Wordless Wednesday

Is it snow? Hail?

Or, be still my heart, could it be raining diamonds?

Nope, just the sun shining through HUGE drops of rain as it fell.

For more Wordless Wednesday, go here.

Finally an exercise I can handle!

Being in the middle years of my life, I find exercise, shall we say, not quite as easy or fun as it once was. But my sister sent me this exercise to build upper arm and shoulder strength.

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks.
Then try 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (After 6 months of work I'm proud to say I am at this level finally).

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each sack.

The Latest in Helmet Fashion

Remember that old commercial, I think probably from the '70's that had the tag line: "Curlers in your hair...shame on you!"? It was in reference to those ladies who went outside their homes with curlers in their hair. Well last week we were singing "Curlers in Mom's hair, we thank you!". My 76 year old mom was out in her back yard with curlers in her hair. I have no idea what she was doing, but one of her bird houses that hang from a tree fell down and conked her on the noggin. Her comment: "Thank goodness I had curlers in my hair." Apparently, those curlers acted like a helmet of sorts, and that old bird house just bounced right off. Hmmm, she may be onto something here. Maybe I can somehow patent the idea and start marketing it. I mean, if it's okay for Mona and Mom, it could be the next big trend!

Friday's Fave Five #44

Hello everyone! I trust you all survived the July 4th celebrations. Are you ready for your fave five for this week? I know if you had a great holiday it might be hard to narrow it down but I'm sure you will do a fine job! If you are new, it's easy. Go here for details and then jump right in!

1. This commercial cracks me right up. Smart Dad.

2. Saturday mornings. I so enjoy Saturday mornings because it is the only morning that I get to totally relax. It's my only day to sleep in, to sit in my housecoat, coffee in hand. I either grab whatever book I'm reading or finish reading all your Fave Five posts. With no pressures.

3. The smells and sounds of early morning. I love when I first get up in the mornings. I come out to the livingroom and on nice days hubby has the big windows open and the fresh smell of the morning is wafting in. That sunshiney morning smell. And the birds are chirping as they pull their breakfast out of the lawn. I wish I could somehow bottle a true morning smell into an air freshner.

4. Friends who pray for you. What an encouragement it is to have a group of friends that pray with and for you when you are going through things. The everyday life things. To know that you can share something with them and have them pray for you right on the spot and then knowing that they are continuing on praying for through the week is such a comfort. I have friends like that who have kept us in their prayers as hubby searched for a job. If you have been one of those who have lifted us before the Lord, thank you!

5. And saving the very best for last: We celebrated hubby's new job this week! You read that right! Yes, thank you Lord, hubby has a new job and will be starting Monday. We're very excited. It sounds like something right up his alley and something he will love. And it's really funny how God works. Remember this little concert we went to? The one that was a miracle in the way it happened? Little did we know at the time that God was setting something else up other than just an enjoyable evening of music. Well when we went to our seats, lo and behold we were sitting right next to a couple whom hubby knows really, really well. In fact, he used to work for them when he was a teen. The Mrs. asked him what he was doing now and he mentioned a few things he was thinking of going into at the time. Well, as the months went by and no job, it all of a sudden occured to us that maybe hubby could go see these former employers and I'm pleased to say he is now once again in their employ. That concert was a blessing in more ways than one. Thank you God for setting all that up!

What were your favorite things from your week? A special event, a funny happening, a great read, a funny quote? What made you smile? If you've done a post, please sign onto Mr. Linky linking the specific post (and not your home page). Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm really excited to introduce the Fresh Life Bible Study Series.

Not Your Grandmother’s Bible Study
Award-winning team of Heitzig and Rose has created a stylish, fast,
AND substantive Bible study series for women on the go

Voracious Bible study readers, women purchase Bible studies more than do men by a ratio of five-to-one—and Gallup reports that 14 percent of Americans belong to a Bible-study group. This summer, David C Cook will release two new books in the Fresh Life series, their easy-to-use series of Bible studies for women and about women.

With strong endorsements from well-known Christian leaders like Kay Arthur and Ruth Graham Bell, two up-and-coming female authors, Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose, have created the Fresh Life Bible study series published by David C Cook. Perfect for every age, appropriate for groups or individual study, and intended for today’s on-the-go woman, the Fresh Life series requires just 20 minutes a day for a meaningful contemplation of God’s Word. The next two books in the series are Live Relationally and Live Deeply (David C Cook, June 2009). (The first two books, Live Intimately and Live Fearlessly, were released in the summer of 2008.)

Live Relationally offers a fresh look at the important women of Genesis. Though women in the Bible are sometimes overlooked or downplayed, this fascinating Bible study curriculum reminds readers that women are central to God’s story—and His plan. Genesis alone is peopled with women who experience death, marriage, divorce, rape, and family tragedy. And if that sounds like something out of Desperate Housewives, it just goes to show that the Bible has a message for women—today.

With probing questions, insightful sidebars, and meaningful life-application exercises, Live Relationally offers the vivid lessons and rich wisdom of Israel’s founding mothers. From the complicated Tamar to the often oversimplified Eve, they are wives and mothers, slaves and owners, sinners and saints … and each woman’s story will touch hearts for God.

Live Deeply is for anyone who has ever read one of Jesus’ parables and asked, “What is He talking about?” Now women—alone or with a small group—can dig deeper into the meaning of these parables to uncover their important meaning for their walks with Christ. Designed with today’s busy woman in mind, each lesson can be completed in as little as 20 minutes per day, but will leave her with a lifetime of valuable insights.

Based on the inductive Bible study method, each lesson conjures vivid imagery of the sights and sounds of Ancient Israel alongside poignant application questions for today. The Fresh Life Bible study series offers something for Christian women of all shapes and sizes; everyone will leave with a more profound understanding of the important women of Genesis and Christ’s amazing parables.

Author Bios:

Lenya Heitzig is an award-winning author and popular Bible teacher. After beginning her ministry as a single women'ts counselor with Youth with a Mission, Lenya married Skip and together they started Calvary of Albuquerque, on of the fast growing churches in the country. The author of Holy Moments and co-author if the Gold Medallion-winning Pathways to God's Treasures, Lenya currently serves as director of women at Calvary, overseeing weekly Bible studies and yearly retreats. Lenya and Skip live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Penny Pierce Rose is the award-winning author/co-author of serveral books and Bible studies, includinge the ECPA Gold Medallion winner Pathways to God's treasures. She has served on the board of directors for the Southwest Women's Festival and develops Bible study curriculum for the women's programs at Caolvary of Albuquerque. Penny, her husband, Kerry, and their three children live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Live Relationally: Lessons from the Women of Genesis
and Live Deeply: A Study of the Parables of Jesus
by Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose
David C Cook June 2009
ISBN: 978-1-434767-48-6/288 pages/softcover/$14.99
ISBN: 978-1-434799-86-9/304 pages/softcover/$14.99
http://www.davidccook.com/

I'm very excited to show my ladies group these studies. Just browsing through the books has got me itching to get into them. They are set up perfectly for either individual study or for group study. Each lesson is broken down into 5 days. Within each day are scripture readings, prayer, the lesson with thought provoking questions pertaining to the lesson, and then a section on ways to live out what you have learned. And it's not just a section that tells you what to do but encourages you to journal answers to specific questions so that you can make the lesson personal.

Other studies in the series include "Live Intimately: Lessons from the Upper Room" and "Live Fearlessly: A Study in the book of Joshua"

Wordless Wednesday

Beware:

Guess what you'll find in your bag of California pistachios?

Bet you'll never guess! It's...

Pistachios!

Who knew?!

For more Wordless Wednesday, go here and here.

Forget twitter, I have a different obsession

It's Monday Tuesday morning and what else is there to do but upload pics I took on the weekend and play with my new obsession. A cool program called Piknik. It's got so much fun stuff you can do with your pictures. And the best of all is you can do most of it for free. But I'm so thinking I'm going to get the upgraded program because this is too much fun!

So this weekend, hubby and I, decided to shake up our bike riding a bit and chose to walk a path down in the coulees that we've never been on before. It's only been around a couple of years yet we've never ventured down it. And by "down", I mean down. To the river valley. So Saturday was the day.

HDRish feature

We grabbed the dog, who was ultra excited to come along and see the bikes left in the garage, and set off. At first we were by ourselves on the path but soon we could see a lady coming way at the top of the path with her dog. But as you can see I took the camera. So I was stopping constantly to take pictures. I found all sorts of cool coulee vegetation that I'd not seen before. Like this flower:

basic auto fix feature (fixes exposure automatically)

focal B&W feature

collage feature

This first flower in the collage was gorgeous. I've never seen that either with it's rich pinks and purples. Please say you like it because I went off the path through the dry grass and prickly stuff to get the shot of it. The funny little cone flower I've seen before but haven't a clue what's it's called. It's not dying or distressed, that is how it grows. And following up last is our own provincial flower which is the Wild Rose.

original

1960's feature

I braved a buzzing bee to get the shot of that little orange beetle on the purple thistle. And if you know me at all, you'd know my great aversion to flying, buzzing, striped black and yellow insect varieties. What I won't do for my blogging buddies.

So remember that lady who was behind us? Hubby said at the rate I was taking pictures she would soon be passing us. And I laughed and called him crazy. Well, ahem.

focal soften feature

Uhm, yeah, she's that tiny yellow dot at the bottom of the path that you can see right before the path curved. Yup she hoofed it right passed me. Hmph. But we did make it down to the bottom, took a breather and then we turned ourselves around. Now we were uphill all the way, baby! Joy. I tell ya my lungs and glutes and hamstrings were lecturing me about the point 3/4 of the way back.

focal zoom feature

Okay enough playing. I need to go dust or scrub a tub or something.

Friday's Fave Five # 43

Hello again! Welcome to Friday's Fave Five! Hopefully you'll find a nice, relaxing time looking back over your week and finding five of your favorite things out of this last week. If you're not sure how to jump on board, take a look here and then just start. Thanks for all of you bringing me many smiles and a lovely way to spend a short period of time reading about all your wonderful things that make you smile!

So here we go:

1. Peonies. My mom gave me some beautiful peonies from her garden and they actually lasted alsmost a week. I love them. My mom is a wonderful gardener and her love of flowers is apparent in her garden. There are so many lovely varieties, but the peonies (and the tulips) are my absolute favorites.

2. Holidays in the middle of the week. Love the long weekends, but I'll never turn away a day off in the middle of the week. Wednesday's Canada Day dawned warm and sunny and proved to be a really nice mid week break. For the first time in a long time I didn't feel like going to the lake to watch the fireworks. But we only live about 6 blocks away and I have a great view of the higher ones through the trees. I laughed at this picture with the squiggly looking fingers it almost looks like some kind of strange flower. I couldn't believe my little camera could take pictures of fireworks from so far away.

3. A date out with hubby this week having a little supper at our favorite restaurant. Date nights are a good thing.

4. Blood pressure numbers down. A definite thing that made me happy, happy, happy. I don't know what I've done right and they still aren't where they should be but they did go down. Yipee!

5. Iced tea. I can tell summer is here because I'm craving the iced tea. Long, tall, cold glasses of iced tea. I'm going to try to make sun tea for the first time this year, I just need to find a good jar. Anyone have any good recipes.

What have your favorites been from the end of June and and first few days of July? If you do a post, please sign up on Mr. Linky so that we can come and read it. Just click the Mr. Linky icon to have the page displayed. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Because We're Such Party Hardies Around Here

Yesterday was Canada's big birthday bash. It was sorta nice having a day off smack dab in the middle of the week. A little sleeping in, reading with a coffee in hand and then a huge bike ride with hubby. We avoided all the hoopla and celebration stuff at the lake. Ah yes, the celebration stuff which is another way of saying "Come and spend all your money on all the overpriced junk and food in the booths set up at the lake & get claustrophobic with all the crowds". Instead, with the kids gone with friends, we opted for a leisurely ride through some of the older sections of town with all the lovely two story homes of old, and then around some more trails to newer sections. We compared what we like in curb appeal, what gardens we liked, what streets appealed to us. We rode around the track where they train law enforcement at the local college, quite by accident. We thought it was a cool trail leading elsewhere but we laughed when all we did was go in a big circle with different "stops" along the way. Stops like chin up bars, walls to scale over, tires to run through ala football training camp. No we didn't try the stops out. We'll leave that for another day. Not!

In all we were gone and riding a good 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Good thing I have a good seat on my bike with a nice thick gel cover. I want to kiss the people who invented gel covers. A mighty fine invention indeed.

(riverbottom from last Sunday)

No pics of yesterday's ride however. Last time, hubby was so gracious and patient as I stopped constantly as different things caught my eye that I thought I'd go easy on him and not even tempt myself by taking my camera along. We just rode and rode and rode with nary a stop to drink water. Of course, that didn't stop me from several times noticing something and saying I wished I would have brought the camera along.

The bike ride times this year have been really good for me and hubby. It's our way of clicking out, being together with no pressures but how fast to go and what street to turn down. It's just fun being together touring around the city. It's funny how getting out in God's creation, feeling the sun on your back and a slight breeze in your face just washes all worrisome thoughts away and allows you to be in the moment. Who can stew about the negative when you are looking at beautiful green coulees, a blue river running through it and myriads of colors of wild flowers? When we see all the lovliness of the world God created and see the order in it, it is so much easier to trust that He will also take care of us and release it to Him. And we wonder what we're worrying about in the first place.

And on that note, I can't resist just one more picture from the riverbottom.