Alert and Oriented (x4)

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer has this great feature called "works-for-me-Wednesday" when all her cool blogging friends post all these cool tips about just about everything. This is my first, so here goes: If you are ever frustrated, as I was, by having your aluminum foil, plastic wrap or press-n-seal rolls come tumbling out of the box as you pull the stuff off the roll, look at the square ends of the box. At each end there is a little press in tab with directions that read something like, "press in to secure," or "push to lock roll." Every single roll of stuff I have has some similar little tabs. They've probably been there for decades, but I just now discovered them. They work GREAT! And if you already know about them, don't tell me you think I'm slow--just be glad for me that I finally caught up with you! Now go over to Rocks In My Dryer and check it out!

Well...the good new is that State Farm insurance RAWKS ! We went from "this has never happened before, not sure if you're covered" (because this wasn't a swamp cooler leak folks--it's from a refrigerated air conditioner!--more on that in another post for my Midwestern friends) on Tuesday to getting the check in the mail yesterday. And oh yeah, "go ahead and purchase whatever school supplies got ruined, too--we'll reimburse you for that. " Now, the bad news. There are 6 people living in this small, 1600' house. And this is one of our two bathrooms (view from the dining room): Yep, folks--that's the toilet, the stool, the crapper, the porcelain potty, the chamber pot that you are seeing, from my dining room . That is one of only 2 showers in my house. I have 3 and 1/2 teens and 2 adults. You do the math.... Even lovelier , here's what you get to look at if you are brave e nough to sit on the toilet and gaze out.....Or from the shower, if ...

We had an unbelievable fabulous time on our vacation. I am a bit of a control freak, if you will. Usually I have our vacations planned out to the minute. Where we're staying, how much it's going to cost, where we're eating, how long this will take..... yada , yada . One of my spiritual gifts (at least I see it that way) is event planning. I'm known for my color-coded tabbed notebooks that I fill out for the annual retreat @ our church that I'm responsible for planning. This trip was different. We knew we were starting out going to spend the 4 th with family, and then going up thru Colorado to points north. We knew we had to return to ABQ by the following Friday. Other than that, our schedule, our plans and our minds were footloose and fancy-free. IT was a HUGE s-t-r-e-t-c-h for me and the kind of a vacation that's both relaxing and scary for someone like me who wants to know things in advance, if nothing else just for the sake of knowing them. God blessed us ...

and he did pee, Uh HUH--Uh HUH...except Froggy was really a TOAD Guess who followed Tyler inside tonight? He seemed perfectly serene. Just here for a little visit, thank you very much.... But then...he wasn't the most polite house guest... He (or she) peed more than Claire does when someone yells at her. Notice Tyler's expression. I wanted him to give Clyde a little smooch to see if Clyde was really an Agatha and would turn into a princess, but then the pee thing happened, so....we will never know... I tend to think it was a "he." I say was because Baggie just caught him. We release Clyde into the front yard after Tyler got peed all over. Oh... nevermind . Baggie didn't get Clyde. Baggie got the mama bird that's nesting on our front porch. Clyde, in case you didn't figure this out, is the toad. I don't know why I feel compelled to name every creature that crosses my path. I guess I have such a strong need to be identified, that I impose that on critt...

Been meaning to post this email that I received late Thursday evening: 6/26/08 Fire Update: A public meeting was held today, and Andy Donalson, a member of the Inlow Camp board, reported to the Baptist New Mexican that the bulk of the fire burned to the property line of Inlow Camp and then went around the camp. There are firefighters positioned inside Inlow to protect the structures. They are using Inlow as a staging point. The New Mexico Baptist Disaster Relief feeding unit is stationed at the Torreon Command Center. The feeding unit is supporting the firefighters, law enforcement, evacuees and Red Cross volunteers. Please continue to pray for the safety of Inlow Camp and those fighting the fire. As of today according to this , mop up operations have begun. Thank you all for your prayers.