Sweet Carmel Meme :-D

Apparantly get-to-know- you questionaires are now sometimes regarded as 'Meme's


Accent: American Standard

Butter or Margarine: butter.

Chore I Hate: mess happens. stinkiness happens. I deal with it and go on. Stinkiness not found for awhile because the cat hid while doing it, because a glass was forgotten for a couple of days...with juice in it, or because the container was invisible behind the jelly in the fridge that nobody likes... this takes on a whole different dimension. I deal with that too, but I don't like it very much.


Dog or Cat: either can be wonderful :-D



Essential Electronics: to those who would live wired, I suppose they are ;-)

Favorite Cologne(s): Sunflowers, Spiced Green Tea, Green Tea(hard to find now), Liz Claiborne, Ghost Myst, and an unidentified Arabian oil-based perfume my hubby got me last year. It has such a warm scent :)

Gold or Silver: I would be pleased to receive plenty of either. I won't complain, promise!


Hometown: New Jerusalem?

Insomnia: *presents insomnia pet for your inspection* Its been feeling neglected for awhile now. You can have it if you like...

Job Title(s): wife, mom, nurse, crafts artist, writer, feeder of pets, adding more but I don't think I want to anounce until I have something I am ready to show


Kids: two great young'uns abide with me. I don't know how they put up with me sometimes, but I'm grateful they do. They even allege to enjoy it. lol

Living arrangements: A decent-sized house with lots of headroom. Tis' a pity we're mostly short. lol

Most admirable trait: affection, honesty, forgiveness. All fresh gifts passed on daily by Jesus

Nicknames: The main one I go by now is MMMmmmmooooommm!!! Then there's my hubby's endearments. :-)

Overnight hospital stays: for me or for the whole family? recently had one connected to pre-surgical check on my hubby. It went very well! One more session, and we may finally see the end of this trial. Unbelievably he may *still* be cleared for a small vacation trip soon afterward. I was surprised the doctor said that. We'll have to wait and see tho


Quote: I am always encountering quotes I think are worthy of thought and remembrance.

This one caught my attention recently in 'Christianity & Culture' (Part of Lewis' 'Christian Reflections")

"our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan. But will Brother Every agree in acknowledging a real difficulty about mere recreational reading..., as about games? ... It is a serious matter to choose wholesome recreations: but they would no longer be recreations if we pursued them seriously"

God made us with a need to relax, to play. Hard to find many guidelines for what is 'edifying' play and what isnt, aside from avoiding obvious sin. I've heard about everything condemned by Ephesians 5:4.

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.
3 But lewdness and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this ye know, that no lewd, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. -Webster 1833 ed

"much bad criticism, indeed, results from the efforts of critics to get a worktime result out of something that never aimed at producing more than pleasure."

Amen. He was referring to literary reviews but the concept is larger than that. Some people don't know how to just play. That would be sad enough but then they will judge others' responses based on their outlook. If all they do is for an intended effect or to get ahead in "x" way, everything you do must be for some deeper darker purpose. :/ IMHO Online gatherings seem to be especially vulnerable to the effects of people who join a play group with work/ politics/ personal ambitions foremost on their brains.

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I had a dream recently about otters playing in the surf near an island with Riven-blue waters. They were just a bunch of tumbling, silly, friendly, innocent creatures splashing each other and dancing in the waves. For a minute I thought I was also an otter until I realized they were molting, and beneath that they were injured. I reached out to help one and realized I had hands. I was human but that difference wasn't enough to help them, so I prayed. A thinnish Ursula sat on a rock nearby shouting to the otters to do her bidding (they mostly ignored her) and insults at me ~ including "where is your God if he really is on your side?" ~ until Aslan bounded up the beach. Everytime she'd look, he'd look like something else ~ a smaller lion, a deer, a lamb, even a donkey. She'd turn away and laugh at us for paying these lowly creatures any mind ~ but we could see the huge lion steadily approaching.

Eventually Aslan appeared next to her and blew her off her perch. The otters laughed and spontaneoulsy healed as they rolled about in energetic play. The rest of the dream was just plain fun. Aslan bounded in and out as he pleased, which made us feel safe. I collected shells, played in the sand and splashed the otters. fun. I like fun. 'Ursula's are too focused on success to know what innocent lesiure time looks like!
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Religion: 'mere' Christianity. I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety. I will accept any other sincere believers as being in the same spiritual family as myself be they Catholic, any variety Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, or un-Orthodox. ;-) I've even known a few sincere Mormons & Jehovah's Witnesses that I truly hope are claimed by heaven when they go to home.



Conversely, if the fruit of someone who claims to be a believer is consistently bad (See Galatians 5, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, 2 Timothy ch2-3, Titus 3) their denominational protestations don't mean a whole lot. Everybody screws up sometimes but the believers will regret any wrong-doing intensely, will want to work out differences, won't seek to see how far they can spread the quarrel and who they can use against you, and will try to not to keep sinning in the same ways.

Siblings: Both half-brothers passed away years ago (when I was still a kid). I've been trying to adopt another ever since. My Mom doesn't seem to think this will work...

Time I wake up: varies wildly during trials like these.


Unusual talent or skill: writing, crafts of different sorts, design concepts

Vegetable I refuse to eat: lima beans - blecch!

X-rays: the initial check-up dental thingy is the only one I have had for years

Yummy stuff I cook: lamb roast with scratch gravy, homemade bread, decent breakfasts, quiche variations, noodle & rice casseroles with my own spices, scratch soups...

last books read: the Bible, "Babylon Rising" by Tim LaHaye, "Food Allergies and Intolerance," "Humor for a Mom's Heart," "Culture of Complaint" (I'll read political books from all over the ideological spectrum: Huffington to Coulter.), and a bit ironically, Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden - as I actually like to see our antlered neighbors stroll across the yard.

Strange to finally find this book now. I was looking for something like it for years on behalf of someone online I once thought was a friend ( seeking to be a good friend) and kept on because resulting discussions informed us that some local pals had the same trouble. I've never actually had that much trouble myself, despite our deer's fondness for our cantalopes & legumes. I recommend this book to anyone who has deer for neighbors whether you've got problems or not, as it explains rather well why deer do what they do when they do.

currently reading: "," "Christian Reflections" by C.S. Lewis, "Steal This Computer Book", The World's Religions, and rereading Behe's "Darwin's Black Box" & the Bible


verse for the day:

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. Proverbs 9: 10-11