Kaplooey.
How's that for a random shot?
Kidding.
Rob had a burst of energy, and his burst required the removal of "STUFF" from the previous storage room. Twenty-two and I packed, hauled and sorted a pile of household accumulation into three piles and got rid off, or stored all of it.
Nice. Feels extremely nice.
We now have only ONE room that hasn't been gutted or remodeled yet.
During the gutting this outdated blue room became the beautiful gutted one also known as a future office.
: ) This makes me happy because...the only place to go from here is rebuilding. YAY!!!
Back in the swing of life as normal now. Suffering a bit from post-vacay ennui.
But office reentry has been bizarrely easy. I expected multiple phone messages as indicated by the red glow under the collapsed stack of paperwork. Nope. I had one. A moderate pain in the neck but only one and only moderate. The paperwork stack has already been wrangled, hog-tied and sorted. (Thank you for your LACK of contribution there, EER, I appreciate your restraint.)
And another surprise at the office. Today I received an “AWESOME!” and a “PERFECT!” (punctuation, caps and enthusiasm mine). See, I’ve been collecting firings (I believe I’m the owner of nine different firings) wherein an employer is offended by some smart, snappy comeback, lacks the wit to retaliate and threatens to withhold paycheck or have me escorted from the premises by security. (This in itself is funny. Really. Trust me.) But the awesome and the perfect came with the erasure of two firings each. Yeah. That’s kind of nice.
Conundrum of the day. Should I change my tactics and go with helpfulness and uberefficiency vs the quest for the most firings?
Wait. One would require helpfulness and efficiency. The other sarcasm and mocking.
Oh well, the kudos were nice while they lasted.
About the Book:
David, Xander, Dad, and Keal have discovered a terrible secret. Now, finding Mom is only a small part of their mission. And time is running out. Using the portals to build an empire, Taksidian wants the house for himself, and there's nothing he won't do to get the family out. The consequences of his meddling reach far beyond the family--to the future of the world itself. The Kings know their survival depends on stopping the bloodthirsty assassin. If only they can find his weakness in time.
Most startling of all is their ability to change the path of history. But will their tinkering in time reunite the family and save the future . . . or set mankind on an irreversible course of destruction?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Timescape, go HERE
Enter the contest to win this book package by clicking here!!!
You've met Robert before. He's a frequent visitor at the Dregs. Click here to see reviews and interviews and links galore.
My Review:
Liparulo's Dreamhouse Kings series seems to be intensifying rather than slowing to a conclusion. As the story grows, so does my interest. I find myself turning the pages quicker and becoming more and more concerned for a large group of people as the evil plans of the house and the man who wants it desperately become even more menacing.
There are very intense, scenes in this book including a visit to a village during a berserker raid. If you don't know what a berserker is, you will find out in the book, though you may not really want to know. Shudder. Sensitive children may not be able to handle the intensity and suspense. However, mature kids who don't struggle with nightmares should really dig into the story that has three young protagonists who were attempting to save their family and now look like they may be required to save the entire world.
Spiritual themes are light and more implied than spelled out so there is very little preaching.
Synopsis:
News anchor and reporter for Fox News Radio, Todd Starnes takes a humorous but serious look at life and faith.
"Todd's story reminds me of the many ups and downs I faced during my weight loss. Along his journey Todd not only lost a significant amount of weight, but he also lost his parents to sudden illnesses. He survived a significant surgery, ran a marathon, and despite it all still managed to complete the task. Todd's story reminds us that God uses the least of us to do the greatest things, that way there is no question that it is indeed God at work."
Mike Huckabee
My Review:
I found myself groaning at corny one-liners, gritting my teeth at a few well aimed comments that convicted me, and laughing with Todd Starnes on his journey of discovery. With self-deprecation and a sweet, sometimes dipped in churlishness, spirit Todd details his journey from death to life. I appreciated his candor and wit. And I appreciated his willingness to share the hard stuff and the blessings he discovered along the way. I’m giving a copy to a friend who recently had an emergency quadruple by-pass. After all, laughter is great medicine, and we all are given today with no promise of tomorrow, so why not spend the majority of our time laughing.
Todd’s own words sum up the heart of his message and journey and I can't come up with anything better.
“It’s that simple. Really.
I may never go skydiving or ride a bull, but I have survived open-heart surgery. I’ve lost a lot of weight, and I’ve run the New Your City Marathon. And somewhere along the way, I learned that Gods’ mercies are new every morning and that His strength is perfect when mine is not. And with apologies to Tim McGraw, I’ve chosen to live the rest of my days not like I was dying. Instead, I’ve chosen to live like I was living.”
We've been cleaning lately. With all the remodeling we've done, we've become really good at packing, hauling and temporarily moving something to a new home.
Unfortunately, with things packed in cardboard and stacked, it's easy to forget what's where. It's also kind of nice to look at clutterless sections of new and improved and it seems kind of criminal to load em up right away.
That said. We've found some treasures. This is my childhood piggy bank. I believe my mom made it in a ceramic class when I was very young. You can see that it may have taken a tumble or two and possibly has had surgery.
I had forgotten all about Petunia Pig. It was fun to find her nestled away in a box of treasures.
And now I can look at her whenever I want. And I just knew you'd want to meet her.
One of the best things about blogging is that I can actually write a post and schedule it to post magically while I'm busy doing something else.
I'd like to share my to-do list for the day.
1. Get up whenever I darn well feel like and toast the day with french press.
2. Ignore Blogger.com completely, and my e-mail, and the phone...because there is not a phone to ignore and the internet requires a twenty minute trip into town.
3. Read a bit...while sitting in the sun and listening to the sound of water lapping against the shoreline.
4. Decide to create something delicious from a pile of produce, or not.
5. Laugh a little, or a lot, depending on how funny Twenty-Two and Rob are choosing to be, actually, maybe I'll be the funny one.
6. Float on the lake amongst the loons and the occasional seagull.
7. Read a little more. Or take a nap. Or just hang out doing absolutely nothing.
8. Maybe a trip into town for a peek via wifi and over an iced double mocha of some sort.
9. Say a prayer or two. After all, a relaxing week is a GIFT from God.
10. Enjoy every laid-back minute of the day and hope you are having a great day, too.
