kimberly

Call me Mr. Sunshine told it like it is..."we don't manufacture anything in this country anymore." We are now a service based country. Even though most law enforcement, i.e sheriff, deputies, police and health care, i. e. nurses, doctors, and teachers, at least in my area, have job security, it is still serviced based. The last time I called AT&T for internet help I could hardly understand the service rep. Jobs like those have gone overseas, also. Ca_dreaming, my friend who is the librarian (excuse me, now called Media Specialist) at one of the elementary schools daycares some children, from her school, in the summer. It has proven very profitable for her.

A book from the 1980's, "Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them." My friend was involved with one of those narcissie dudes. She was not married. She could not understand why she continued to hang on to him. She said this book really helped her. She finally broke away.

I have this poem hanging in my kitchen window and carry a copy in my wallet. I have seen it many times elsewhere yet the author is never credited. Don't Quit When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low, and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don't give up though the pace seems slow, You may succeed with another blow. Success is failure turned inside out, The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit, It's when things seem worse, that you must not quit.

This year the Santa Claus at the mall was not allowed to say, "Ho, Ho Ho."

I was being funny. I was referring to the keyboard about zero and o. Made you look!! Ha! Ha!! Hope you find what you are looking for.

Gee golly, girl you have had it layed on you, haven't you!!!! Bless you honey, bless you. That is too much. You were in one job for 20 years. Check out that line of work in the vicinity of the families you mentioned. Follow your heart, sweetie.

I think every post on here is valid. Know why? Because each and every person is a unique individual. Mushy, I know, but ... I have not walked in your (everybody collectively on here) shoes and you have not walked in mine (everybody collectively on here). Life is fragile.....people are fragile. Hearts, lives, thoughts.....are fragile. The flesh of such tears easily. Yes, tears as in crying and tears as in ripping. On account of that, each has their own journey. Journey meaning exit from TWI or whutevuh. Their shoes not mine. My shoes not theirs.

GC and Leafy, Check with your local (state) university/college extension service about the vegetables that are best suited for your area. They are a tremndous help. Leafy, you have to lime the heck out of the clay soil. Take a soil sample to your local extension service. The results will tell you what you need to add to the soil. It only costs me $10.00. Heavy clay is all there is here. I amend the clay with potting soil, compost. But if you can not amend, the lime will take care of it all.

Leafytwiglet, I am most likely the only southern person that does not grow sweet potatoes. I don't like the taste. My mother cooked them all the time. I love the aroma of sweet taters cooking but the flavor never grew on me....BUT....I do plant lots of red potatoes.

I am a mean ole gal when it comes to winter. Winter is a mean ole unholy to me. I am one of those people that really starts to suffer from lack of sunshine about the first of January. The temps here aren't that bad except for about 2 to 3 weeks a winter. Give me many long, long hours of sunshine. I am saving up money to live somewhere that when it is winter here it is summer there. My only requirement is potable running water into the dwelling. Have sunshine...can deal with the rest.

Linda Z, I am with you honey girl. There is no material stuff in the world that can compare to having our children with us....and they make it home safe and sound. How many hugs did you give him? So happy for you that your Christmas Eve was full of laughs.

Mark, I forgot to mention.....you go dude!!! I remember it being just that way (no pun intended) out of headquarters. Christmas at the Way home (Limb) in Greenville, NC was not that way. There was always decorations, a huge tree and lots of presents under it. Maryann said she grew up celebrating Christmas and it never hurt her. Thankfully, not all leadership (and I use that term loosely concerning many others) bought into that.

Santa arrived at our house about an hour after watching "It's A Wonderful Life."

Santa is alive and well in our house. He and Mrs. Santa pay the mortgage, put food on the table, keep the little elves warm and have been seen kissing underneath the Christmas tree. As Tiny Tim said, "God bless us one and all."

Well, George Bailey came out on top, again. Geez, I love this movie.

hiway29, your wife and I are most assuredly brethren.

What does "jumped the shark" mean?

Tohuw Bohuw...became without form and void. The operative word(s) "became without." "Who created this void? Who created this empty space?" Heck, brother, surely we have attained to higher matters. Zero is not round it is oval...hhhmmm...ova...

Tonight, I watched my second favorite Christmas movie, "White Christmas." All is hushed in the house when Bing Crosby sings the theme song. "Miracle on 34th Street," starring Natalie Woods when she was a little girl, is nearly tied to second favorite. BUT, the big first favorite comes on tonight at 8pm. "It's A Wonderful Life." It is a tradition in our family after the big Christmas Eve Fest. Roar up the fireplace (no matter the temp. Some years we have had to open the windows.) and all snuggle down and in for the movie. As far as movies, it doesn't get much better than this one. It took my children until the age of 12 or 13 (IT'S IN BLACK AND WHITE!!! I CAN"T WATCH THIS!!! YUK!! PHEEW!!!) to get the message of the movie. Now, they wouldn't miss it. The youngest still refers to Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey.

This is too crazy. I looked on this site once before and thought it was one of those games I had to play and I don't get those very well. So, I checked tonight because I wanted to find the right place to post something else. Jackie and I were talking just yesterday about old commercials. I said, "Remember the one with the Norelco electric shaver skiing down the snow hill?" Seems great, sweet minds think alike!!! I watched "Yogi's First Christmas" last week and could not tear myself away from it. I had forgotten about someone of the characters. This is an older animated movie and I don't know why (yes, I do...work schedule etc., etc.) I have not seen it before. They had a lot of the old Hanna-Barbera (sp?) characters from their different cartoons in this movie. It was sweet, sweet, sweet and funny. I don't buy movies but I think I will buy this one.

Darkness is the absence of light. Light dispels darkness. Biblically never says the otherwise. Light does not live in darkness. Blessings and love, truly.

Cman, you said, "There are things people go through in life." You are walking in the foot steps of Jesus Christ my brother.

I love weather. Although, I keep up with all of it I particularly love hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning and thunderstorms. Weh my sister, Trisha and I grow up we are going to be storm chasers. I should have posted this earlier considering what you guys in the northeast have been going through the last week. I know many of you who post here are from there. I have been thinking about how you are doing. Many still without power. A huge snowfall on Friday. Now...the storm that just passed through the midwest is headed your way. I pray you and yours are safe and warm. In the northwest...hurricane-force winds and temps in the negative. Spokane had 25 inches of snow in the last 3 days and 6 more inches expected tomorrow. When I heard this I had to look it up on the net. Surely, I heard wrong. Nope, true. Geez, nellie!!! Anybody on here from there? I can not fathom all that snow. How do you function? I suppose your city must be prepared for that. My heart goes out to you. Be safe and warm. The midwest...holy smokes...Iowa, Illinois, Indiana. Earlier ice storm now heavy snow on top of that. Power outages, temps in the negative or near it, wind gusts 30+mph. December snowfall in North Dakota already equals the entire snowfall for last winter in that state. Holy mo!!! Snow and ice scares the jeepers out of me. Every 5+ years or so we have a freak storm, ice, snow and maybe loss of power for a day. We think it is fun and cozy. Roar up the fireplace to keep warm and cook up something in the dutch oven. The entire family camps in the den with oil lanterns aglow. But nothing, ever, never ever, like so many are experiencing right now. I can not fathom it. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers for those in this mess. Be safe, warm and well, beloved.

I am a typo doofie. I said "To 5 lbs. of buttercream I add..." I should have said to 5 lbs. of fondant... Something else I forgot to mention that is important. You have to wait 24 hours after making the fondant to make it into buttercream. Geisha, I use granulated sugar. Linda Z, actually it really is not a work out, now. It was at first. After several batches you learn the little tricks that make it easier. I limit myself to 3 lbs. of fondant into buttercream at a time. I did a 5 lb. batch only once. My weight lifting son had to help me pull it.

God was the Lord of the Old Testament but He was not their Father. Those who are born of Him He will not destroy. There may be some who choose to not be born of His seed. They destroy themselves by that choice. He is my Father I am His child. He is not this big bad evil dude waiting to bonk me on the head and turn His back on me if I do something wrong. That is never once recorded of Him to His children in the Church Epistles. He is always there, He is always in me, He is always waiting with open arms if I go askew. And daggummit, He is there if I just need a big ole hug and a pat on the head. That is just how close and real my Father is. The Lord Jesus be taking me by the hand a lot of times. Show me, help me, teach me........that is how real He is. He knows me. He knows how I grew up and why I think and act the way I do sometimes. He knows my every heartbeat and thought. He knows my struggles. He doesn't beat the soup out of me or turn His back on me if I don't get it "right" all of the time. Father doesn't do that to anybody. He knows why people are hurt, why they think the way they do, why they are lost, seeking, asking, mislead etc. And you know what I have learned, Father does meet His children where they are. And He does meet the lost and hurt and unsaved ravaged person where they are. Father loving God understands and His heart is, I think, turned more toward those who have had the hell beat out of them and can not find the way out. Jesus Christ knows above all what it is like to walk on this earth. I think of the Lord Jesus quoting Psalms 22 while hanging on the cross. With His last breaths He was saying to Israel, "HELLO!!!!! IT IS ME!!!!! YOU KNOW THE ONE PROPHESIED ABOUT!!!! I AM THE ONE!!!!! He was giving them every last chance to realize He was their Promised Messiah. Everything that was done against Him all His life He was still fighting for them and loving them. He didn't condemn them because they didn't meet Him on His terms. He said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentenance. That is my soapbox for the day on this thread. Actually, for my entire life.