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Our Daily Thread 12-22-14

Good Morning!

3 Days To Go!!!

And if you’re not done shopping yet, it’s probably time to start panicking. 🙂

 Today’s header photo is from Cheryl.

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On this day in 1775 a Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies under the command of Ezek Hopkins. 

In 1807 the U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act, designed to force peace between Britain and France by cutting off all trade with Europe. 

In 1939 Gloria Jacobs became the first girl to hold a world pistol record when she shot 299 out of a possible 300 points. She was 17 years old at the time. 

And in 1961 James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam.

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Quote of the Day

“You can’t win them all.”

Connie Mack

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Anyone have a QoD?

108 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-22-14”

  3. The header photo is perfect with the snow falling across the blog.
    I had Black Family Christmas yesterday. My oldest uncle has lost 25 pounds and looks awful. My youngest uncle also looked bad. He is an angry alcoholic–even his twin didn’t want much to do with him. A cousin of mine who is a recovering alcoholic has been taking care of him. It is a toss up in my mind which one of them will be the next one I lose. I did receive a very small inheritance from my uncle who died in 2013. His ex-wife and her daughter settled the estate. They auctioned off all of the contents for $3,500 without any of us knowing. I had given this uncle a lot of my dad’s tools; tools which had belonged to my great grandfather. When he took them the agreement between us was that if anything happened they would come back to me. They were all I asked for when he died.
    Yesterday was sort of odd for me. Mr. P stayed home while I took BG and Middle Son out to breakfast. I enjoyed talking to him away from his dad. It was just a different kind of interaction. He is being deployed to Spain in January. Out of the kindness of my heart I offered to fly him back to NC and take care of his car for him while he was gone. 😉 He didn’t fall for it. We had a good laugh. He did say that a great Christmas present would be to have the fluids topped off in his car before he parks it for 6 months. I told him to check the price and if it was reasonable he may get it.
    Mr. P has decided that he wants to have a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner. I thought that was a splendid idea until he told me he wanted to cook it. He will have two of his boys together for Christmas. It’s a nice cut of meat. I would hate for something to go wrong. I did put my foot down when he asked Middle Son if he wanted mashed potatoes to go with it. I REFUSE, refuse I tell you to eat mashed potatoes out of the frozen food department.
    Lot’s to do between now and Christmas.

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  4. It would be better for the car to be driven a couple of times a week than to sit idle for six months. Bad things can happen to tires and other such parts when they aren’t used.
    I would have taken you up on the deal Kim. You would provide your own insurance.

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  7. They have a special lot on base where the cars are guarded and started a couple of times per week. I don’t know about them being driven though.

    OH! I forgot to tell you that my Mean Aunt who hated my father (and the feeling was mutual) was nice to me yesterday. I mean weirdly and overly nice. She has never been nice to me. I figured OK I can play along. So whenever she asked for anything I hopped up to make sure she had it. I was nice back. Turns out she almost died this year. She is now in an assisted living facility and if on some “nice” medicine. People CAN change.

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  8. Kim’s experience with her dad’s tools shows the importance of putting things in writing, preferably in the will.

    I guess someone else got all the cold weather since here it is a mild 40° and rainy. But we’re supposed to get snow Wednesday.

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  11. Sounds like one of the daughters is actually going to start a fire today. Even though it is not very cold like in Los Angeles at night in the dog park.

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  12. It is 40 degrees and rainy in Hendersonville, but not like in Los Angeles in the dog park.

    What is this all about? 😆

    Drivesguy, Wilmington is about 350 miles from Hendersonville. We go to Myrtle Beach rather than the NC beaches because it is closer. But, depending on the route, you could pass close to Hendersonville. If your trip takes you on I-40, you go through Asheville, NC. If your trip is on I-20, you go through Augusta and Columbia and don’t get to NC until you are almost to Wilmington. Let me know what route you are taking. Asheville is close to Hendersonville.
    If you are flying to Wilmington, you just pass over on the way.

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  13. Yesterday, Donna told us how very cold it was in Los Angeles at night in the dog park. It was mid fifties. We had quite the discussion, leading us to two hundred and beyond. But at two hundred, the blog flips us onto the next page. At which point, I became first. But the gist of the conversation is in the older entries. It is not worth your time to go back and read those.

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  14. That header photo was taken out our front window. It took multiple attempts to get a couple that capture the pines, snow, and the designs on the glass just right. (Several photos put the pine trees out of focus.) I figured I might use the photos for a homemade Christmas card some year. The photo from last week of the cardinal and junco, the birds were on the ground beneath that tree in the foreground, and the photo was also taken through the window, only zoomed to avoid the bevels or whatever you call them in the glass. A tricky way to take a photo!

    That front door was one of the things I liked most about this house when I first saw it when we were courting. When I said how beautiful the door was, my husband told me his late wife picked it out, and she had to have it custom made because the glass design is more complicated than they usually do. But . . . she had cancer when she ordered it, and she didn’t live to see it hung. 😦 But her family can enjoy it today.

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  15. I feel sure Donna rushed out in the thick of Christmas mall crowds to look for Thinsulate dog sweaters! Warning: they are all sold out because of the extremely cold weather this year at the dog park in the evening hours.

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  16. Miss Bosley would loan your dog’s her fur coat since she rarely goes outside, but she thinks she might look even more scary streaking through the house in her birthday suit. She does not want to scare her peeps.

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  18. OK, how about this theory.

    It feels chillier here because of our coastal proximity to the ocean.

    Someone from back east told me that once.

    It is cold at the dog park. My dogs have long, thick fur and are fine. But short-haired dogs are increasingly turning up in red-and-green Christmas sweaters. Almost all the dogs on the small-dog side wear sweaters anyway, except in summertime. They’re very cute.

    Large dogs look funny in sweaters.

    Meanwhile, we people are in full winter swing. Guys are wearing their usual L.A. surfer-winter fashion outfits — hiking boots, long shorts, flannel shirts over T-shirts and knit caps. We ladies just bundle up in our parkas or pea coats, long scarves and boots. Burrrr.

    It’s back to work today for me. Sigh. But I have to make a quick pit-stop at the UPS store on the way in to drop off some returns packages.

    Then it’ll be time for a story search — it’s a really slow time of year for news but we still have papers to fill and barking editors to feed. I especially need to make sure I can file something somewhat early on Wednesday so I can scoot out of there a bit early for Christmas Eve services. But that’s always very unpredictable.

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  20. We are done frosting our cookies. Just the younger two and I. One thirteen year old is in her room due to unfortunate choices she made and the other was doing dishes. One claims to not need a mom so I do not force him to participate in mom things and the other refused to do school work the past two weeks and she knew the consequences.

    Anyway, we were working along and little daughter had finished her eighth cookie and was just starting the ninth when she remarked, “this one looks just like a Christmas cookie!” I responded that that was neat because we were making Christmas cookies. To which she replied with enthusiasm, “So I was right! It does look like a Christmas cookie!” Well done, daughter. I love my children.

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  21. Now we will go upstairs to see if daughter has decided to do schoolwork after all while the youngers do some of theirs. Son will go for a bike ride. Husband has taken all of the others off to town for shopping and karate.

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  23. It all makes perfect sense when you think about it, mumsee.

    We make mistakes. Newspaper corrections — here are two good ones from the past year, posted by a newspaper iindustry-watch group:

    1)The Sun (U.K.): In an article ‘London Bridge IS Falling Down’ (16 June) we stated that the iconic bridge, now a tourist attraction in Arizona, was falling into disrepair and could soon be bulldozed. We also stated that there were plans to turn the area into a centre for drug tourism. We have been assured by Lake Havasu City that there are no plans to knock down the bridge or to build a centre for drug tourism. We regret any misunderstanding and are happy to set the record straight. …

    2) The Washington Post: An earlier version of this story erroneously said that Joaquín Guzmán was found in bed with his secretary. He was found with his wife. This version has been corrected.

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  24. I don’t usually get on here over the weekend and like to catch up on Monday morning. How does one get to see the first 200 posts? They seem to have disappeared.

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  25. Linda,

    When you open the post just above the first, well 201st, comment there is an arrow that says “older comments”. Just click that and it will take you to them.

    So how was your birthday? 🙂

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  26. Sunshine here. It all caught up with me last night, as in I couldn’t sleep. I had several days with a good eight hours of sleep, but not last night. I woke at 11:30 and couldn’t sleep then got up at 12:30 and read a Davis Bunn book until 1:30, but still couldn’t sleep. Oh, well….

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  28. Thanks, AJ.
    The birthday was lovely. Wonderful morning at church, the Traditional Festival of Lessons and Carols by the Maryland State Boychoir in the afternoon, dinner at a lovely farm-to-table place afterwards with my sister, nephew & wife, son, DIL, and our new Pastor and his wife. Awesome hubby watched the girls so we could go.

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  30. I agree with Donna, something about that wetness, the thick fog and chill makes it seem really cold.

    But then, I’m a native. 🙂

    I’ve had a busy morning and probably the best part was having to deal with a really ugly attitude in my Zumba class–the attitude was in me. Rather than bore you with my sin, let’s just say I’m better now.

    And no one in my family is home . . . 🙂

    We’re stuck with dog duty for my in-laws this week. It wasn’t a major problem when we lived around the corner, but we’re five miles away now. SIL wanted my daughter to stay at the house with her three dogs and one cat, but we didn’t like that idea so we’re not doing it.

    I took the morning wake up call, cleaned up the dogs, fed them, medicated the cat and released everyone outside for the day. I then turned down the thermostat which the in-laws left on to keep their animals warm at night.

    It was set at 68 degrees.

    It can get cold at night, especially in northern California, right, Donna? 🙂

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  32. 217 comments this weekend? Sheer craziness around here. 😉

    The moral of the story is: all knickknacks on LA gift shop shelves should be wrapped in Thinsulate coveralls.

    Cheryl, I got your Christmas letter last night — thank you. I sent a reply email this morning. Could you let me know if you received it? It didn’t want to send right away (maybe because of the attachment on your email), and some people have had trouble receiving my emails lately.

    Beautiful header photo on the blog, too, BTW!

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  34. 6 Arrows. rumors, vicious rumors. Everyone knows that it doesn’t get cold in LA. Not even at the dog park Soon, they’ll be asking for Federal funds to fix it.
    I’m for letting global warming fix it.
    And the sun is on it way back. Wait for it.

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  35. We went upstairs to do schoolwork. It was fifty three in the classroom. I started the pellet stove so it was up to fifty seven when we left. Nobody needed coats or sweatshirts or hats or gloves or thinsulate because we had no ocean breezes coming through. It felt cool but not very cold as in Los Angeles at night in the dog park.

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  37. That Yankee I married (he claims he’s not, but he grew up north of Birmingham) keeps the thermostat set at 65. Luckily I have a warm fleecy blanket on the sofa a use.

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  40. I just came in from outside. I would not call it an ocean breeze but the wind is blowing and the temps have dropped to about thirty five. Maybe less. But I did not have a jacket on or thinsulate or a parka or a hood or gloves. I am glad it was not an ocean breeze or it might have been very cold out and it is not night.

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  42. Musical Advent Calendar – Day 22: These last three days I am playing Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Christmas Carols, which contains three carols collected from different English counties by the Cecil Sharp. The first carol, which is in the first four minutes of this video, is from Shropshire. I will post the second carol in this video tomorrow.

    This is the truth sent from above,
    The truth of God, the God of love;
    Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
    But hearken all, both rich and poor.

    The first thing, which I do relate,
    That God at first did man create
    The next thing, which to you I tell,
    Woman was made with him to dwell.

    Then after this, ‘twas God’s own choice
    To place them both in Paradise,
    There to remain from evil free
    Except they ate of such a tree.

    But they did eat, which was a sin,
    And thus their ruin did begin;
    Ruined themselves, both you and me,
    And all of their posterity.

    Thus we were heirs to endless woes,
    Till God the Lord did interpose
    For so a promise soon did run
    That He’d redeem us with a Son.

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  43. I have three Raves:

    🙂 I got a final mark of 93% in my Biology.

    🙂 I have done all the course work for English and History. Just the final exams left, which I hope to do early next month.

    🙂 Eldest sibling arrived with spouse and five small relatives on Saturday for a two week visit. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without ’em 😀

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  44. I’m wearing a thinsulate sweatshirt as I continue cleaning up from Saturday’s cookie party (yesterday–a total blur). I don’t know the temperature because the engineer’s thermometer is broken.

    I do have some windows open . . .

    Four pans of fudge didn’t make it home with the guests. PLEASE! Stop by if you want some.

    🙂

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  47. It is 25 degrees outside and snowing…the weatherguy says it feels like 18 with 12mph winds out of the north….it is beautiful outdoors…and warm indoors….I am baking Christmas goodies…a good day in the Forest 🙂

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  48. Donna, I’ve been to Lake Havasu City and I’ve seen London Bridge. It’s lovely.

    Last time I was there, I was with a friend who was taking her eighth-grade daughter shoe shopping for graduation. She wasn’t happy with any of the shoes in store after store, so we kept going. It was 122 that day, the hottest temperature I’d ever experienced in my life (though I’d seen 120 several times), and I was fighting not to be in a bad mood. It’s only graduation from eighth grade, kid. Pick a pair, and we can go.

    6 Arrows, yes, I got your note. I don’t remember if I replied; internet is very “on and off,” mostly off.

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  49. Afternoon, all.

    I took Becca to Build-a-Bear earlier so she could use the gift cards GaGa (my mom) sent her for Christmas to build a reindeer. Build-a-Bear is (unfortunately) located in the mall. It was sheer madness in there! I was so glad we only had to go to the one store and could then leave…I cannot handle the crowds and noise level (nor the florescent lighting, but that’s always there…) at this time of year. I’ve been procrastinating since we got home almost two hours ago and desperately need to force myself to finish wrapping.

    Becca is feeling much better today. She awakened without fever and just has a runny/stuffy nose. A friend (Juana) invited her to play this morning, but we had plans for Build-a-Bear, so we invited her over to our house this afternoon (Juana’s mom had to finish some last minute shopping this afternoon). I told her Becca had had a cold and could possibly still be contagious, but the mom said her daughter never catches anything, so it would be fine. So…Becca is quite happy to have someone to play with! Also, Connie is here today (she actually spent the night last night, since Scott was out of town, which was a welcome surprise). She took them to the park down the street and has spent a lot of time watching them do various things, like roller skate and jump on the trampoline. It’s so funny to me how much kids enjoy having an audience! At one point, Connie was talking to Juana in Spanish and much to her surprise, Becca understood what she said (this is a little disturbing as Connie and I frequently converse in Spanish in front of Becca when we don’t want her to know what we’re talking about…Evidently, she’s picked up more over the years than either of us knew).

    Buddy the dog is also improving. He is still having diarrhea, but it’s much less frequent, and he still hasn’t had any accidents in the house (hooray!). Unfortunately, he is passing a lot of very foul smelling gas, but I lit a scented candle a little while ago and that has helped a lot!

    Scott didn’t get anything on his hunting trip. I was hoping he’d get an Axis b/c we were going to have it processed and split the meat between Connie and my parents. Oh well. Deer season ends January 1, but one can kill Axis year-round, so perhaps next time…

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  50. Thanks, Cheryl.

    Another gray day. I have ZERO motivation to do anything. Blech.

    But — I can choose gratitude.

    Seven hours and 45 minutes of uninterrupted sleep last night. A precious (because it’s rare) gift for me.

    Oh, and I had a nice start to the day. Hubby woke up maybe about 10 minutes after I did, and came out to the living room, where I was reading my Bible. I glanced up at him as he began heading down the stairway, announcing that he was going to go running.

    I think I nodded, and maybe said “OK” or something like that.

    He walked down another step or two, paused, then turned around and came back up to the top of the steps.

    Grabbed his Bible, and sat down next to me on the love seat.

    He read in Romans and Ecclesiastes; I’m finishing up my through-the-Bible-in-a-year readings, currently in Job, the minor prophets, the gospel of John, and Revelation.

    Just a nice quiet start to the day with hubby at my side, each of us reading the Word silently.

    I like mornings like that.

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  51. We don’t have Axis here, but we do have wolves. The Axis look pretty, so do the wolves. I suspect I would prefer to have Axis around than wolves.

    Last time I was in Los Angeles, and we used to go every year at Christmas while I was growing up, it was warm. I don’t remember it ever being cold there. And for sure it was never very cold. But we did have our coats and many blankets because that meant we left Idaho in the winter. I don’t remember using them down there, though I do remember a slight snow storm in Yucca Valley on New Year’s. We may have gotten our coats out then because we were in the desert where it gets very cold at night.

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  52. I love reading this thread after grocery shopping for all the special items I don’t usually buy. I went to a super size store instead of my favorite smaller neighborhood grocery. I consider walking through a big store to be a workout especially when dodging other shoppers. A real obstacle course on a day like today. It is rainy, too, and feeling quite chilly with all the dampness. I feel sorry for retailers because some people will not get out in this messy weather.

    I need to call the insurance company and see if they have changed their mind about my not having insurance for 2015. It shall be a Merry Christmas despite the gobernment! At least I am not pregnant and having to travel for a census along with not having insurance.

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  53. Miss Bosley is curled up in my lap. I am her Thinsulate, or rather her Not-so-Thinsulate. As son once told me when I put on a down vest, “It’s the Incredible Bulk.” His sense of humor serves him well. ♡ Much better than what my mom said after I had just had him by c-section (all 10 lbs.13 oz.). My mother’s encouraging words were, “Are you sure there’s not another one in there. 😦 🙂

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  56. Donna posted something about her coastal proximity to the ocean Say, doesn’t “coastal” usually indicate a large body of water nearby? Must be that cold weather getting to her making her use double talk.

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  70. It didn’t even occur to me that y’all might not be familiar with Axis because they’re so common here! They’re beautiful animals, but not very good for the white tail population b/c they take over their food supply. I’ve never eaten Axis, simply b/c Scott hasn’t shot one since we’ve been married. It’s supposed to be just as good as Elk, which is absolutely delicious (not gamey at all and lean but not tough). Anyway…I’m bummed he didn’t get one (as is he). Of course, he still had a good time enjoying the company of six of his close friends in the great outdoors, so I’m glad he was able to go. He works pretty hard and being outside, communing with nature and conversing with good friends is very relaxing to him. It seems to be good for his soul. Kind of my version of spending the day alone, with a book, in my pajamas…(yes, the entire day…). It helps me regroup, which is what hunting seems to do for him.

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  71. Janice: Two of my favorite pairs of shoes (b/c they are the most comfortable) are Born. I just bought a pair at DSW last weekend that I wore today, all day, and my feet felt wonderful in them…Good shoes! And, they’ll last forever…

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  72. Born shoes, DSW, Axis — I marvel at all the things I learn here. It’s good for my brain. 🙂

    Glad your husband had a good time, Ann. Being able to escape the usual routine now and then is much needed for all of us, IMO, and can be very restorative.

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  74. I really enjoyed the conversation in the secret room from yesterday – but, oh boy, 6arrows let out a secret. I’m quite appalled that you’ve never done that. I’ve done that tens of times including out loud with the children!

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  79. Except Mumsee predicted nobody would talk to me because of that.

    See, she’s wrong — WRONG, I tell you! Kare just talked to me!

    (Not very nicely, I might add, but that’s beside the point.)

    *sniff sniff*

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  85. Donna has not been on here lately. It must be very cold in Los Angeles again. Or she is tired of being picked on which would be sad because I am not tired of picking on her.

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  88. This has been quite a good day on here for me. I got half-a-hundred, and 62, my birth year, and 80, my graduation year, and 86, my wedding year.

    I’m going for 100!

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  90. On another note, have any of you picked out a Bible-reading plan for the new year yet?

    I’ve been doing through-the-Bible-in-one-year plans in recent years — different varieties, but covering all the books once. I found that this year, though, I didn’t get as much out of that as I think I could, because it’s become more of a “get this set of readings done for today and check off the boxes” kind of thing. I want to go deeper this year.

    I read the book of Jeremiah later in the year this year, and I had a difficult time going through it, for some reason.

    I noticed, though, that it is 52 chapters long, so I decided that next year, I am just going to concentrate on that ONE book for my main Bible reading. One chapter per week.

    I’m thinking of reading the full chapter of the week each day, but in a different translation each day. I have a few different translations at home, and one that I’m interested in, but don’t own (yet, but maybe will someday) is the ESV, which I can read at Bible Gateway.

    My current Bible reading plan ends on December 25, so I’ll probably start in with Jeremiah the Sunday after that.

    (I’m sure I’ll wind up reading in other parts of the Bible, of course, as part of corporate Bible studies and such, but mostly, it’ll be Jeremiah for 2015.)

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  91. Family fun means watching Foyle’s War while throwing paper balls for Miss Bosley to retrieve. We have a lot of clutter that she leaps over. I have a tall laundry basket that I throw used plastic water bottles into for recycling. Sometimes the balls land there so she noses in after them.
    She tried to leap over the back of the couch and missed so she did a little splat and fell down. She was not hurt, just humiliated by our laughing. Now I feel guilty for laughing at my dear beloved kitty.

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  93. That did help, Janice. 😉 And now I get 93, the year 2nd Arrow was born. (And my post before this one was 90, the year 1st Arrow was born.) Woohoo!

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  94. Alright, never mind me going to 100. I just figured out that this is my 36th post today, including on this thread, the prayer thread, and in the “secret room.” 😉

    Three dozen is enough! Time to be done.

    What do they say? “It’s been real. It’s been fun. It hasn’t been *real* fun.” LOL

    Night, all.

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  96. I’m willing to race, even with the obvious handicap of a frightfully bad computer connection, but it looks like I could walk to New York and back and post again before anyone else shows up.

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  102. Wow. I hit “refresh” and had a blank screen (pure white) for about 7 minutes. Then my draft post showed up and I went ahead and hit “post” with no idea how many posts were up here . . . and got 100. Pretty cool.

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  104. Congrats, Cheryl!

    I went snowshoeing today for the first time this year. It is still so pretty out – the frost around each branch is about 1″ and so white. The skies were low and grey, but that just made the white hoarfrost brighter. Absolutely heavenly. When I bent over to take off the snowshoes, our cat, Kchu, jumped up on my back – he loves to sit on your shoulders, wrapped around your neck purring away. My husband will often have the cat there when he’s doing his push-ups – silly cat!

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  108. not too late on the west coast. I am having two grandchildren over for the day tomorrow. Do I remember how to play?? I don’t have much in this house, but we can always go walking or go across the parking lot to the church library. 7 year old granddaughter wanted to sit on my lap at the dinner table tonight. Monday night dinner with the family.

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