My Mother's Blog

Seriously, I want to plug my mother's blog, Ruthlace. Mother has been writing about some of her memories from her childhood back in the late 1920's and 1930's. She grew up in a small mill town in Georgia, and the stories are wonderful. Go have a look-see. You'll enjoy it so much you'll blogroll both her and me!

A Celebration -- TWO HUNDRED POSTS!

My last post was my 200th post - which makes this one the 201st. Wow!

Imagination Library and Dolly Parton

I mentioned in an earlier post this week that I attended a meeting for my principal this past Tuesday. It turned out that the meeting was the kick-off for our county's Imagination Library program. All the local tv news cameras were there. Imagination Library is a program initiated by Dolly Parton to provide books for children from birth to the age of five years old. After studying research that showed the importance of reading from birth, Dolly wanted to help the children in her area of Tennessee have their own books. Now the program has spread to other counties and is available nationally, too. I had hoped that Dolly would show up at the meeting I attended . . . but she didn't. C'est la vie.

Every child who is registered in the program receives a hardcover book every single month - completely free of charge. Books are carefully selected. Various businesses and other organizations provide sponsorship to cover the costs. Just think! Children who are registered at birth will have a library of sixty books by the time they reach the age of five!

What a wonderful way to get children reading and parents involved in reading, too! I was so excited about it that I made sure my two granddaughters were registered immediately after I left the meeting.

Howard Olds and "Faith Break"

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I have my radio on WSIX in Nashville around 7:45 a.m. in order to hear my pastor, Howard Olds, give one of his "Faith Break" messages. It usually coincides with my drive to work. This morning he talked about a woman who, whenever something bad happened to her, would say "This will do me a world of good!" The gist of his message was that it is not what happens to you that determines your happiness and success. It is what you do with what happens to you. You can go here to listen to some of the other "Faith Break" messages. It will be worth your time.

It Looks Like It's Getting Better - So Stop The Treatment!

Several great posts today using analogies to compare the dems' desire to get out of Iraq immediately with medical procedures. Check out this post on The Anchoress. She refers to this post by Michael on The American Thinker. Dr. Sanity labels it political faith healing.

Two Cars with EXACTLY the Same Features

I have to confess that I can be totally clueless at times. I can hear the chorus of people who know me saying, "Well, DUH!" An illustration:

The other day PawPaw and I went out to eat. The weather was turning cold, and on the way home I heard a beep and looked over at the dashboard and saw the temperature flash a few times at 37 degrees.

"Hey," I said, "Your car beeps at 37 degrees just like mine. That used to drive me nuts when I first got my car because I couldn't figure out why it was beeping. I thought something was wrong with it. When I asked the car dealer, he told me that it was programmed to beep and flash the temperature when it reached 37 degrees."

PawPaw replied, "I don't think my car does that."

Looking at him in disbelief, I pointed at the dashboard. "It just did! Didn't you hear it?"

PawPaw looked at me. "But this is YOUR car."

I have seldom laughed so hard at myself. OK, when we left from PawPaw's house earlier, we had taken my car because it was parked behind his, and then when we left the restaurant I had asked PawPaw to drive. I'm used to being in PawPaw's car when I'm in the passenger seat.

Senility? Forgetfulness? Complete cluelessness? A combination of all three? Who knows? I still laugh whenever I think of it.

Christian Peacekeeping Team - Stupid is as Stupid Does

I read this post by Darren in Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher about the Christian Peacemaking Team that was kidnapped by the terrorists in Iraq. Here's a news story about it. I can describe the team in one word: stupid. Required viewing for anyone contemplating "peacemaking" trips into a war zone where terrorists are active would be a video of the terrorists slowing sawing off an American civilian's head with a dull knife as the civilian's initial screams of terror and pain are literally cut off, and then the terrorists taking the severed head - holding it up gleefully by the hair and then setting it down on the side of the headless body lying on the ground. Terrorists don't care who you are or why you're there. They don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. They don't care if you're a warmonger or a peacemaker. They just want to kill you and as many others as possible. They laugh at your stupidity.