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Our Daily Thread 1-5-13

Good Morning!

Happy Saturday!

What should we talk about today?

Quote of the Day

“The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.”

Alexander  Hamilton

127 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-5-13”

  6. Yesterday, Michelle told of a house she and her husband owned: We owned a raised ranch house in Washington–where you come into the house in the middle of the stairwell.

    Around here those are called “split foyer”. I never understood why anyone would own one., especially since many in this area are built on hills, so that one has to walk up outdoor stairs, then either up or down more stairs once in the house.

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  8. Peter, therr are lots of split foyer houses in the DC area. We never lived in one. We lived in a 3-level split level. Both are for young people. It saves space, especially in hilly areas because one level can open to a patio.

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  10. Good Morning….the peach is very peachy 🙂
    Are we discussing houses today? We lived in a tri-level in town…which was really a four level when you add in the basement…
    We live in a traditional two level now…with a basement…but, as we get even older, I’m uncertain about the 16 very steep steps going to the upstairs…and the 15 steps leading to the basement…we may need to make a change in the future 😦 Or maybe we can install an elevator! 🙂

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  11. Her mom was over yesterday and said things are about the same, though she fears the dad is burning out, understandably, as well as the team helping with her home aid. As mentioned in the prayer requests, please pray for her mom as she has come to the point where she thinks she needs to believe. The people helping out from around the world all seem to be believers, those sending encouraging words as well, many of the medical folk. She is beginning to read John.

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  13. My dad and step mom live in a three split level. It is easier for them than a lot of stairs and better than what my dad was living in with a lot of stairs, but with my stepmom now ninety years old and prone to falling, he does not like her to go downstairs without help. He does the vacuuming and such anyway.

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  15. It’s not tan or peach. It’s vanilla! The same color as my bicycle! I love this color. 🙂

    Sometimes I dream there are stairs in my house that lead to an entire 2nd story I knew nothing about. So much fun! There’s usually some old (and in cool, antique, not musty) furniture in the space, often a grand old fireplace — it all reminds me vaguely of an old apartment I once looked at years ago when I was apartment hunting. I lost it to someone who was there first, but I always remembered it.

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  16. Nancyjill, my church elder and his wife (who are very active & fit, now maybe 60ish) decided to install an elevator in their old two-story house a few blocks from me. Also a workout room. They figured they’d like to stay there and realize that somewhere down the line having things like that would help them be able to do that.

    They actually did an entire remodel (took more than a year) and the place is absolutely stunning now. High ceilings, polished wood floors and wood molding & trim everywhere, a huge kitchen. I told them I felt like I was in Downton Abbey the first time I saw it. 🙂

    My house is small but I do have a number of steps leading up to the front porch. It’s not a problem for me now, but it’s a bit much for older friends sometimes. At the least I need to get a railing put in.

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  17. Mr. Brown is in ICU . His body is shutting down but he is fighting it . They just don’t make ‘ em that tough any more . Mrs. Brown is confused and doesn’t understand .

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  18. I live in an ugly brown brick box with white shutters and a brown door . Frankly it is ugly as homemade sin but I have my stuff inside so it is cute if a bit cramped . I will be here through August at least . It is reasonably priced, my landlords are good Christian people, and I signed a two year lease .

    I have learned the hard way that a house is just the empty shell where you make a home .

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  20. My parents, who are in their eighties live in a split level. When my mom had hip surgery a therapist recommended a stair rail at one of the stairs. My dad never did put it in. I told him he should, but you know how parents listen—not anymore than children often listen to their parents.

    My mom does have walking problems, but refuses to use anything, but whatever furniture or wall she can find wherever she happens to be. They are determined to live in the house until they die. My brother and SIL offered to move in for the months they are in the states, but my folks weren’t going for it. Right now, they have the means to do as they wish. I hope it is always so.

    They are as active as active can be and I wonder if the housework, (which is more on my dad, with some hired help) the stairs and the opportunity to still do their crafts is not what helps them keep going? I wonder if the seniors who are forced to give up many of their crafts for lack of space and live in places with elevators and everything at their fingertips may die sooner.

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  22. There are many split-entry homes in this area also. Many were built that way, because the ground was more suited for them. They only end up with half the lower level underground. That way they can take advantage of more natural light than an actual basement would have. If the water level is high, they have less possible flooding with this style.

    Ground conditions, temperature extremes, humidity all contribute to choosing home construction details and types.

    We live in a ranch style. Mostly because we were going to do all the work, except the basement and outside and roughed in walls. We didn’t feel we had the experience to be too fancy (or the money, for that matter), In addition, my husband dislikes heights. He is challanged just to deal with our one story. Putting shingles on etc. is never something he does without trepidation.

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  23. KBells, I think we talked about it here on the thread a couple years ago (dreams about undiscovered rooms or new floors in our houses). I haven’t had the dream in a while, but I’ve had it fairly often in the past.

    Kathaleena, good points. I think stairs and such are actually GOOD for us. Move, move, move (unless or until it begins to pose an imminent danger to falling).

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  24. Yes, I have that dream, too. It is both exciting and exhausting trying to find all the new items in a new-ending home.

    Catching up from yesterday: Michelle, I love that hand-print entrance area things. I am going to share it with my designer daughter. Sounds delightful.

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  26. Michelle,

    I enjoyed your story about your son’s accident. Not the accident part mind you, but the part that once again demonstrates that Prayer works, and the Lord answers.

    🙂

    Thanks for sharing that.

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  28. Where’s the blue? It’s still vanilla to me. ?

    Speaking of dreams, I had a strange one last night — I knew I had to get up early to get the trash out to the curb this morning so in the dream I had already done that when I heard there was some sort of community breakfast I needed to cover for the paper.

    So there I was, walking into the breakfast (seems like it was at a chamber of commerce type place) with a photographer, when I realized that everyone was dressed to the 9s and I was still in my sweats (that I slept in) & parka over that & sheepskin slippers, no makeup, my hair pretty disheveled.

    I told the photographer that I thought I might be under-dressed for this thing and he laughed and indicated that yes, I looked pretty bad at that.

    Really? I said. I look that awful?

    Yep, he said. You look really terrible. So I turned back and made a quick dash for my car to escape.

    Then I woke up and realized it was time to get the trash out. I leaped out of bed and put on my parka …

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  29. Karen O, no, he is not.

    I like the vanilla. Blue would be nice.

    We live in a single story, perfect. But husband, planner that he is, has added a three story garage, (Phos used to teach music in the second story, do not ask her about it.) I do not anticipate going up there much as I get older. He also has, with the children, built a nice two story feed shed, some of the boys prefer to sleep out there rather than in their room. It is unheated and no electricity or water. They also have built a hunting mansion about twelve feet off the ground. I do not anticipate every using those sections. I have never been up in either.

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  30. Well Donna, now that I look at it…it does appear to be a French Vanilla…although…when I tilt my screen…it appears to be more peachy. And, from your description, I would love to have a bike like yours!! My Daddy’s bike sounds like yours, only it is blue…and a “boys” bike…Mom said I could have it if I want…transporting it back to Colorado does present obstacles however ( Maybe I should ride it home ) 🙂

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  31. Donna, according to some websites dreaming about new rooms in a house can relate to areas in our lives where we are discovering new skills, abilities or strengths within ourselves. Personally I think it means I need more storage space.

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  34. Please, not blue! Everything else seems to default to blue. And I read somewhere that our sleep is disturbed because of all the blue light we have anymore. Please, as much as blue is an okay color, PLEASE do not use blue here.

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  37. I like this color better. I’ll post a photo of that stairwell on FB, KI, so you can see how it looked. Or, I could send it to AJ and he could post it here! 🙂

    Off to update my husband’s wardrobe at the sales. Ha!

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  38. Don’t know what color others are seeing, but I’m still seeing the vanilla (which I like). Pastels definitely work best, the softer and less overbearing/eye-popping the better. 🙂

    And BIG letters. 😉

    Nancyjill, you should get the bike. 🙂

    Back to house decor, tomorrow night’s the premiere of Season 3 of Downton Abbey, BTW, with all those velvet sofas:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/05/downton-abbey-season-3-style_n_2412462.html

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  39. I said blue would be nice because I did not want to say I would leave if this color did not stay or sound otherwise too persnickety. I like this color best. Larger print and numbers would help. But I appreciate the real’s efforts on here too much to complain. Too much.

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  41. Yes. Much better AJ. The darker and larger serif font is much easier to read against the tan background.
    Not sure what I think of the layout.
    I still lwould ike the larger gravatars.
    But numbers? Where are the numbers?

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  44. I realize I’m not a regular so my opinion doesn’t count for much, but I agree about not using blue. I am so sick of blue. It’s everywhere. I like this color fine. I liked the green and black from yesterday, but maybe I’m a little weird. Okay, maybe more than a little. This is easier to read though. Just my two cents.

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  46. I now live in a three storey split level. The previous owner was in her 70s. It took me awhile to get used to the stairs and I can’t imagine how the lady survived here. Personally I would prefer less stairs/storeys but this was the most affordable while staying in the same town as the ex (for my daughter’s sake).

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  47. I don’t see any blue today, but the vanilla/tan/peach/pink/whatever color folks are calling it is very nice on the eyes. The font size is an improvement (it is bigger today, isn’t it?), but slightly larger yet would even be better. And I can type all the way to the right side of the “Leave a Reply” box now! Gravatars: I like them the size they are now. And military time! I haven’t had a lot of practice with that. I suppose I’ll just have to subtract 12 from any number over 12 until I can automatically figure out the p.m. times. Always good to train the brain in new ways. 🙂

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  48. House story. We got orders to Bremerton, WA from Monterey and my husband and I flew up for a four-day house hunting trip, three months before the move. Miserable trying to buy a house in four days. We got so burned out after day two, we went bowling just so we could think of something else.

    (I also discovered I couldn’t “see” beyond the obvious. So while I was appalled at lion wallpaper and houses without books–I can’t live here!– my engineer husband could examine the structural engineering of a house and determine if it was sound or not. What a relief one of us was thinking!)

    I liked an area closer to the US Naval subase at Bangor and as we drove down Anderson Hill Rd. this idea flitted through my brain: “you’re going to buy a house near here.” By day four we made an offer on a house 20 miles south of the same location.

    We returned to Monterey satisfied with our choice.

    Except the owner of the house was so insulted by our offer he refused to do business with us. Period.

    Great. We wasted four days.

    We had no time left so three months later we drove to Washington with the three kids and the cat, moved into a motel and started the hunt again. The supply, however, was low. The realtor handed me the MLS book and said, “Go through it and we’ll look at anything you think might work.”

    We found nothing on the first day, and she gave me the book again. This time I started under our price and found several possibilities.

    On the second day, my husband kissed me good bye as he headed out with the realtor. “We’ll buy a house today.”

    “I’ll pray we find something.”

    He stopped. “You don’t understand. I WILL buy a house today.” He left.

    I prayed, “Dear God, let me be able to thank you at the end of the day.”

    We’d asked the kids what they wanted. The oldest one: “a creek, trees, a big yard.” The second one: “I’d like a house with a kitchen and a garage.”

    I assured the second son he’d get what he wanted.

    My husband returned with the realtor at lunch time. “I found two houses. The best one is under our price range; you should see it before I buy it.”

    Ha!

    I didn’t like the split entry, but we all loved the creek, yard, trees, kitchen and garage. We bought it that day and moved in a week later–my birthday.

    (So my husband could always say he bought me a house for my birthday).

    It was a quarter mile from Anderson Hill Rd.

    We owned it for nine years and that house blessed not only us, but our friends, our church, and three missionary families.

    And I always loved the handprints . . . 🙂

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  49. A lot of the stress came off of our house hunting when I finally realized that my husband loved me and would look out for my interests. Same with shopping. He has selected years of perfect houses for us and anytime I suggest I might need something, it shows up in the next shopping trip. I have learned to be careful with my suggestions.

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  52. Aaak. Blue! I like it, but the vanilla might be easier for some eyes, I don’t know.

    I’ve gotten most of the de-decorating done — just a couple more items and the outdoor lights left. 🙂 🙂

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  56. The home hubby and I and family are in is the only home we’ve ever owned. We got married in 1986 and rented in four different locations the first three years of our marriage. We bought this house and moved in, just the two of us, right around our third anniversary. First Arrow was on the way the month after that, and we’ve been here ever since.

    We’re in a very pretty rural area, and it would be hard to leave. Yard, trees, kitchen and garage 😉 , a creek about a quarter mile down the road, 3 acres of woods that are ours and a lot more woods that are our neighbors’, many varieties of woodpeckers and lots of songbirds, pastureland…

    It would be hard to leave here. I’m thankful for the 23 1/2 years we’ve already been privileged to live in this beautiful place.

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  65. This isn’t the same vanilla as the earlier vanilla, is it? The new and improved maybe? Actually, I think I liked the first vanilla.

    I’m getting hungry!

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  73. I missed the blue. And now this copor looks off white unless I look from the side, then it is yellowish.

    AJ- Do what you want. We’ll still show up and converse.

    ~~Sporst talk~~ How about that Aaron Rodgers?

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  79. Hey…it’s after midnight in the east….HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!!!!! 🙂 We love you and your beautiful self….we count it all JOY to celebrate our Lord’s most wonderful and delightful creation of YOU 🙂 Be blessed this day

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  90. H 🙂 A 🙂 P 🙂 P 🙂 Y * B:-) I 🙂 R 🙂 T 🙂 H 🙂 D 🙂 A 🙂 Y 🙂

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 K I M 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  91. NancyJill, your birthday wishes to Kim at 00:11:30 were at 11 minutes and 30 seconds past midnight (00) Eastern time 😉

    BTW, I liked your reference to 9:12 Donna time 🙂

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  95. Well, hubby is enjoying a normal day today. HE DOESN’T HAVE TO WORK! Yesterday he had a shorter day and was home before midnight. He slept well last night, then today we went to church, and now he is off cutting wood. Tomorrow he and 1st, 3rd, and 5th Arrows are going to visit 2nd Arrow early in the day, then they’ll be back later so he can be back to work for another overnight shift starting tomorrow evening.

    In the 2-week pay period that just ended Friday, he got, I kid you not, 151 1/2 hours! 😯 The man is amazing to me. Like the Energizer bunny. 🙂

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  96. Belated smiles for 6 Arrows birthday!

    H 🙂 A 🙂 P 🙂 🙂 Y * B 🙂 E 🙂 L 🙂 A 🙂 T 🙂 E 🙂 D 🙂
    ******* 🙂 B 🙂 I 🙂 R 🙂 T 🙂 H 🙂 D 🙂 A 🙂 Y 🙂 *********
    ************* 🙂 SIX ^^^^^^ ARROWS ^^^^^^ 🙂 **************

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  97. Oops! Left out a “P” on that one!

    Wow! All those hours! He is an Energizer Bunny! Just keep feeding him EverReadies (The Wheaties of the Bunny world!).

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  100. Hi all! I decided to drop in again, in case anyone was wondering where I disappeared to.

    The computer I normally use is in our older son’s room, and with him home for Christmas I haven’t been using it as much. Even when he’s in another room using his laptop, our younger son is often in here, because the boys and my husband all play some kind of online game together. (Older son heads back to college tomorrow.)

    Happy Birthday, Kim!

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  103. On my computer, some of the time the letters are being intermingled with the smile faces. Is it that way for everyone or is it just my strange computer?

    Chas, we did not go anywhere except to see a movie (Les Miz) and to shop the used book sale at the Hilton Head Library and to shop the Hilton Head Goodwill store. That is all we did except to get a meal at the Crazy Crab, and a snack from Wendy’s, and groceries from Publix. I did get some gift tags at Walgreens and we did a stop for coffee and apple fritters at Starbucks. Because we work with someone who likes to get out and about a lot, it was sort of a treat to hang around the villa. My leg did not feel like doing a lot of walking so I was pleased that I felt like doing a little walking on the beach. Even the guys did not get out too much partly because it rained some. They went to see a movie. The guy who was with us from South Africa had never been to a Goodwill store so they went there and to Harbor Town. It was near his time to make his 17 hour trip back home so I think he might have been tired from sightseeing and low on funds (just a guess).

    We did the driving tour of the Nature Preserve. This was the year that we did the least since we have been going to Hilton Head. I was enjoying using my new Kindle. Amazon had Scrabble for only 99 cents. I have enjoyed playing that game.

    We had the tradition of going to the Audobon store each year at Hilton Head, but it has closed. Also, last year when we went to the mall we were surprised that most of the stores had moved out except for Belk’s. We all have enough (too many) clothes right now so we did not even go to Belk’s like we usually do.

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  107. In the past Goodwill and thrift stores had a bad reputation, but these days, at least among some of the younger people, it is a “hip” place to shop. We especially enjoy shopping their used book section.

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  108. It has been a very good dat . The sermon today was about the Wise Men . If we go looking for God He will find us . Seek counsel,check it against the Bible and the DO it .

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  111. It is 0 nap 30 Amos time . He came in from his weekend with George,made sure Paul knew he was still loved, got some Mama– love and is now curled up on the back of the sofa with his elephant .

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  112. We bought several Christmas gifts from Goodwill last month. Hubby just took a bag of clothes and two boxes of books and other household items there now that had been packaged up, ready to go since I went on my housecleaning/decluttering spree preparing for the Christmas gathering we hosted last month. There’s a lot more that could go. I’ll have to keep at it. Once you start, it’s not so bad.

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  113. 6 Arrows at 14:22….(where’s the post numbers anyway!?)….
    Is that military time? I’m always counting on my fingers when someone posts on military time…I’m glad to know I actually did post on Kim’s Birthday!
    Church was wonderful again…and we had a meeting with the Pastor and two of the elders…we will be welcomed at the Lord’s Table next Sunday and we will be attending new members class when they get one together…we are so blessed.
    Has anyone been keeping in contact with NJL? I do so miss her…..

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  114. I am happy to report that at this time The Confederate States of America are 13 and 5 in bowl games. I didn’t count the three where Southern teams played each other. Roll Tide!

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  115. NancyJill, same for me with military time…I’m not very accustomed to it, either, so I usually have to subtract 12 from the bigger numbers to get a p.m. time, as I can’t yet make an automatic conversion very readily.

    Here’s a link I found interesting that includes a conversion table and other interesting stuff about military time that I didn’t know.

    http://www.navycs.com/militarytime.html

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  116. Hey folks, we Americans call it military time, but we are wrong. According to 6 Arrows’ link, the military uses “Zulu” time (Greenwich Mean Time), adding or subtracting from that based on where you are in the world. Sometimes, GMT is called Universal Coordinated Time (UCT). Shortwave radio stations use that. But for most it’s called the 24 hour clock, which most European countries use for official purposes. Just subtract 12 from the hours 13-23. Personally, I prefer it so there is no reason for the AM or PM designations.

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  117. I always considered the 24 hour clock “military time”. Radio operators always used (it was “Zebra” in my day) time because you were rapidly crossing time zones and the ground stations didn’t care what time it was where you were. (Neither did you, BTW.)
    I wouldn’t care if the 24 hour time system becaue standard. It makes sense.
    When we go on DST, p.m. doesn’t really reflect the true time.

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  118. I obtained a habit, by necessity, while in the Air Force that I still use today. Most people don’t understand. I don’t use miles to reckon a trip. I use time. In the AF, we didn’t care how many miles, but how many hours out. i.e. I don’t know how many miles from Hendersonville to Greensboro, but it’s 3.5 hours away. Fifty minutes to Spartanburg. etc.

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  125. Chas, I personally want to know both time and distance. Time because I need to know travel time; distance because I’m curious (and because travel time varies based on the day/time of day, and distance doesn’t). In Nashville I tried several routes to find the best one to church, and clocked each one both ways. Distance mattered if two routes took the same amount of time, since the shorter one would at least put fewer miles on my car. I ended up taking three different routes depending on which trip it was (1. one direction to church, 2. a slightly different one home–a traffic light “on the way” was rigged against people traveling that direction, since it had such a long green arrow the other direction–and 3. a third route, quite different, for Wednesday nights traveling toward church, in order to avoid the worst of rush-hour slowness).

    But I also want to know population when I move to a new city, and I find it’s the rare person who keeps track of that. And I’m interested in high and low temperatures and other “numbers,” which a lot of people seem to find boring.

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  126. I like numbers, too. It’s especially fun seeing the post times here right down to the seconds. I’m tempted to stick around a few more minutes to see if I can get 00:00:00 but hubby is home, so I’m heading out to the garage to be with him. 🙂

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