by jphilo | Dec 2, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. Not paying an arm and a leg to fill the gas tank on the way to visit rellies over the holidays.
9. Fixing hearty, hot meals that include mashed potatoes and gravy because winter is about food like that.
8. Catching up with family and friends when their Christmas cards arrive.
7. Celebrating Eternal Optimist Day on December 21. Because for the next 6 months, the daylight hours keep increasing. Yes!
6. Stringing Christmas tree all over the house to make it feel like Eternal Optimist Day is arriving early.
5. Continuing our tradition of watching the Lord of the Ring movies throughout Christmas break.
4. Enjoying the heated seats in our new car on the chilly drive to Wisconsin this weekend.
3. Watching our grandson’s eyes light up when he opens the ukulele his Papoo made for him as a Christmas gift…one of the perks of having a papoo who makes guitars!
2. Going to Des Moines for supper and a movie with my sweetie…in our new car with heated seats.
1. Singing Silent Night at church during the Christmas Eve service at our church. A holy moment that moves me to tears each year.
by jphilo | Nov 25, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Disclaimer in the interest of family unity: #3–5 actually tied for third place…but in the interest of counting down, they were arbitrarily numbered 3, 4, and 5.
10. In less than a month, the days will start getting longer.
9. Good health.
8. The Mayflower Pilgrims who began the Thanksgiving tradition and believed in religious freedom.
7. Celebrating the holiday with our large, noisy, quirky, enthusiastic extended family.
6. Tuesdays with Mom and Camp Dorothy experiences.
5. Our four adult children–two biological and two who experienced our large, noisy, quirky, enthusiastic extended family and still said, “I do.”
4. Our sweet grandson who melts my heart when he asks, “Grammy Jo, need another hug?”
3. Two more grandchildren coming in January and April.
2. My patient, encouraging husband who believes and supports my crazy writing dreams.
1. A God who loves the world so much He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Nov 18, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
The internet gets some pretty bad press and for good reason. But it’s a neutral medium, as is any technology. When it’s used the right way, it makes life much easier as this top ten list shows.
10. YouTube how to clips take the pain out of DYI projects . It’s also handy for finding funny clips to dress up speeches. And the technology is simple enough for digital immigrant authors to create videos about their books.
9. Much as I like to handpick gifts at real stores, online shopping makes life easier in a pinch. As does printing out coupons and then shopping at real stores. I can just about here my grandkids talking about the olden days when grandma was a girl, and she had to hunt for newspapers and cut coupons.
8. What’s not to like about online Bibles with hot link cross-references? Clicko, presto, and the verse is right there. Can you say time saver?
7. Email means book proposals and manuscripts can be sent to agents and editors as attachments. No more printing hard copies, preparing them for mailing, driving to the post office, and paying an arm and a leg for postage.
6. The internet makes research fun and fast. Want to know if your latest book idea is unique? Do an Amazon search. Need to know the date of the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 1977? There’s a website for that. Or how about the television viewing schedule for October 1988? It’s all online!
5. Recipes, recipes, recipes.
4. Online conferences and church services make it possible for people who can’t leave home to not only watch a worship service, but also to interact with other worshipers.
3. Netflix = 0 commercials.
2. Mapquest and Google Maps means never having to ask for directions again.
1. Facebook is a wonderful place to create community among parents of kids with special needs–parents whose caregiving duties make it hard for them to get out of the house. Thanks to Facebook, a few years ago I met other parents of kids with the same condition my son was born with in 1988. To find someone who totally understands your parenting journey is a gift beyond measure.
by jphilo | Nov 4, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
November is such an awkward, unlovely child with it’s chilly days and long nights. Even so, here are ten reasons to love this hard-to-love month.
10. The chances of being bitten by a rattlesnake are low.
9. It’s a good time to rearrange the living room and sweep the insect corpses that have been hiding under the furniture since the Man of Steel discovered the bee hive in the AC unit a while back.
8. Turkey prices go way down. Good for humans. Bad for turkeys.
7. The trees that still have leaves look so courageous, hanging onto their foliage with all their woody might.
6. Morning walks are lighter for a few weeks once Daylight Savings Time kicks in.
5. Outdoor plants moved inside to winter over give the house a safely-tucked-in-bed feeling.
4. Every once in a while God offers up a gloriously warm, calm, and sunny day.
3. In case you haven’t yet heard, The Caregiver’s Notebook released this November. What’s not to love about that?
2. It’s time to make pie.
1. Thanksgiving with the family, eating great food, playing board games, and hugging our grandson!
What do you like best about November? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Oct 28, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. It’s the closest thing to time travel most of us will ever get.
9. There’s more time to turn the lights down low for a romantic evening and not notice the need to dust the furniture.
8. When it’s dark by suppertime, jammies are perfectly acceptable dining attire.
7. Once everyone’s wearing jammies to the table, serving breakfast for supper is also perfectly acceptable.
6. So is going to bed early after meal clean up. Which is incredibly easy when cereal bowls and spoons are the only things that need washing.
5. School children who wear jammies to the table, eat breakfast for supper, and wake up early because they went to bed early the night before no longer have to wait for the bus in the dark on school days.
4. Writers and bloggers who wear jammies to the table, eat breakfast for supper, and wake up early because they went to bed early no longer have to take their morning walk in the dark either.
3. On evenings when people don’t hit the hay immediately after wearing jammies to the table and eating breakfast for supper, it’s too dark to do anything but binge watch the Modern Family Season 5 DVD, which you have on loan from the library for 1 short week after waiting months for your turn to check it out.
2. Fall back in the fall means an extra hour of sleep this weekend. Heavenly!
1. The end of Daylight Savings Time means only 4 short months until March 9 when it and spring make their glorious re-appearance.
What would you add to the list? Leave a comment!
by jphilo | Oct 21, 2014 | Reflections on the Past, Top Ten Tuesday
Last week’s top ten was about what I missed and appreciated about high school. This week’s list looks at the flip side of those high school coming-of-age years in the early 1970s.
10. Macrame anything.
9. The lack of air conditioning in August and May.
8. Listening to the really-love-your-peaches-want-to-shake-your-tree line from Steve Miller’s song, The Joker.
7. Learning while sitting rather than learning while doing.
6. Wondering about making it through high school and college, getting a good job, getting married, having a family, and every other adult rite-of-passage that scares high schoolers silly.
5. Daily insecurity about clothes, hair, shoes, and anything else a high school girl can be insecure about.
4. School lunches.
3. Gym class.
2. Zits.
1. Homework.
What don’t you miss about high school? Leave a comment.
