115 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-9-16”

  1. IT’S FRIDAY everyone!
    You know what that means?
    It’s the second Friday, so I’m having lunch with my SS class.
    That’s all I have on my calendar. But something comes up. Seems like it always does.

    Liked by 3 people

  5. 6 Arrows @ 3:57 this morning (What are you doing up at that time?).
    Stop crying and go to sleep.
    I’m dumber that you and more worthless than you but I’m not going to cry about it.
    So! Just go to sleep and forget about it.
    off the Breakfast for me. (not going to fix those caps)

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  6. Morning all. Chas is feeling mighty perky and silly this morning.
    Report cards are done and someone came by and put a trap in the attic that will hopefully take care of the rats. I will not be checking. I am hearing a noise, are they pushing the trap around.

    Liked by 5 people

  7. Just saw that some gifts are coming my way. amazing, God moves hearts, but who am I?
    “You are His beloved.” I have that on a little note right next to my chair here. Someone told me that several years ago and I wrote it down and put it right here.

    Liked by 7 people

  10. One tidbit learned when searching out health insurance: In 2017 the rules for small businesses change so that a wife can no longer be counted as an employee of a small business owner for insurance purposes. It is another way this current government is trying to shut down small businesses. They are hitting Mom and Pop shops really hard with punch after punch.

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  11. Good morning.
    Good evening, Jo. Glad you completed your report cards on time and that the rats are being dealt with! Many years ago, we had some kind of varmint die in the wall of our bedroom…..the smell was horrid for a couple of weeks….so much so, we had to sleep in a different room (this was pre-children).

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I see in reading back that the phone changed Jo’s name to No! Sorry! I would do a better job editing, but my eyes have a few problems and feel strain reading the small print.

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  13. Good Morning ya’ll! Chas that was my first thought upon seeing that photo up there…ugliest bid I’ve ever seen!! 🙂 He must have some redeeming quality…surely he does!
    6arrows praying this day will prove to be one of realizing just how loved you are…by us and more importantly by our Father. Just to let you know, I had a very down day the other day…I awaken crying, depressed and just wanting it all to end…husband wanted to know what was wrong and I could not articulate just what it was….thankfully the Lord tenderly eased me through the rough waters…praying to that end for you this day! ❤

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  16. The nonending health insurance saga:
    I tried to check my application’s status online and it said to call. I called and gave my social security number. I later find out the lady I am speaking to is in the Philippines. So my number is all over the world. What a racket on top of the ripoff.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. It’s 27 degrees here. That makes it feel like Christmas and right for baking. Has anyone used their car as a place to cool foods in the winter after cooking?

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  21. So why am I awake at midnight you ask? Have you ever tried to sleep listening to a rat bang and slide a trap around overhead? What a sense of humor someone has. I am sure that there is a rat in the trap as I can hear it banging around. We got or someone set for us, a live trap, a cage with bait in it. The rat is not just quietly waiting to meet his doom, he is keeping us all awake. Nope, not going to climb a ladder in the middle of the night to check the attic. In fact, I am not going to climb that ladder in the daytime either.
    And I thought that roaches in the shower were bad!

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Go to sleep Jo!
    Silent Night probably isn’t the most beautiful song in the world, but it has to be in the top ten.
    It takes that to bring a tear to these eyes.

    Liked by 6 people

  24. I had the most views of my website yesterday, my numbers are nothing like AJ’s, but the post being read was Death at Christmas, 6 ways to cope. I’m sorry so many are tangling with it this year–the post was written three years ago but never got read like it did yesterday. Sad.

    Yet another busy day with surprise! Five Adorables coming to spend the night. My husband wants to get the Christmas tree and put them to work.

    If I didn’t feel so tired, it would be a great idea. I probably better go read that blog post myself. I wonder if that’s why I’m dragging so much!

    Life continues crazy. I worked on Tuesday’s Bible study yesterday because there’s no time between then and now to get it done. It was all about hospitality and supporting missionaries.

    I’m doing major attitude checks these days!

    So, tell me Jo, how can my little Bible study best supporto missionaries far from home? 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  26. We had a cat named Trouble who found a rat caught in a trap that he was bringing home. He was out in the street dragging it along so it was making a clunking sound. Art and I continue to laugh about how he caught his rst the easy way just after his sister had caught a rat in the typical way.
    So, Jo (not No, I caught the fool phone in the act of name changing), I have heard that trap clunking sound before but not overhead.

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  29. Ugh, maybe the rat got just a leg in the trap and is trying to get free ?

    I can’t stand rats and had issues with random singles getting into my house in the first few years I lived here (first time was when I had the new heater put in under the house and holes were cut everywhere for the new ductwork. Guess a rat & a few mice took that as an “open for business” sign for them). Among my early crises as a new homeowner.

    The best rat trap I’ve used is the Rat Zapper — it delivers an electrical death charge (it takes batteries) as soon as they enter the little tunnel to get the food. It’s fast, pretty much an instant (and sure) death so there’s less that can go wrong compared to those snap traps. And the glue traps really are considered cruel, those deliver a really slow, horrible death for anything that’s stuck on one.

    Once something is caught & killed in the Rat Zapper the little light blinks so you know and can literally just pick the thing up and dump the body into a bag without even seeing it if you don’t want to.

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  30. The problem with rats is how smart they are (mice, not so much, they’re much easier to deal with in that sense).

    Rats also are very sneaky — and trap savvy.

    I’m working from home today, I have 3 stories to write — the plumber is set to come and deal with the spare bathroom today, everything’s confirmed except the time he’s coming over. I’m guessing sometime in the early to mid-morning, so I kind of panicked when I woke up at 7 a.m. (meant to get up earlier) and realized I still needed to clear that bathroom out, get the trash out to the curb and completely clear out the hallway leading into that room as he’ll have to carry in the new vanity (which is small but no doubt will be heavy and cumbersome to get through small spaces).

    The bird just looks very dog-park cold to me.

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  31. Speaking of cold, it is much warmer around here. Should get up to thirty one today with snow expected. Which reminds me, I need to take the rabbits their water bowls. Spoiled lagomorphs.

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  33. OK, everything’s out of the spare bathroom so they can work in there. Parked my Jeep at the curb so they can use my driveway.

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  34. I’m done crying now, Chas. 🙂

    Thanks, NancyJill and Jo, for your encouragement. Jo, I hope you can sleep well with all that racket. Yikes, rats. shudder

    Lovely breakfast out this morning. There were 9 of us women, and one little guy 11 weeks of age. 🙂 The east wall of the restaurant was one big window overlooking a river in our region, and the sun is out today! Magnificent, and a glorious morning to dispel the dark and gloom from last night.

    God is good.

    Liked by 5 people

  35. You’re not helping, DJ.

    Now I will be dreaming about rats dying in your new bathroom . . . even as I feverishly wonder about how the tile will fit–even knowing it’s a different bathroom . . . 🙂

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  36. The cat pretty much resolved any rogue rodents coming in here — though she has been known to bring one in alive and set it loose so she can have a “game” to play that will keep her up all night. She always gets it but the cat-and-mouse stalking can be stressful for all concerned.

    I’m hoping the vanity fits OK, it’s way smaller than the one they’re hauling out of here. I have the fixtures — hopefully the right ones — all still in a box and handy, ready to go.

    The wall might need repair afterward. And who knows the shape of the wood floor after the leak … We’ll soon find out.

    As for the real bathroom, I’m only kind of sorry I didn’t opt for a wider black trim now … But I’m too weary to worry about it. I have no idea, anyway, when any of that will eventually get unboxed and used. Still hoping for next week …

    Then maybe I could take a rest for a while before the windows and painting in the new year. I’m already exhausted from it all.

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  38. Old giant vanity & gross, yucky carpet are out out of there, wood floor not as bad as feared, should clean up and dry out ok, they’re telling me. Little vanity being installed. Leak in pipe fixed. …

    Slowly, piece by piece, it’s all getting done

    Liked by 6 people

  40. Wouldn’t that top it all off? But either way, this also makes my house more “sellable.”

    Meanwhile, looks like I bought the wrong kind of faucet for new vanity. May require a very quick trip to Home Depot.

    Sigh.

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  42. oh stop.

    She’s been reintroduced to her litter box quite successfully (though right now it’s unavailable — but she’s outside, nowhere to be found with more work going on in here.

    Drills going, Cowboy won’t leave my side and Tess is barking in the patio.

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  43. Or on the patio. I say “in” because it’s got an overhang and seems semi-enclosed to me. I think of it more as in than on.

    Oy, and clogged pipe from the toilet.

    OK, off to find a new faucet (single hole).

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  44. We are going to sit down to a nice bowl of turkey noodle soup with fresh hot buttered artisan bread alongside. I call it artisan bread because I forgot to turn the oven down because I was reading to ten year old, and it has a nice brown crust on it. It is shaped in a ring so I can also call it artisan bread because of that.

    Liked by 6 people

  46. Well, I haven’t had a fall, like Nancy & AJ, but I did do something stupid that has hurt my back.

    All I was trying to do was pull off a pair of loose-fitting pants without taking off my moccasin-type slippers. (Don’t judge me – my feet were cold.) On my right foot, the pants didn’t want to cooperate, or maybe the slipper wasn’t cooperating, & I had my leg & foot suspended in the air in front of me longer than they wanted to be as I wrestled the stupid pants over the stupid slipper.

    That somehow put something out of whack in my lower back, on the right side above my hip. It seems fine most of the time, except for when I first get up in the morning, but straightening up after bending over is rather painful. (More of a wince-inducing achy-pain than a sharp pain.)

    Liked by 4 people

  48. It’s been a busy day. I thought I would come over and read the comics for some laughs.
    No funnies yet? have I missed something?

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  50. I think there’s a way to access this radio station’s archives online most likely, but this is a program co-hosted by one of our elders that’s going to be on tonight:

    Tonight on the Apologetics.com Radio Show (KKLA 99.5 FM) we will be having special guest Becket Cook share his personal testimony of how God worked in his life to bring him to faith in Christ. Just a few weeks ago Anchored North released his video testimony below and it received over 100,000 views in 4 days. This is one of the most important and relevant conversations of our day as it is rapidly shaping and transforming the culture and society we live in. Together with Becket and my friend Tony Yu we will be discussing homosexuality and the Bible and how we can be true and faithful witnesses as we seek to love our neighbor as ourselves in the area of homosexuality. Please share this with friends and be sure to tune in tonight at midnight to join the conversation. 1-888-LA-TALKS.

    https://anchorednorth.org/homosexuality-was-my-identity/

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  51. Sorry it took so long, Chas. It’s the end of the semester here and there is a lot going on. I’m behind on grading papers, among other things. I haven’t even written lesson plans for this week, and it’s at the end of it! I usually don’t make detailed plans, I’m supposed to post them so parents can see them. Yeah, right. They rarely do.

    Never-the-less, here are the Friday Funnies..

    Liked by 4 people

  52. Or you could listen to the show later, I’m sure, on the apologetics dot com website.

    I’ll have to think of some Christmas pics. … Maybe I’ll pose my dogs in their jingle bell collars and their Santa hats. That would help hide poor Tess’ shaved ear.

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  53. So, Mr Teacher, we have power school where we are supposed to check our children’s grades throughout the quarter. I don’t normally agree with that but with a child who has zero communication between home and school on his part, it becomes valuable. Son maintained an A+ the entire first quarter of Business Computer Applications and when the first quarter grades showed up, he had a C- because he had not finished or turned in most of the work. I asked the teacher midway how he was doing and learned that the teacher does not record any of the grades until the end, giving the children until then to turn in the projects. Is that common? To me, in the case of this child, it denies him the opportunity of consequences. He would not be allowed to play in sports with all the F’s he had in that and other classes. When I learned that was going on, the school and I decided he was no longer eligible to play. He is currently trying to bring up the two semester F he has in history because he wants to sell concessions at the game Saturday. I don’t think he is going to make it with his shining forty eight in that class, up from forty two.

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  54. Of course, consequences can and should come at the end of the quarter, but the school has a grade point policy on a weekly basis and it is difficult for him to not see he is getting away with things when they are not recorded. I would prefer not to have to know how a child is doing until grades come out, but there are exceptions. And I understand the busy ness of teaching and would never want to be one.

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  58. Michelle, I think receiving mail is a wonderful encouragement. Something in my mailbox tells me someone is thinking of me. I sent a prayer request about loneliness last year and two gals wrote me. I still have their cards out they were so precious.
    Another close friend hangs out at my daughter’s coffee shop. He takes pictures of my children and grandchildren and sends them. Once I did not even know that my son was visiting until I got his pictures. Precious.

    Liked by 5 people

  59. Mumsee- at our school we are required to report failing students to the athletic director every week. 2 Fs and a student is ineligible, so he has to call the parents and inform them. Our principal asks us to enter something in the grade book every week, even if it’s a 5 point participation grade. I’m not sure what teachers who only have projects for their grades. I think they have to show a weekly progress grade or something similar.

    As for me, I give 50% credit for any work turned in after the due date unless there is an excused absence. And at that, only for two weeks after the due date. We have had problems with parents insisting that late work be turned in the last day of the quarter so “Johnny” can raise his F to a passing grade, but since I have it specifically spelled out in my classroom rules, then I don’t have to accept all that work.

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  60. More problems in that bathroom, plumbers had to make a Home Depot run.

    We’re coming up on 7 hours since they arrived (they originally figured this as a 2-4 hour job). It’s getting dark out here in another 30 minutes …

    I will survive this house, that’s my vow.

    Liked by 5 people

  63. Maybe I should just run away with the cat next time?

    I feel locked in a life-or-death battle with this house sometimes.

    Plumbers are still here, it’s dark out now.

    Liked by 2 people

  69. Oh boy.

    Seems to be connected, also, to “big” main bathroom (they share plumbing), back to back walls.

    Now they have to check under the house.

    Looks like they’re exhausted. 😦

    After 8 hours of manual work, I’m not surprised.

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  73. They’re trying a bigger cable now – maybe roots? But there are no trees on that side of the house or anywhere near there really

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  78. Maybe you will find out you are not connected to city sewer but have your own septic system, perhaps an abandoned buried car. They have those here, I was told by the septic system inspector.

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  79. Son is confident he brought his grade up to a D. He just took a test and is sure he got an A or a B or a C. Last week he got a resounding F on the open book quiz before the test. Be interesting to see what the teacher says he got.

    Liked by 1 person

  81. I am guessing that is supposed to be leaks, and that is good news. It is nice to have good working stuff. Frustrating when you call in the experts and they have to struggle with it or even give up on it. Glad it is working. You will enjoy your new home.

    But if not, the guest room is open. The cat will stay outside of course. Don’t forget to bring along some of those dog park outfits for it, the polar vortex may be an adjustment from southern Cal.

    Liked by 1 person

  84. I am laughing my way through these posts. The bathroom problems are so much more entertaining than heath insurance. I am imagining a litter box for humans as a possibility. Not really, LOL! I was friends with a lady truck driver who told me there was some incinerator device that could be used for disposing of human waste. I never have seen one, but I suppose that makes sense considering some third world nations use animal waste for fuel. I would not want to be downwind from the burning. You have options besides a Porta-Potty, Donna, FYI!

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  86. I guess one of the guys was supposed to pick up his kids for the weekend tonight but now has to wait 2 more weeks. 😦 I felt really bad they had to stay here so long, things seemed to be going so routinely even into the afternoon (they got here at 10 a.m.).

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  87. Donna could you send those plumbers over to our house now? Husband said handle on master bath toilet broke….he tried to turn off water underneath and broke that handle….now there is a leak…he is currently having a crisis….we do have two other bathrooms, but this problem will keep a certain male in this house up all night….!!! How I wish Home Depot was open all night…he would be there buying his parts needed…. 🙂

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  90. OK, I’m going to watch the Exorcist (the new TV version) tonight — because that somehow fits.

    Don’t want to see another worker in here for a while now.

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  92. Okay, here is a strange situation and a blessing. I told you all about my property managers raising the rent on my house without telling me. It was empty at the time. And then I told them to lower it by 100 a month as I was not comfortable with the higher amount. Now a family with four children is renting my house. I had forgotten because it was a while from their first inquiry to when I agreed to rent to them, but they said that they would pay the higher rent. and they are! Who does that???
    So I am again being blessed. God is good.

    Liked by 7 people

  93. Jo, when I was young, my best friend told me they put potato peeling on the toilet to discard them. Her older sister went to use the bathroom and discovered a rat had come up through the sewer into their toilet!

    I think the sister’s screams were heard throughout the neiborhood. It’s a story I have never forgotten. Now I might have nightmares about that. I don’t ever put any food down our toilet, but I think it was common to do so back then.

    Liked by 2 people

  97. We enjoyed an evening with son. He travels to away basketball games for the university in the town where he lives (Mrs L and my alma mater), so he is here for a game tomorrow in nearby Quincy. He and I are going together. We played a couple of games tonight for old times sake. I won at Upwords (a Scrabble-type game) and he won at Skip-bo (a card game).

    Liked by 2 people

  108. Belatedly, I think I got the wrong vanity top … I’m sure I did not order single-hole faucet (there was a choice) and there’s no backsplash with the one I got (I specifically liked this model because it included a back splash). I sent the company an email — obviously I’m not going to “return” it now that it’s all installed, but maybe they’ll give me a credit if it turns out they sent the wrong version.

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  110. Re: rats. Do not ever, I repeat, EVER watch the National Geographic special on rats. The stuff those rats can do just creeped me out. I’m so glad we don’t have rats where we are.

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  111. 111 — might as well grab it while I’m here. I like that number. Don’t know why I’m awake to see it. Another night I can’t seem to sleep. That shouldn’t happen when I only had a few hours sleep last night, no nap yesterday, plenty of exercise late morning/early afternoon, and some fresh air yesterday, too.

    I guess it’s time to think about blessings. Our power had to be cut for a couple hours yesterday morning while I was gone, and it turns out one of the linemen working on the crew was a friend of ours who lives about an hour away and just got transferred down here. He and his wife (then-fiancee) were in our wedding (he as hubby’s best man), and we were in their wedding four months later. Sounds like hubby and friend had a nice visit yesterday.

    I was blessed to receive in the mail a piece of sheet music my friend who organizes the piano concerts I play in sent me. She played, among other pieces, White Christmas last weekend, and I really enjoyed her performance and told her so at the intermission. She said she had acquired two copies of that music, and would send me one. I forgot about that until it arrived in my mailbox this week. Lovely, vintage piece with 1940 and 1942 copyright dates by the Irving Berlin Publishing Company, I think it said, with a price sticker of 75 cents still on it. My friend sent a Christmas card with it, too, along with a very nice note about my playing. So kind.

    The biggest blessing I’m recalling right now is that we have a birthday boy in the neighborhood. He was born 14 1/2 weeks early — at 25 weeks, 4 days gestation. Weighed 1 pound 15 ounces, and dropped about 25% of his weight in the early days. Numerous scary moments where it looked like he might not survive, but he made it, and came home close to his March due date, and today is a healthy 7-year-old. God be praised.

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