Reading Through The Alphabet

I wish I could take credit for this idea but I can't because it's a contest going on at work. Basically, I can read any book that starts with a letter of the alphabet and try to have a variety of genres. Here are the books I have read so far and currently reading. I'll try to keep the list updated.

A Against All Odds by Irene Hannon (Christian fiction)
B
C
D The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn (Mystery)
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson (Travel)
O Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis (Sci-fi)
P Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke (Mystery)
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
x
Y
Z

Thoughts

First thought for this blog update...work. What is the deal with all of the returns we've had lately? It's like they buy the book, use it and then return it the next day. Seriously, it's crazy.

Second thought...I got to drive Dad's new truck on Wednesday!!!!! I suppose it's really not that big of a deal but it is larger than his last truck and it's a diesel. The reason I got to drive the truck was that Dad was changing the oil in my car but didn't have enough oil to put into my car. So I went to Auto Zone to buy more while he started to drain the old oil. My car was blocking Mom's so driving her car wasn't an option.

Third thought...I had my first kickball game last night. Sadly we got our butts kicked. Although, we were short a player and they are a really good team. Also, our team got better defensively as the game went on. The other team's runs were mainly scored in the first inning.

Fourth thought...Today has been laundry day. Usually I wash clothes as I need them...socks, underwear, work clothes. However, today I washed all of my dirty clothes which equaled to four loads. On the plus side my hamper is completely empty.

The Rodeo

I've always enjoyed going to the rodeo. Spending time with my sister and/or friends, eating funnel cake with powdered sugar and chocolate syrup (it is sooooooo good), seeing what the different vendors have for sale (I bought something but I'll get to that later), watching the cowboys in the rodeo (enough said) and you can't forget the little kids riding the sheep. However, the best thing about last night was seeing a brother in Christ being so open about his faith.

Ever since I heard "Long Black Train," I've really liked Josh Turner. It's a great country song with a Christian message. The same can be said about "Me and God" although that is even more Christian. He has a beautiful voice and, let's just face it, the man is gorgeous. However after last night, it's pretty safe to say that he has become one of my favorite artists if not the top one. He had the courage to stand in his faith and sing this beautiful song.

The Answer

If you're lookin' for somebody you can talk to
When the heartache and the troubles overcome you
There's a man you can count on
That you can put your problems on

You've got questions, you need directions
Arms to hold you for all eternity
Look no further 'cause there's no other
For a lover and an understander
Jesus is the answer

You're out there wonderin' what got you into such a big ol' mess
You've been feelin' so undeserving of forgiveness
But there's a King upon a throne
That lets you know you're not alone

You've got questions, you need directions
Arms to hold you for all eternity
Look no further 'cause there's no other
He's an anchor, He's God's right-hander
Jesus is the answer

Sometimes life is a no-win situation
But get down on your knees
And He'll be right there waitin'

You've got questions, you need directions
Arms to hold you for all eternity
Look no further 'cause there's no other
He's a lover and an understander
He's an anchor, He's God's right-hander
Jesus is the answer
Jesus is the answer

What was just as wonderful was the reception the song received. The first time he sang Jesus is the answer, there was cheering and applause. Not from the whole audience but there was a lot. What makes it even better is that it was the last song he sang before the one encore song. Is there a better way to end a concert? I don't think so.

Now onto what I bought. Recently I've been thinking about buying a new purse and last night I found one. I spent just over $30 on a hand-made purse from Guatemala. How cool is that? Also, I am expanding my horizan just a little bit with this purse...well minus the purple.

Half Baked Ice Cream and Sweet Home Alabama with Luz

It has been so long since I've gotten to just sit back, eat ice cream and watch Sweet Home Alabama with my best friend. For that reason, Luz had the idea and I agreed to make an ice cream and movie date....despite the miles that seperate us. And because we are both movie quote nerds, we decided to share as many of the quotes that we can from the movie on our blogs and see how many are the same.

"'No you won't answer or no you won't marry me?'
'Jake Perry, I'm 10 years old. I got too much to live for.'"

"'Why would you want to marry me for anyhow?'
'So I can kiss you anytime I want.'"

"'You know that accent of yours is a whole lot thicker when you're dreaming.'
"How could you let me sleep?'
'Oh, calm down. it was five minutes.'
'What did I say?'
'That you were giving us big fat raises when you become somebody.'"

"'Well,for starters, you can get your stubborn ass down here and give me a divorce.'"

"'You know I've never actually understood that expression but no I'm not shittin' you.'"

"'What happened to Bear?'
'He died. You weren't here.'"

"'Jake! You dumb stubborn redneck hick. The only reason you won't sign these papers is because I want you to.'
'Wrong. The only reason I ain't signing is because you've turned into some hoity toity yankee bitch and I like nothing better right now than to piss you off.'"

"'Hey genious, next time you lock someone out make sure they don't know where the spare key is hidden.'
'Well, that's the thing about hide-a-keys. It would be nice if your wife told you where it was.'"

"'This here ain't nothing but a domestic dispute. He didn't hit you did he? If you tell me he took a swing at you, I'll take him in right now. We take that stuff pretty seriously now a days.'"

"'You know what? I don't have a single childhood memory that doesn't have you two in it? And that includes the night I lite my ass on fire.'
'Wade, memory lane is closed.'"

"'I suppose shop lifting steaks at the Winn Dixie's okay?'
"Oh, oh, oh, oh. I took those back and you know it!'
'You remeber the vandalism out at the stockyard...totally her.'
'Like I could tip a cow by myself.'
'Wade, isn't there an outstanding warrent for whoever dumped your mamma's tractor in the fish pond?'"

"'I see your priorities. Jake, jail and then home.'"

"'That's just pillow talk talkin.'"

"'Have you been to the Sit and Sleep lately? Yuck. I suppose I'll just have to order something from New York.'
'Whatever blows up your dress, darlin. You go right ahead and spend your money.'
'Oh, but darlin' I thought you said to think of it as our money.'"

"'Just a guess but I'm thinking the words joint checking are flashing in your head right now.'
'How much did you take?'
'All of it.'
'Son of a bitch!'
'You want a wife, you gotta wife.'"

"'Honey, just cause I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid.'"

"What is that noise?'
'The sound of my past.'"

"'Look at you! You have a baby...in a bar.'"

"'Hot dog, Jake! Look at the size of that thing!'"

"'Not me and her us. You and I us.'"

"'Oh, why don't you just go to a gay bar!'"

"'I am better than them and you stole my pen.'"

"'People need a passport to come down here.'"

"'The girl I knew used to be fearless.'
'The girl you knew didn't have a life.'"

"'We weren't aiming for you but I doubt that I would have come to your funeral.'"

"'It's funny how things don't work out.'
'It's funny how they do.'"

"'Can anyone think of anything that might bother Bobby Ray here?'
"Uh...Clinton's breath?'"

"'Do you want to go arrest somebody?'"

"'I told him it was my fault.'"

"'Maybe I could just fly south for the winter.'"

"'Fifth regiment! Anybody seen Earl Smooter?'
'He's about to surrender!'"

"'You and I are in love with two totally different people.'"

"'Is he a second cousin?'
"He's my husband.'
'You married your cousin?!'"

"'Oh yes, let's.'"

"'Do we know, Mo?'"

"'No really, I've seen it. You just have to dig it up.'"

"'I saw him first.'
'I think he's already taken.'"

"'Daddy! NO!'"

"'You know, Jake you're my only son and I love you but sometimes you're too much like your daddy.'"

"'You know, I can't control her anymore than I can control the weather.'"

"'These things don't just happen you know.'"

"'The truth is I gave my heart away a long time ago, my whole heart and I never really got it back.'"

"No one talks to my Mamma like that!'
'Praise the Lord, the south has risen again!'"

'"Hey ya'll if your friends of the bride, stick around. I'm gonna find me a groom!'"

"'How cowboy!You owe me a dance.'
'Nice dress. Where's your husband?'
'I'm looking at him. Apparently you and I are still hitched.'
'Is that right?'"

"'What is it about you southern girls? Can you only make the right decision after you tried all the wrong ones.'
'At least I fight for what I want.'
'What do you want, Melanie? I don't think even you know.'
'You were the first boy I ever kissed, Jake, and I want you to be the last.'
'Maybe you and I had are chance.'
'Fine! Have it your way you stubborn ass!'
'Why would you want to marry me for anyhow?'
'So I can kiss you anytime I want.'"

"'What she do this time?'
'From what I hear, she ran out on a perfectly good cake.'"

"'You might want to keep those for the honeymoon.'"

"'Hey Stella, make it a slow one.'"

Seriously, Is This Really Happening?

Today is order day at work so we had three people scheduled in the cafe. I get to work at 7:30 this morning and start getting the cafe ready to open. Soon after that, the store manager tells me that the 8 o'clock person called in sick and she asked if I could stay till 3. I had been scheduled to leave at 1. On the plus side, that's an extra two hours of pay! However, this also meant I'd be by myself for two hours since the third person doesn't get there until 11.

Is this my only trouble for the day? I wish it was. We had some wood paneling in the cafe that needed to get worked on and they came to fix it this morning. That in itself is a good thing. However, for them to work, the closing crew last night had to move all of our retail coffee bags, chai and green tea boxes, the syrups and our espresso machine. For me this meant everything was squished on our side of the counter which means annoying to deal with. Also, one of the soup pots wasn't scrubbed completely clean last night so it had to be washed again. So I took it to the back and filled it with hot soapy water. I'd worry about it later.

Is this the end of my troubles? Sadly it wasn't. Usually the order arrives anywhere between 11 and 12:30. Sometimes a little earlier. Today he arrived a little after 9.....when I was still by myself. Luckily someone from the book floor was sent to help when I was checking in the order. However, she doesn't know how to make the drinks so I had to go help a couple of times.

The next step for the order is dating all of the delivered food and then putting it in our walk-in freezer. I had decided that it was best to simply stack everything in the freezer and let our lead do that when she got in at 11. I never would have gotten it done with having to stop and make drinks.

Since I didn't have to be in our back room anymore, I sent my co-worker back to the book floor. I planned to put up the non-food products of the order but that didn't happen. The cafe got too busy with customers. It wasn't busy enough for me to call for back-up but busy enough where I couldn't get anything else done.

I went on my lunch break at 11. When I was in the break room, I noticed that the schedule for next week had come out so I went to look at it. Apparently, my cafe manager had forgotten that I requested off this coming Sunday for my birthday. I was not a happy camper at that moment. Luckily I'll see her tomorrow so that can get fixed.

I am happy to say that my day got better after that. Nothing else major happened and I went into a much better mood. Although I was really happy when 3 o'clock rolled around. I was so out of there!!

Recent Events

My head has been spinning this past week and a conversation yesterday sent my brain going on faster loops. After a short while, it seemed to stop and it hasn't picked up again. I hope it stays that way. Sadly I can't say anymore than that because it's not my place to say anything. Although, the one person who I know for sure will read this already knows and she knows why.

Moving on to another topic....the weather that has caused power outages across the state. I get to work at 11 this morning and the store is closed because there's no power. It had been going off and on all morning. We wouldn't have power for about 45 minutes or so and then it would be on for 13-20 minutes. This continued through the early afternoon and the store didn't open until almost 2 o'clock. I wonder if the same thing will happen tomorrow. I'll find out when I get to work in the morning!

I Should Do This More Often

I should update more on what I'm learning through BSF. I just finished today's reading and questions and this is what really hit me.

"Who has measured the waters in the
hollow of His hand,
or with the breadth of His hand
marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a
basket,
or weighed the mountains on the
scales
and the hills in a balance?" Isaiah 40:12

The question for this verse: What attribute of God stands out through the images Isaiah uses in verse 12?
I had two answers actually. The first answer I had was God the all-powerful creator. He has control and power over the entire universe because He created it.
The second answer was big. The verse starts off saying that He has measured the waters in His hand. All the waters. Oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, you name it. That's a lot of water and the verse doesn't say hands! It says hand. He held all of the waters on this planet in one hand!
This verse has put me in total awe of God.

Hey, look an update!

This past week we've read Isaiah 40:1-11 in BSF and I just wanted to share something that hit me last night.

"See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and His arm rules for Him.
See, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense accompanies Him.
He tends His flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and He carries them close to His heart;
He gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 40:10-11

I couldn't believe that it didn't cross my mind when I was reading the versus myself during the week but our leader said this in the lecture. The same arm that rules with power is the same arm that tenderly holds us close to His heart. I just love how she worded it. It's so true and it's a wonderful visual.

The O'Malley's

So I finally picked up the O'Malley series by Dee Henderson again. I had read the pre-equal and the first book awhile ago but failed to read the rest of them. A number of days ago I finished reading The Guardian. I loved it and picked up The Truth Seeker the very next day. Wow. I love Lisa and Quinn and the appearences that Jack makes. I had to come on here and share some of my favorite parts. And I haven't even finished the book yet! Some of them are Quinn's thoughts and others are conversations that had me burst out laughing. Enjoy!

"He'd do what he could to get that stress to drain away tonight, even if he had to resort to badgering her into getting angry and letting that tension loose against him. It was one of the odd times where ruffling her into reacting would be the right thing to do."

"It was a dichotomy he had accepted over the years as the place God had put him. He couldn't be a light among a sea of candles."

"'My gutters must be clogged. That brief rainstorm was wonderful, but it had me finding towels. My swamp is back, and this time it came in under the back door.'
'Your swamp monster returns? You mean it didn't just unlock the door and wander through the house? Face it, you've got a living thing in your yard. It never dies.'
'Jack.' Next thing she was going to hear about those stupid monsters from the swamp movies he loved."

"'I think it was the purple socks. When she looks beautiful in purple socks, there's a problem.'"

"Quinn got the message. Hurt Lisa and a hammer was going to come down...Those who said chivalry was dead in the modern age hadn't met Marcus."

"'Oh-very important. Jack, if you cook the rice so I get hit with white soggy stuff I'm going to make you eat it.'
Jack burst out laughing. 'Jen, I hadn't even thought of that one. And why are you always picking on me? You know Kate dreams most of this stuff up.'
'Whitewashing my car windows this morning-are you telling me that wasn't you?'
'I claim the fifth.'
'I thought you would.'"

"Quinn waited until the door closed, then tapped on the connecting door. 'Marcus?'
His partner opened the door and rested his shoulder against the door frame. 'She fell for it?'
'Hook, line, and sinker.'
'I wonder how long it will take her to realize she just raided Dave's room, not mine.'"

"She heard a soft rumble. She looked up and grinned. 'That is your stomach growling.'
'It's Old Blue's.'
'Sure it is.'
Quinn got to his feet. 'I'll prove it to you. I'll go get a sandwich, and you can listen to Old Blue.'"

"He thought about moving her. Thought about it and instead just settled into the chair opposite her, resting his chin on his fist. She was gorgeous as she slept."

Have a great day and God bless!

Quotations

I haven't updated in ions!!!! I'll try to get back in the habit. To start off I thought I'd post some quotes. There will be no movie or tv show quotes even though I love them. They will all be from books.

"I heard somewhere that soda machines actually had to be rebuilt by engineers because they were too quiet. People would put their money in the machine, press a selection, and somewhere between the selection pressing and the five seconds it took to drop the correct beverage, the customer would lose his temper and kick the shit out of the machine. Five seconds. Too many machines were being destroyed, so the engineers redesigned them to include loud clicks and buzzes and a tumbling drop to fill in the silence." Postcards from a Dead Girl by Kirk Farber

"'Now, sir,' said the Bulldog in his businesslike way, 'are you animal, vegetable, or mineral?' That was what it really said; but all Uncle Andrew heard was 'Gr-r-r-arrh-ow!'" The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

"And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle

"...the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

That's it for now. I'm tired and going bed.

Animals: Part II

The Penguin

I admit I don’t know much about penguins but I do think they’re cute, especially in Happy Feet. It’s a bird that doesn’t fly but swims instead. Think about it. A bird that swims…I never would have thought of that.

Once again, I’ll continue later. It’s past one o’clock and I need to go to bed.

Animals: A part of God's Creation Part I

I thought I would continue my previous blog by sharing with you different animals. I'll even start with one I mentioned earlier.


The Cheetah
I stated in the last post that the cheetah is the fastest land animal on four legs. It can run at least 65 mph and sometimes all four legs are off the ground. How cool is that? Luz, I posted this picture just for you. I saw it, laughed and saved it knowing I had to post it.

I'll add more later in another post. I have to go to work now. So sad. I'd rather finish this.

Balaam's Donkey

During this past week, the readings for BSF focused on Israel when they were camped outside Moab. The King, Balak, was terrified so he sent for Balaam to curse Israel.
The LORD told Balaam to say only what He told him to and Balaam informed the messengers of this. He said all the right words, sounding like a follower of the LORD, but God can see past the words into the person's heart. Three times the angel of the LORD blocked Balaam's path intending to kill him. Three times the donkey moved, saving Balaam's life. Three times Balaam beat the donkey because she was making a fool of him and he could not see the angel of the LORD. After the third time, the LORD opened the donkey's mouth so she could speak.
"What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?...Have I been in the habit of doing this?"
"No." Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes and he could see the angel of the LORD.
One of the questions this week was what lessons did you learn from this account.
I had two answers.
1) Follow God's instructions. All of them with no intentions of trying to change God's mind.
2) Listen to your pet, they might be trying to save your life.
I admit that the second one is uniquely me but that doesn't mean it's not true. All of creation is under God's control. God can use animals to send us a message or to save our lives. I've seen too many animal miracle shows to not believe that. The things that pets have done to save the lives of their owners is amazing.
Luz, we once had a conversation about what makes you see that there is a God. If I remember correctly, you said flowers. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry and please correct me. I'm thinking I said nature which is true, but not to the same extent as animals. I'm not just talking about dogs but from dogs to cats to killer whales to seals to polar bears. All of them. When Rachel and I were at Sea World, I was watching the different shows and amazed at how awesome and beautiful God's creation is. I was also astounded how people could see this and not believe that God exists. It boggles my mind on how some people do not believe in God and creation when each animal is unique in it's abilities to survive in its environment. Even when they live in the same environment. For example, the lion and the cheetah both live in Africa but are completely different. The lions live in prides and the females hunt together. The cheetahs are mostly solitary and are the fastest land animal on four legs. How amazing is that?! God is totally awesome!
Well, that's enough of my ranting. God bless and have a wonderful day!

Change of Plans

So today turned out a little differently than I had originally planned. It's my first day off in 6 days and the top thing on my list,right after doing my BSF, was doing laundry. So a little before 10:30 I went into my little laundry room to start my first load and I discovered that my water was off.
After saying "What is going on here," I remembered that last week our management left a note saying they would have to turn the water off in our building on Thursday March 26th to fix a problem. It did not happen...probably due to the hail storm that went through the night before. I figured that since they didn't fix the problem last week, they're doing it today. It would have been nice if they left another note saying they were turning off our water today. Of course they might have but Rachel was the one to see the note and forgot to tell me because of her car issues. Understandable.
So what do I do? I pick up my phone, call Mom and ask her if I can come to the house to do my laundry. So that's where I'm at right now. My last load is in the dryer...it's probably done by now. A slight change of plans but my laundry still got done!! :)

Prayer's Please!

The Easter Pageant I'm in needs your prayers. Easter is now less than two weeks away and we still need roles filled. We need soldiers, women of the tomb, Barabbas, servants, one or two disciples and probably more that I can't think of right now.
I know somehow it will work out because God is taking care of it. As our director says, "It's not our pageant, it's God's pageant." We're just the instrument God is using to tell His story. It is an amazing experience. Being part of telling the story of Christ's death and resurrection puts Easter in a better perspective. It helps you have a better understanding of what Christ went through to save us. I've been involved with the pageant since about the 3rd grade and Easter would not be the same without it.
Thank you for your prayers! I greatly appreciate it! If you want to know more about the pageant, let me know. I'm more than willing to share.

Work Ramblings

This is for you Luz...Blog updated.

Okay seriously. Tonight I closed at good old Barnes & Noble and I was in the Children's Department which thankfully wasn't bad. From the few times I've worked back there I have mix feelings about it.

Here's why:

1) I like it because seeing books I grew up with take me down memory lane. If I wasn't working, I would be tempted to read all of the Berenstain Bears books. Seeing them make me wish I never got rid of the ones I had growing up.

2)I like it because it keeps me familiar with the section. Before I started working in kid's, I hated it when a parent or a kid would ask me if we had a book. I could look it up on the computer and tell them if we probably had it or not. Finding it was another story.

3) I don't like it because in a short period of time, it can be destroyed. It does depend on how busy the store is though. If it's busy and I'm gone an hour or more because I'm up at customer service, checking people out at the cash register, my lunch break or covering the cafe lunches...oh dear....it might take me a good while to clean it up.

Thankfully, tonight was a slower night. So after being at customer service, I didn't have too much to clean up. There were some books that had to be reshelved but it was still fairly nice, neat and organized. That made me happy.

Books

One day at work I was ringing a customer up and he made the comment that he had to return a book because it was defective. At once I wondered how a book could be defective. Defective means it doesn't work and how could a book not work. Even if a page is torn, you can still read it. The book is damaged not defective. The customer answered my question before I could ask. There were two chapter 13's and no chapter 14. Yes, I realized, that is a defective book. When you are reading a book, you cannot read chapter 13, skip 14 and go straight to 15. What if chapter 14 is the most pivotal chapter? What if it has the climax of the book? Without that chapter, it just doesn't work.