If You Say So....Luke 5:4-7 (NASB)

     So, here's a puzzling fact I've discovered. Since realizing a couple of months back that I could check my "stats" with Google Blogger, I've been very intrigued to observe a couple of trends. I've discovered that, as of yet, there are three posts on my main blog, the one you are reading now, that are the most viewed. After clicking  a button, I stopped tracking times when I would re-read a post. So, the current numbers reflect other people who have read those posts. I'm entirely aware that some of those page views might have occurred accidentally and that people who clicked on the post might not have actually read it. Still, the numbers are interesting. When I looked at the traffic sources I see mostly facebook and google leads. Not very revealing. To date, my three most popular blog posts are http://halfdozengirls.blogspot.com/2010/07/ responsibility-and-restitution-part-2 .html, http://halfdo...

     Long wait in the ER.      Suspected broken ankle.      Finally put in a room. Only to wait some more...      And some more....      Overheard in the next room over:      "Do you know what time the surgery will be scheduled tomorrow?"      "No, I don't. Probably in the early afternoon."      "We have a huge birthday party planned for him."      "I would cancel it. He really needs this surgery."      More muffled talking and then sobs and whimpering cries from a young boy.      "I'm sorry. I can't make your social plans for you. I have patients to see. You know, I have patients..."      Yeah, my daughter!      "He's really afraid of having blood drawn."      I look back at my 13 year-old daughter lying...

    Note: this is a rambling post of disjointed ideas. Bear with me if you dare.... cute, creative, FREE seed pots This style of house is appealing to me. Go figure! I grew up in a Craftsman style house.        Since Julia was born I mysteriously lost all interest in television watching and movie viewing. A couple of movies look interesting, but I won't commit the 1 1/2+ hours to watching the entire thing. I can't explain why this is so. On the upside, I've developed a voracious interests in all sorts of unrelated random subjects. For example, I'm interested in learning about residential architecture (particularly Mid-Century Modern homes), jewelry making, vegetable and flower gardening using free supplies (think eggshells and 2 liter bottle mini greenhouses), baking bread with freshly ground wheat, homeopathic personal care items (if I smell funny, please tell me!), the facts regarding lawsuits and obst...

Around 6:00 am on Christmas morning in my backyard      I have a love-hate relationship with the early morning hours of the day. When I was a lazy, self-indulgent teenager, I  loved sleeping in till like, noon . I shudder at the thought now. I remember warm summer mornings where I was unpleasantly awoken by those *&^%$green parrots that escaped from the pet store fire like 30 years ago. They have managed to successfully reproduce and love chomping bites out of my persimmons. They find me wherever I go! Of course, all of you in the Los Angeles area know about these obnoxiously LOUD parrots. You've heard them, too, huh?      Then there were the years when Tim and I were married without children yet. We'd groggily open one eye on a late Saturday morning and say to one another, "Enjoy these weekends of sleeping in, smoochkins (yes, that was the corny name we had for one another back then). After the kiddos come we'll be up early enough." ...

     Late last week my neighbor appeared at my door with two wooden, red-handled children's brooms. This neighbor, I'll call him "Cookie Cal" (to protect the innocent), is in his late 60's and is an upstanding member of our community. He was Citizen of the Year back in the 90's,  is our neighborhood block captain, and has recently retired from a very successful business. His first two wives have passed away, and his third wife is a lovely, svelte, jewel of a woman who, in addition to her front yard gardening projects, really enjoys the new Mercedes he bought her for her birthday awhile back. "You know, I'm a millionaire ..."  he has told me on several occasions. Okey-dokey.       He's also a leftover hippie from the 60's, with a long, sometimes braided white beard and a propensity for "amusing" off-color jokes and expletives thrown into the conversation every so often. He had knee replacement surgery awhile back and so I hadn...

     Here I am - on the verge of 2011 looking back at the highlights from this past year. Here they are: 7) My Dad's miraculous return and recovery from death . No joke here. (See my post http://halfdozengirls.blogspot.com/2010/03/big-pour-concrete-and-blood.html). I remember holding his hand in the ICU in mid-March. He was getting paler and colder. His eyes were blinking nervously as the nurses were rushing around trying to force more blood into him as quickly as they could. My sister, an ICU nurse for 17 years, was offering to help them because she could see that they were not handling his blood loss as efficiently as they shoud have been. As I held my Dad's hand, I thought, I don't want the last face for him to see before he dies to be a sad, anxious, grieving face.  So I smiled at him as sweetly and bravely as I could. It was hard and it felt weird. I was trying to stay strong for my Dad. We were whisked out of the ICU rather quickly after my...

  I couldn't limit it to just 10, okay?! I know the "Top Twelve Highlights of 2010" does NOT sound very hip, but have I ever tried to be  hip ? Uh-huh, yep, those who know me are choking, laughing and gagging at the thought. I really try to keep it real, folks. The thought briefly skated through my mind to do "The Top (How Many Ever) Lowlights of 2010," but  that list would be way too long, boring, silly, self-centered, not a good example to my children or a good Christian witness, and just plain whiny. So, even though I try to "keep it real," I also aspire to focus on those things that are "praiseworthy, pure," God-honoring, and positive. Because I wanted to put links and pictures in my list, I wanted to break my list up into two parts. I do try to keep my posts on the briefer side. You're all busy people and so am I. Here are my first six, but by no means the bottom six. There's no ranking of which items had the most significant imp...