Pencil Thin

You can tell the weather is finally warm in our part of the world. I love the warm weather and being able to get outside. What worries me about the weather is the number of motorcycles now on the road. So many of them fly past our house so fast I can only hope they know a good bunch of motorcycle accident attorneys! Last night I know the guy going by our house had to be doing 80 miles and hour in a 35 mph zone. If just makes me wonder what would happen if a small child ran out in front of them or a car didn’t see them and started to back into the street.

I got this email today and thought it was pretty powerful.

Guess our national leaders didn’t expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton , Colorado , was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:

“Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women.. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven chi ldren who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out f or answers.

“The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used… Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart.

“In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA – because I don’t believe that they are responsible for my daughter’s death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel’s murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy — it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage,
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question “Why?”
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

” Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational
systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine’s tragedy occurs — politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. The! y immedi ately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

“As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA — I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your
own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter’s death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!”

Do what the media did not – - let the nation hear this man’s speech…. Please send this out to everyone you can

Last week I started going to physical therapy for my back. My MRI report states I have a herniated disk, arthritis, and something called a interosseous hemangioma. I understand what the herniated disk and the arthritis are but can’t seem to find a good answer as to what if anything the last thing is. When I asked the physical therapist to explain it to me you would have thought I was asking him to tell me about mesothelioma or some other disease. He gave me this look that implied I wouldn’t understand no matter how he explained it. Clearly the man has no idea that I work in health care! I have been looking on the web but can’t find anything that explains why this would be of any significance in my back pain.

I rarerly wear any at all, just for special occasion, if then. The other day though, I realized they now make a tinted moisturizer. I made my own, a one time use, by putting baby lotion into the palm of my hand and adding a couple drops of makeup, mixed it in my palm, with the lotion and applied it to my face. It worked. There was no make up ” look ” but it evened out my ruddy skin tones and dried to a powdery finish. The baby lotion had an SPF to it, so I felt as if I was doing something good for my skin. In the past, any kind of regular make up just accented my wrinkles, this doesn’t….

As I sit here typing my older son and my husband are outside building earth boxes. We are getting industrious this year and going to try our hand at gardening. We have selected a variety of vegetable plants to grow in our boxes and simply can’t wait to see how they grow. Whether we have a bumper crop or not I will still consider the process a success. As a family we decided on a project and saw it from beginning to end which is really what is most important. It doesn’t stop me from hoping our plants thrive but I won’t be overly disappointed if they don’t.

We all sometimes need reminded about the friends we have in this world. I certainly loose sight on occasion of the people who are there for me no matter what.

You’re…
My Friend,
my companion,
through good times and bad
my friend, my buddy,
through happy and sad,
beside me you stand,
beside me you walk,
you’re there to listen,
you’re there to talk,
with happiness, with smiles,
with pain and tears,
I know you’ll be there,
throughout the years!

Author unknown..

The front porch on our new house is enclosed and I absolutely love it! Essentially it is a three season room. It is so nice to be able to sit our there and read the paper and enjoy time with my family. We have done quite a bit to make it feel homey. Aside from a table and chair we added a radio and a couple of comfy places to sit. There is cable running to this room so if we wanted to watch television out there we could. Right now I don’t know where we would put even one of those small tv stands but it sure would be nice on a hot night to sit outside and catch a bit of television!

With the housing market as low as it is, is anyone else seriously considering purchasing rental properties? Currently we only own our own home. But, we are seriously considering a small property, to rent out previously owed by family, so we are already familiar with it. With the going rate of rent in our area, we could almost double the mortgage payments. ( we wouldn’t always do that, we know to keep some back for a rainy day fund for the house…We’d still have it paid for in 5-7 yrs.) Houses here are cheap, cheap, cheap right now, but no one wants to buy or are able to buy. We paid more for our truck than we’d pay for this house. Our bank has already given us the go ahead with it. (and, they are one of the small local banks that are still doing well because they never jumped on the big corporation ban wagons, making all of these risky gambles.) And, we could swing the pmts should it ever be vacant for a few months every now and again. Even if the rainy day fund would get depleated. Though, the realtor said that really shouldn’t be an issue either, they claim there aren’t enough rental properties in the area. Now, we just have to decide if it’s really a GOOD idea for us. It’s one of those, I’m not sure we should just because we can…But, I can also see how it could be a very good investment for us in the future. Just trying to consider all sides of it at the moment. Anyone have any input on this one?

i have been desperate to get back in shape after putting on a few winter pounds. The problem is that I recently found out I have some herniated discs in my back. I have always had pain in my back but not to the degree I am now experiencing. It makes working out difficult because I seem unable to move for the next couple of days after I exercise. I guess I am going to have to look into what is the best weight loss pill. The doctor has me set up to start physical therapy and I am hopeful this may give me some direction as to exercises that I can do without paying the price afterward.

I have to share this afternoon’s accomplishment!! I adapted my favorite banana bread recipe to use whole wheat flour. This go-around, I also replaced the sugar with Splenda brown sugar blend and honey. Kinda defeats the purpose when you add chocolate chips, but it’s the thought that counts, right? I thought it was neat that they formed their own streusel topping.
Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
(makes 12)

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 c packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup Splenda BSB here)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c ripe banana (it took 3 mediumish ones)
1/4 c honey
2 lg eggs
2 c WW flour
1/2 c chopped walnuts (subbed 1/2 mini choc chips)

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with liners or spray with Pam.

Beat butter, sugar, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla until smooth. Add banana, honey, and eggs. Beat again until smooth. Add flour and nuts (chips), stir until mixed but do not overmix.

Fill muffin cups (they were almost clear full) and let rest about 10 minutes. Bake 23-28 minutes. Let cool only a couple minutes in the pan before removing…you don’t want the bottoms to steam.

You could also make this in a 9×5 loaf. Baking time is about 1hr…if it’s getting pretty brown on top, I’ll lay a piece of foil over it with 10-15 minutes to go.