Global Warming?

Apparently there's a cold snap.
A snap that's so cold everyone's having trouble with their pipes freezing. I just looked at my site meter, and of the last 100 views, only 5 weren't from people who had found it by Google-ing help for frozen pipes. From Ohio to Massachusetts to Georgia, and every state in between, it must be cold.
Hope my post helped.

Ho Hum

I should be cleaning.
But I don't want to be.
I'm half done with the dining room.
That's excuse for a break.
But now I feel guilty for taking a break.
So I will press on and get it done.
Then I will start on supper.
Because there's always something.

Note to Self:

You can no longer leave the salt and pepper shakers out on the table. Your one-year-old thinks it's amusing to climb up on the table and sprinkle them underfoot in manner of a tap dancer or sprinkle them atop his freshly-laundered clothes as if the laundry basket were one giant cooking pot.

You'd think after, oh, the fortieth time of this happening, you'd remember such things and wouldn't have to write a note to self.

It's Winter.

So I don't have anything to write about.
We're "nestled in" for the winter.... I try not to leave the house unless I have a specific reason (i.e. house cleaning, band practice, etc.); even though gas is less than half what it was about a year ago, I still want to cut corners and scrimp where I can. Like yesterday: I really wanted to go into town - I have several non-pressing errands that need done, but nothing that HAD to be done on a Monday. So we're leaving early for band practice tonight to do it all then.
We are enjoying Nathan so much these days. (Not that we ever did NOT enjoy him!) He is running all over the house, and he has the funniest little run - it's like he runs by bouncing on his feet and ankles..... I'll try to video it so you can laugh, to.
Apparently we've reached the age of repeating things he hears..... Guess I need to step it up on the "Words I'm Trying to Get Rid Of". Last night when we were playing he said "Whatcha doing?"(just like I say it), "Where'd it go?" and "I don't know." All as clear as day - but I'm not sure he realized what he was saying, because he didn't repeat them. (I'm sure had I said "crap" that he'd have been saying it all the rest of the night, then.)
Have I mentioned I hate whining? With a passion.
Right now the 3-year-old I babysit is whining because he didn't get to watch "train movie". Paul and I have decided that when we let Nathan watch TV, he has to sit and watch it, and when it's over, we turn it off. If he starts ignoring it in the middle of it, we turn it of. We don't want the TV to always be on in the background while they're playing or not paying attention. (Which is what the two I babysit are used to.)
Dallas asked to watch his movie, and so I told him to go sit down, and he told me no. I explained our "rule" two or three times, and when he kept refusing to sit down, I put in the Old McDonald baby movie that Nathan kept handing me. Which brought on a major whining fit, complete with hiding behind the couch. Yesterday the whining fit was over the fact that he didn't like the cup I gave him his requested drink of water in. I listened to it for 10 minutes before I put him in our bedroom so I didn't have to listen to him anymore.
Please tell me not all children go through this! I'm not sure I can handle it!

About that Bailout....

The more I think about that $700 BILLION bailout our government so carelessly handed out - once again, do government officials not have to pay taxes? Is that why they so freely spend MY MONEY on these idiotic pursuits? - the more it hacks me off.
Instead of giving money to the executives at the top, why didn't they give it to those of us at the bottom - which is where they say the problem started anyways, because people couldn't pay their loans!
Imagine how much more sense it would make to give out that money in the form of a "grant" - Okay, show us ptoof you have a home mortgage, and we'll cut a check straight to Countrywide (or whoever carries your loan) to help you out. That helps the big mortgage corporations, because they're getting their money, and it helps us by freeing us up to spend money on things OTHER than house payments, thus stimulating our economy. End of "economic crisis."
Seriously. If this mommy - who doesn't have a college degree or any financial expertise other than managing our family checkbook - can figure that out, surely one of the HOW MANY people in Congress could have thought of it!

I'm a Pansy.

And this was like the 5th time I'd shot it......

My family has a new tradition when we get together: going to shoot! Whereas I'm a big supporter of firearms in general, it's been years since I've shot anything other than our single-shot rifle. I'm pretty sure I was about 12 last time I shot a shotgun.

After about 6 shots with this gun (a 12-guage), I went in and got "the ladies gun" - a bolt-action .410, which has shells only the size of my pinkie, thus less kick-back. It's harder to hit a target with the smaller shells, but I figured I wasn't going to be hitting anything anyways, so it might as well hurt me less with each shot.

Spiritual Warfare

A girl I went to camp with a couple summers ago emailed me yesterday to ask for help getting back on track. I decided to pray about it before I replied.
As I was cleaning the bathroom this morning, I remembered that I needed to reply to her so I immediately went to do that. I didn't want her to have to wait for some answers/help.
As I went out the bathroom door, Nathan pinched his fingers in the hinges and started screaming. I got him calmed down, so I went to the computer. As soon as I started typing, he started screaming again. So I changed his diaper in case it was poopy (I can't smell with this cold). It wasn't, but he still screamed, so I gave him milk. He quieted down and sat on the couch for a few minutes before he started back up.
I knew I needed to get it sent, so I went ahead and kept typing even though he was screaming or pulling on me the entire time.
I was happy with how it read, so I pushed send.
I kid you not - as soon as it was sent, Nathan stopped screaming and became his normal happy self.
I hate to think that Satan would use my precious one-year-old for his purposes (which would be to keep me from helping this girl get back to Christ). But I know he does. I'm not saying Satan is inhabiting Nathan. I just know that he can use anything to distract us from fulfilling Christ's will - whether it would be a child screaming during an important message, the car breaking down, traffic being bad.... If it can keep us from meeting someone or being somewhere where we might witness (or be witnessed to), Satan is going to do what he can. I think he even uses things like the car breaking down or the loss of a job or health to frustrate us and to make us question God.
So I'm assuming that what I wrote was what God wanted this girl to hear. Please pray for her, and pray for me as I help lead her.