My Favorite Things

All my life I have been a lover of the old vinyl albums. As a teen I devoured them -studied the covers, read all the liner notes, sang along, wrote out the lyrics, tried to play them on my guitar. Totally consumed them. Now just thinking back to them releases happy endorphins in my brain. The older ones take me back to eras in my life - the good old days. The more current ones create those good old days for future rear-view mirror reminiscing.

I list them here in no particular order. I will try to refrain from commentary on them, for now at least. Some of these I don't classify as good music now but nonetheless, they touched me. Have any of these impacted your life too?
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Dan Fogelberg - Home Free

Dan Fogelberg & Tim Wiesberg - Twin Sons of Different Mothers

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits (Vol I)

Billy Joel - The Stranger

Al Green Greatest Hits

Harry Nilsson - A Little Touch of Schmillson in the Night

Nilsson - The Point

The Best of the Guess Who

Earth, Wind & Fire - That's The Way of the World

Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine

Bread - Best of Bread

Chris Sligh - Running Back To You

Bebo Norman - Ten Thousand Days

Chris Rice - Deep Enough To Dream

Chris Rice - Past The Edges

Gene Autry - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer :o)

John Stewart - The Phoenix Concert

Don Williams - 20 Greatest Hits

Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence

Mandisa - True Beauty

Jars of Clay - Redemption Songs

Carole King - Tapestry

Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years

Art Garfunkel - Watermark

Amy Grant & Art Garfunkel - Animals' Christmas

Loggins & Messina - The Best of Friends

Mac Davis - Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me

John Denver's Greatest Hits

Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - Full Moon

Sarah Groves - Conversations

Sarah Groves - All Right Here

Amy Grant - My Father's Eyes

Amy Grant - A Christmas Album

Amy Grant - Legacy...Hymns & Faith

Any Grant - Rock of Ages Hymns & Faith

Value of a Friend

Proverbs 31:10 says "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels."

But what is the worth of a best friend for life??

I contemplate this question each time I look for a birthday gift or Christmas gift for my bff. Everything I consider seems to be so trinket-like. It all says "for another year of being there everytime I call, lending your shoulder for to cry upon, cheering me up w/your real-life antedotal comedies, free sage advice and counsel, prayer when I'm downtrodden (again), and being in my corner no matter what - I bestow upon you this ever so cute knick-knack". (sigh)



Well, for this years knick-knack I found this cute figurine of two happy thin chicks standing on an envelope that reads Best Friends. Hmm...an envelope?? Yep. You see we met in 6th grade. When we were thin chicks. Now our children are past that age. We grew up, got married. She got carried away to other states by her man and I stayed put. So before the days of unlimited long distance, cell phones, email and text messages, we wrote letters. Long letters. Mood letters. They tell a tale of two young wives and moms, feeling our way through these wonderful and trying years w/very little in the way of a mother figure pouring into our lives. We were necessary for each other. We were blessed to be paired up. I kept all her letters and I imagine getting together someday in our white hair days and reading through some of them. We will read of times when we were worried about how our kids would turn out. Sure that we were ruining them or that their fathers were perhaps. Wondering if our marriages would stand the test of time. We can giggle over how we obsessed over things that weren't really THAT important in the grand scheme of time. We may grieve over some severed family ties or how we miss a certain era. But in the end, it will still be she and I, reminiscing, laughing, ruminating over the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord through it all and the incredible blessing of finding a best friend while still children and the joy of riding the rapids of life together.

FROM PUBERTY TO MENOPAUSE AND BEYOND!
Tarantarantarahhhhh!!!!

What is the worth of a best friend for life???

Priceless.
Happy Birthday, KAB!

Blog Perils!

I really value my computer time. I get so little of it anymore that it is a real luxury late at night after everyone is in bed and I can have some peace. Last night I get on at about 11. I balance my checkbook or (see how much money we don't have), check my email, attempt to line up school lessons for tomorrow, (I abandon it before completion for the joy of YouTube) and then when I can't seem to hold my head off my keyboard another moment, decide to go to bed.

BUT WAIT! I ALMOST forgot (again). I wanted to check some blogs tonight. I have 3 friends who blog and I haven't looked in for a week or so. SO...I figure I'll check real fast. TWO hours later (2AM) I find I am reading LONG entries from some liberal in New York who is some sort of writer and is against socialism and has written a clever tale about 3 rabbits to illustrate the idiocy of the system. He has many nice pictures of army tanks too.

Prior to that I read all about a guy in CA(?) I think, who has recently gotten into motorcycles and he can doodle some great caricatures and cartoons. He has put LOTS of them on his blog. His three young adult daughters are very pretty. He is a Christian. Yay!

Prior to THAT, I was reading of a lady who is packing to take her son to college tomorrow. She's holding a contest to see who can send her the funniest procrastination stories but is also worried because her brother (who lives out of state) was recently in a car accident and is in VERY serious condition. She does not have the money to go see him. Her heart aches. They are worried about his lungs mostly. He is a singer/songwriter and has a myspace page. He likes Leonard Cohen. I now know a couple of the brother's songs. His "friends" look a little scarey and so does he. I search for some kind of evidence that he knows Jesus. Can't find any but his sister knows the Lord and I am glad she is praying for him. I say a little prayer too.


Prior to THAT, I was reading my friend's blog! Good grief! She's got too gosh darn many interesting friends commenting on her blog. And those people have too many cotton pickin' friends w/problems and situations and talents and THAT is why I nodded off in the middle of dictating spelling words to my son today!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya know, people watching at the mall is SO 90's.

Pet Peeves and Mind Control

The other day someone mentioned their pet peeves. Immediately I started making a mental list of my own. After about 6 of them, I got a little surly. Hey! I WAS having a pretty good day! My thoughts turned to the term itself. PET peeves. Yeah, we nurture our pets, we love our pets, we look forward to spending time with them. Ever know someone who actually seems to think that way about the things that really tick them off? Ever been one of them yourself?? I have. YUCK!

I think one of the most important commands in the Bible is: Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Or put simply - YOU, CONTROL YOUR MIND! We usually think of mind control in the negative. You know, someone else trying to impose their rules of behavior on the unwilling. Why don't we immediately see it in the positive?? God's Spirit working in us to be obedient to Him. Oh, for more of that kind of mind control!

Best TV Show of All Time! IMO

Drum roll, please.

....

American Idol

Yeah, I'm a AI freak! Have watched since middle of season 2. Attended tour concerts for seasons 4, 5, 6 & 7. That's a lot of money spent. Had to fly to San Diego for season 5 concert. Sheesh!

I guess you gotta love pop music to love Idol. You also gotta not care if & when the producers are yankin your chain. I love to speculate if this thing is really pure. DO America's votes really count?? Do they let them count only when the results agree w/the producers wishes?? The fine print says producers reserve the right to alter results. I wanna know IF they do, and WHEN they do and WHY they do it! Intrigue and conjecture is fun.

But all that speculation is merely interesting when you love music AND rags to riches stories. I love how the show takes unknowns, puts them through the ultimate show business boot camp for all to see, boosts them to instant stardom and then spits them out on the sidewalk. You've got the fame, now go out there and flesh it out. Make music that America wants to buy. I think I'm as much interested in their afterlife as I am while they are connected to Idol.

Auditions for Season 8 in Phoenix is only a few days away now. This time I know a couple kids who are trying out. We'll see... Pass the popcorn and the remote please.

Teen Actions at Mid-Life

Those who know me well, know that I have gone a bit cookoo lately. I can tell when they roll their eyes and *try* to change the subject. (ha ha) I managed to escape this phenomena as a teenager. Now at the age most of my friends are becoming grandparents, I have become a fan. I'm told that's short for fanatic.

I have become a big fan of Chris Sligh. Yeah, the guy who brought chubby back on American Idol season 6. I am such a fan that I spent a considerable amount of my husband's future earnings to go to Nashville last weekend to attend a picnic he held for his fans. That evening he also treated us to a concert. There, I met up w/a lot of nice people I've been talking to online for over a year. The very thing we tell our kids NOT to do.

Anyways, having arrived on July 4th we all got the benefit of attending a free Chris Sligh concert in Mount Joliet, TN complete w/a pretty decent fireworks show. A great time was had by all and now I get to look forward to the coming weekend when he arrives for THREE shows in the Phoenix area! Woohoo! July is turning out to be a GREAT month for me!

Perspective

I have a great pair of sunglasses. They came free for renewing our season tickets with the Phoenix Suns (last season). What is remarkable about them being from LAST SEASON is that I STILL have them after one year! Usually sunglasses only last about a month before they are forgotten, misplaced or destroyed and I am mumbling stuff under my breath about frequent senior moments. But these, I am guarding with my life. Anyways, they are orange tinted and I call them great because everything viewed through orange looks prettier.
*Brown grass looks green
* mountains look purple
* flowers look more vivid
* my dog looks groomed
* my husband looks less hairy
* my floors look clean
* Phoenix air looks - well, um, CLEAR
These could replace the mood ring as the greatest invention known to man!
As far as I know, they don't make the wearer look thinner or younger or wiser BUT they DO go a long ways towards making the wearer artificially more pleasant. My kids are thankful.

They've got me thinking on a broad scale too. I am contacting glass companies. Just imagine if we simply tinted car windshields orange. Homes and businesses w/only orange windows. Perhaps, TV screens too. Filth removal! WOW! I think I'm really onto something here.

Just A Block Away From Paradise

That's right. I live just one block away from Paradise Lane. It fits. Nothing in my life is perfect but lots of areas come kinda close. Jesus saved my soul and righted my wrongs. I've had the same, faithful, hard-working husband for the past 25+ years. My kids, though still kids, are growing into wonderful, responsible, fun & interesting adults. I belong to the best church in the world! My body still works reasonably well. I have many golden friends who enrich my life.

I live in the great Desert Southwest. Yeah, we've got heat but it's a DRY heat and I will probably never get victory over complaining about it! Nonetheless, I never have to contend with hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, flood, mud, bugs, mold & mildew, rusted out cars, frozen locks, snow shovels or spring forward/jump back time changes.
I've been blessed greatly and try to always realize the "downers" of life are necessary for weaning me off this world and increasing my longing for heaven - the only TRUE Paradise there is! May this little pilgrim NEVER get too comfortable here!