feed. Twitterers compete to attract followers – 140 characters at a time. On sites like eHarmony, affinity is an algorithmic compatibility coefficient.

Friendship, like marriage, is a big attraction – a deep commitment to a nonblood relation. It is a relationship predicated on trust and nurtured, over time, through physical and metaphysical connection.


Critics consider the phenomena of chronic "friending" to be a kind of memetic narcissism, and excessive self-regard is surely part of its appeal. But these ever-widening concentric circles of congeniality are subtly turning the desire for friendship into sinister temptations for power or profit.

In these labyrinths of mutuality, the pulls and pokes of influence are embedded in Facebook's highly targeted Groups and Notes. New "apps" are turning Facebook into a colossal interpersonal ploy that, ever-so-subtly, blurs the distinction between community and commodity. On Kris's page, I can browse her lemonade stand – a widget that pays her when people buy items from her list of favorite things. I can link to her brother and buy his garage band's music. Or I can help out Afghan refugees by purchasing "gifts," such as a virtual United Nations tent for $10.

Influence is the elephant in the chat room. Self-promoting and moneymaking apps are deceptivelydisplacing the gold standard of trust with a fiat currency of clout.

As I watch our kids acquire the habit of thinking and experiencing on behalf of an audience, I worry that they won't develop the wherewithal to effectively relate one-on-one, or to appreciate people as people and not as payoff. I see their Ponzified friend-building schemes and resent the ephemera of new-age amity. To them, friend is a technical term – a time suck.


"A friend to all," said Aristotle, "is a friend to none." We need a renaissance of intimacy and commitment. Now is the time to renew, in our hearts and in our souls and in our First Life experience, the perennial sense that friendship is both miracle and magic, and treat it less as cohort and more as covenant.

Emily Walshe is a librarian and professor at Long Island University in New York.

WFW-- Jesus Wept..

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." John 11:32-43

Tube Tuesday...The Second American Revolution

This guy's video on YouTube has been so popular that Obama “called him personally.” He said that he was very disturbed with the video and invited him to the White House. Obama also said he wanted the White House to handle the Press and not to talk about this video or the White House visit. That's interesting...

MMM- Shepherding a Child's Heart

Today we're sharing a resource that motivates us...in this case, to be a better parent. You might find it interesting...that I attempted to read this book while pregnant with Emmy...hahaha! For many reasons I didn't get much out of it then. NOW...our Sunday School class is going through it together and I'm learning TONS! It really hits me where it hurts...and that's a good thing!

My Sweet Boobah Boy is TWO!!!

How is it possible that he is two?? Isn't he the cutest!!!!?
Here's his truck cake....made by his amateur cake making MomE...who loves him very much!

Here's his big TONKA truck!!!

He got some really fun books too!!! He loves books!

Yummy cake!!! We shall call him green beard!

The happy party goers!

Grandma and Grandpa Wells like to take pictures and video...alot!!!

Playing with ALL of his trucks and cars!!! VROOM!

His sweet sister helped him unwrap! Awww!

For his cute birthday song go to MomE & Loving It!!!

Traditional Dinner Cookout

It is traditional to cookout on the lake while visiting Nana and Papa....
Hot...fire is HOT! My kids really don't get this concept...so we had them sit far off!

The natives were restless so they were pounding their table drums to signal their desire for nourishment! HA HA HA!

The kids had a blast. Check out the video at MomE & Loving It...

They were showing Papa something...squirmy probably...

We used the wood cart to get to and from the campsite...very handy!

This is a picture going back up to the house. Darren pulling gave the kids just the pull they needed to get back up the hill!

Flowers...

One misty morning I took lots of pictures of the flowers in my Uncle's garden. He has some beautiful old timey flowers. I'm just hitting the beginning of the season...

These pink ones are called "Martha Washington."

These are daylilies...

I love this little pink filler flower but don't know what it's called....anyone know?

These are in the Black eyed Susan family I think...

This is probably my favorite picture...

Some happy "Beebalm"...

WFW- Majestic Mountains...

Morning lovin' and walkin'...

Here's a picture of shlumpa dinka MomE...early in the morning with her snuggly bugs and crossword puzzles...AHHHHH...now that's vacation!
Every morning (except for one that it rained)...we walked up the mountain. I figure it's about 3.5 miles round trip. It's chilly in the morning...~50 degrees! Lubby rode in the backpack until we got to the driveway coming back...He would pat Loverbrain's head and say, "Love, love....go go go!"

Emmer wasn't too keen on going on these walks until we found a salamander/newt. She thought it was pretty neat! We also found some feathers, leaves and puff balls! Puff balls are some sort of mushroom that you can dry and then stomp on. They make a loud POP!

Every day after that she wanted to find a lizard. She insisted that we'd find other colors...blue, green, etc. We only found orange ones! Huh?

She also helped Nana with her crossword puzzles. She helped so much that some days Nana couldn't see the boxes...hehehe! She sort of learned to write her name. She can get the E pretty well!

In the evenings she'd snuggle with Papa!

Awwwww!

Here they are playing in THE TOWER!!! Both kids loved this...but Darren stood very close by because it's so high!

Again I say....AWWWW! Hey, they're my babies...I'll say Aw if I want to...cuz they're really really cute....see!