Wishcasting Wednesday!

Over at the Jamie Ridler Studios it's Wishcasting Wednesday & this Wednesday she asks us "What Guidance Do You Wish For?"

I love wishcasting Wednesday's but don't always participate because I don't always feel I have a good wish.  However after reading today's question I knew I had to participate for a couple of reasons!

1) The other day I had lunch with some friends & after we ate we all went back to our normal work day.  I was driving home that evening and had this overwhelming feeling I had said something(s) to one of them that hurt her feelings or had offended her & I just couldn't stop thinking about it.  I tend to say whatever comes to my mind and forget not everyone can handle that about my personality.  I did apologize to her and later found out I had said something - not even sure what!!  But was glad I had apologized. 

2) My Grandfather was unexpectedly hospitalized this week at the age of 92 and has had to undergo major surgery - let's be honest when you are 92 any surgery is major surgery!

I wish for guidance to stay positive, to associate with positive people and to work towards bettering myself and growing as a person.  Growing and striving everyday to be better, to be more compassionate towards others and to look for the positive in others.  To hold my tongue and learn to listen to others and talk less!!!! 

As you wish for yourself today, so I wish for you also!

Country Life....

I'm not so sure what I think about country life as my allergies seem to be in full force in the country - but as soon as i get to town - they stop!  So that's been new!  But the biggest changes has been all of the creatures - that's right not animals - creatures!  We started off with an infestation of wood ticks - I've never experienced anything like it!  Every night for the first few months we'd pull anywhere from 5-20 ticks off my poor dog! We seem to have gotten that under control!

          

 Then we moved onto an ant problem like you can't believe - not just regular ants but fire-ants and they are everywhere - I have tried every kind of ant spray/powder/pellet you can think of. Keep in mind - they aren't just outside - we've had an ant issue in the basement as well!  I think we've gotten rid of the ants in the basement and it appears for now we've gotten rid of the fire ants but I can't believe all the ant hills that just seem to pop up everywhere!

            We have snakes - lots of snakes & if I can, I mow them up!

       

We have frogs - not just one or two frogs tons & tons & tons of frogs.  Again - not just regular frogs - but frogs, and toads & tree frogs - you want a pet come to my house!  One afternoon we pulled 15 out of a window well!  I also try to move these guys up as well!

We have now moved onto muskrats!  Yup that's right - 2 of them in the window well!  I don't know why all of these creatures need to visit me - but I've had enough!  We were sitting on the deck one afternoon when my dog started to freak out about at the window so we went to see what was in there & there they were!  I wanted them dead - but Dave got a bucket & gloves & scooped them out and let them run away!!!

Then on the way to a wedding just 2 miles from out house - this is what we come across:

This thing must have weighed 45 - 50 lbs!

 You want a pet - come visit me - you can have anything I have for free!!

Here's a good one!

Vacation 2011

July 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A Way To Learn!

I knew who Sarah Palin was from all the Presidential election situations!  I didn't really know that much about her so I thought by reading this book I'd be able to learn more about her as a person & her views and standpoints on life.   I was actually intrigued by her and the quotes! I loved that this wasn't an overly long book - this was a great read to pick up & easily finish.

I really enjoyed the collection of quotes throughout the book that were organized into subjects like Crime, Education, Foreign Policy, etc.  We can all choose to agree with her on her opinions or we can disagree but this is a great book that will serve as a good reference for her political reviews - straight from her own mouth.  It's nice to be able to read her actual opinions and not what everyone else is just saying about her.

I received a copy of this book free of charge from the publisher at BookSneeze.com for my honest reviwe which didn't have to be positive. 

You Were Born For This

You Were Born For This By: Bruce Wilkinson & David Kopp. 

 

I just finished reading this book & have mixed feelings about this book.  There were definitely parts of the book that I greatly enjoyed - loved some of the personal stories that were in the book.  I however did find some sections that I seemed to just skim over as they weren't as engaging as other areas.  I think this might be a good book to read with a small group and have a discussion time with as I think you might get more out if that way. 

I did appreciate the breakdown into four sections with each part bringing you practical information about allowing God to use you.
Part 1: Welcome to Everyday Miracle Territory
Part 2: Four Keys to a Life of Miracles
Part 3: How to Deliver a Miracle
Part 4: Three Keys to Special Delivery Miracles

I think this book can help shift our mindset about everyday miracles and felt that hearing of the other miralces around us happening every day are good resources. 

I received a free e-copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review

I'm also a Psychiatirst?!

Here's another good one!  I had a call from a lady that wanted to sell her home.  She starts out the conversation by telling me I went to school with her daughter - she is 100% sure of that....oopsies!  That was my sister who is 4 years older than me!  Oh well - she can think that for now. So I go to her home to do a CMA for her and have been warned that she is a unique woman. 

I get there and she invites me in - it's a home I'm familiar with because it is a very unique one of a kind home!  Those details aren't even important!  She invites me and and I'm there for a good hour to hour and a half and we never once toured the home - we sat at the kitchen table the entire time.  What she did the entire time was "drink" something and talk to me about her hard life...her divorce....her step kids....her kids.....her dog was jumping all over me - there are no lights on in the house and it sort of felt like an episode of hoarders - a toned down version - but hoarders!  She wants to list her home for about $100,000 more than what it's worth - so this was the first listing I've ever had to tell no that I can't take this listing.  She was thankfully very understanding and then informed me that one other Realtor had told her the same thing.

After a lull in the conversation i mentioned how gorgeous her Christmas Cactus was and she offered to give me one!!!  She literally can grow any plant and grow it amazingly well!  She had gorgeous orchids and other unique plants that no one else can grow!

After this she receives a phone call and tells me it's from a debt collector!!  I'm trying to figure out how to get out of here at this point!  She stays on the phone with the debt collector who is coming after her because of stuff her soon to be ex did!  Either way - this is very awkward and I need to leave!  She is giving the debt collector more information than anyone should ever hear!  Finally she needs to smoke - so we head outside and I make my exit!! 

This sweet lady now sends me strange emails & calls me randomly about her home!! 

Here's another story!

A few weeks ago on a Friday night at about 7:00 p.m. I go to meet a new client.  I've emailed with this gentleman and spoken to him on the phone but this is our first in person appointment. 

I go to meet him at a foreclosure - no big deal!  I get to the house prior to him (which I prefer to do) - go inside to find there is no electricity!! 

The buyer arrives and is about 300 lbs, with missing teeth and one eye that doesn't work - no big deal. 

However, I open the door to let him in and he (I think trying to be polite) kinds of ushers me in, in front of him.  We get in the house to this tiny little entryway and there is a bathroom door to the left and a door to the kitchen on the right which the buyer is blocking along with the outside door - I am now trapped inside the bathroom!!!!!!!!  At this point every crazy thought is running through my head - get out, run - you're faster than him - "damn I wish I had on heels! 

I offer to go out to my car & get a flashlight so we can see better & he says no & won't let me - I'm still stuck in the bathroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 Pretty much petrified I finally find a way around him & get into the kitchen & start looking around all awkwardly!  I get to the living room and open the front door - wide open........to let light in, that's what I tell him at least!  He looks around and then wants to go in the basement - there was no way on earth I was going down there!  He did go by himself and look around but I stood at the top of the stairs with my phone in one hand debating which door was closer to get out if I needed to run!!!!!!!!!!!

I get him outside eventually but then he wants to go see the empty garage!  I do allow him into the garage & stand at the doorway not going fully inside!

He decides this house is too much work & we can finally leave!

The Chocolate Diaries

Click on the book to be taken to amazon to order this book!

I just got done reading this book and was quite impressed!!!!  There are several things about this book that I enjoyed including the yummy chocolate recipes!!

This book is a great book for women of all ages - I think there is something for everyone to learn in this book and everyone will take something away!  My favorite part was the "What If...." game - this is a great thing that I started doing as soon as I was finished reading the book and is amazing what it can do for you!  I read this as an E book and loved the fact that the links were live to click on and you would be taken directly to the website!  This was also very helpful. 

I appreciated the honesty of Karen Linamen and the trials and tribulations of what she has been through. I  also appreciate the other stories from others that she wrote about they were quite inspiring and I also liked that she had a positive spin to things.  I thought the "Food For Thought" sections were a nice touch & I could see this being used by a group of women in a book club or a group of girlfriends for something to do together!

This book was sent to me by WaterBrook Press in exchange for an honest review, as a part of their Blogging for Books program.

All In One Day!

So I thought I'd start sharing some stories of the strange/crazy things that happen & that I see while selling houses!!!  Trust me - you can't make these stories up!!!!!

Yesterday I went to show a vacant house & while showing a house to a lady who brought her mother & her daughter with we went to the upstairs.  The house is a 1 1/4 story house with 2 dormers & because Ii am 5'10" and had heels on I had to stay in one spot where the window was so I could stand up without hitting my head!  While allowing the women to look around the Grandmother opens the attic door and starts looking around & goes "oh is that a couple of bats."!!!!!!!  I am about ready to run - but the lady goes into the attic to inspect the bats!!!  I was sure they were going to come flying out at us - but thank goodness they didn't!  We still aren't sure if they were bats that were dead - alive or just lots & lots of cobwebs!  Either way - I am not a fan of bats!

Then after getting in my car to leave I look out my window & see this:

Then I am driving to an appointment & go to pass a truck & trailer going 40 mph and look over into the trailer to see that it's FULL of geese!!!!!!!!!!!  I've never seen such a thing - it was crazy!!!!

All this in one fun filled day!!!!!!!

YUMMMM!!!!!!

I was on vacation last week and it was great to get away & relax!!!!!  I enjoyed a week with family just eating, sleeping, laying in the sun watching my niece & nephew play in the water and did a little bit of fishing!  I do mean a little as the fishing was not good at all - I think it's the heat!!!

I have to share a recipe that my aunt & uncle made while we were on vacation at what they called the R&M Restaurant!  They are awesome and a must try!!!!!!!!!!!!

Corn Dogs - by Sandra Lee

INGREDIENTS

1 Egg

1 (10oz) package of corn muffin mix

3/4 C Milk

2 packets spaghetti sauce spice seasoning mix

1/2 C all purpose flour

12 reduced fat beef hot dogs

Vegetable oil for frying

12 wooden skewers

DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl, combine egg, corn muffin mix, milk and 1 seasoning packet.  In a separate shallow dish, mix second seasoning packet and flour.  Insert wooden skewers halfway into hot dogs.

Heat oil to 360 degrees in a  deep fryer.  Dredge each beef frank in flour seasoning mix, dust off excess then dip into cornmeal batter.  Fry 2 to 3 corn dogs at a time for about 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towls.  Serve warm!!!!!!!!!!!

Enemies of The Heart

Enemies of The Heart By Charles Stanley
Click on the Link to be taken to amazon.com to purchase this book.=

 

I thought this was a good book that really had some great points!  This book is a reissue of the book It Came From Withing - which I didn't know until after reading this book and hadn't read so that book didn't have an impact on my thoughts/feelings on this book.

I enjoyed that this book had four emotions that can attack the heart.  Those four emotions are Guilt - what I owe you, then there is Anger: what You Owe Me, next is Greed: what I owe me and last is Jealousy: What God owes me.  These are the four emotions that cause disruptions in our lives and withing the lives of those around us.  I enjoyed that the author used examples from his own life and those he knows to show how these emotions play out in real life - I feel like it makes the book more relatable then.  This is a book that makes you look at your own heart and what you could work on in your own life. 

I did also like the option of the study guide in the back if you were to use this as a book for studying with others!  I also enjoyed that he tried to use humor to make a point - I don't know that it always worked - but I do think that it helps with some of the points. 

The author does have a section in the book for parents which at this time in my life as I don't have children wasn't of interest to me - but I could see it being helpful when I do have children.


I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Waterbrook Multnomah books blogging for books program.  I was not required to write a positie review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Last Dance

Slow
Dance 


This
is a poem
written by a teenager with cancer.

She wants to
see how many
people get her poem.

It is quite the poem
Please pass it 
on



This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a
New York Hospital.



It was sent
by

a medical doctor.




SLOW DANCE


Have you ever
watched
kids

On a merry-go-round?


Or listened to
the
rain


Slapping on the ground?


Ever followed a
butterfly's erratic flight?


Or gazed at the sun into the
fading
night?


You better slow down.


Don't
dance so
fast.


Time is short.


The music
won't
last.


Do you run through each day



On
the
fly?


When you ask How are you?


Do you hear
the
reply?


When the day is done


Do you lie
in your
bed


With the next hundred chores


Running through
your head?


You'd better
slow down


Don't dance so
fast.


Time is
short.


The music won't
last.


Ever told your
child,


We'll do it
tomorrow?


And in your
haste,


Not see
his

sorrow?


Ever lost
touch,


Let a good
friendship die



Cause you
never had time



To call
and say,'Hi'



You'd
better slow down.



Don't dance
so fast.



Time
is short.



The music won't
last.



When you run
so fast to get somewhere



You
miss half the fun of getting
there.



When you worry and hurry
through your
day,



It is like an unopened
gift....



Thrown
away.



Life is not a
race.


Do take it
slower



Hear the
music



Before the song is
over.

Great Brave Girl Song!!!

Suggestions?!

Hi Everyone,

 I am going to be going on vacation

 in about 2 weeks & am looking for some book suggestions!  I am open to a wide variety of books - any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!! 

Laugh as much as you breathe, and love as long as you live.

Beautiful

If you are looking for someone to be your everything, don't look around, look up!  God is the only One who can be everything.  By expecting perfection from flesh, you ask more out of someone else than what you can provide yourself.  To be married is to have a partner: someone who is not always there or always on target or always anything! On the other hand, should you ever get in trouble and you don't know who to look to for help, you can count on your partner!  It is to have someone to curl up against when the world seems cold and life uncertain.  It is having someone who is as concerned as you are when your children are ill.  It is having  hand that keeps checking your forehead when you aren't well.  To be married is to have someones shoulder to cry on as they lower your parent's body into the ground.  It is wrapping wrinkled knees in warm blankets and giggling with teeth!  To the person you marry you are saying, "When my time comes to leave this world and the chill of eternity blows away my birthdays and my future stands still in the night: it's your face I want to kiss goodbye.  Is is your hand I want to squeeze as I slip from time into eternity.  As the curtain closes on all I have attempted to do and be; i want to look into your eyes and see that I mattered.  Not what I looked like.  Now what I did or how much money I made. Not even how talented I was.  I want to look into the teary eyes of someone who loved me and see; I mattered!

Taken from Kive At Last Sight!

Motivational Speaker!!!

Taken From: The Final Summit

A Personal Declaration

 

Knowing that all who "arrive" have to begin where they are. I choose to begin now. At this moment. I will do something.

For too long, I have allowed fearful thoughts to dominate my life. Now I recognize fear as a misuses of the creative imagination that has been placed inside me. In the past, I have allowed fear to shove all hope aside. No more! Fear no longer has any power to stop me from doing what I know to be right and true, I am no longer afraid I am courageous. Right now, I will do something.

The person who faces no hardships gains no strength. Though I do not look for hardship;, I am grateful for its results, for I have sown mighty in soil mixed with troubles. My roots are now deep. My mind and hart have become powerful. A beautiful flower cannot be created without fertilizer. A dazzling gem cannot be polished without great friction. I have taken the fertilizer and the friction and am better because of it. Now it is time for me to do something.

I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I can do something right now. Never again will I allow what I cannot do to interfere with what I can do. Circumstances are rulers of the weak. I am not weak. Neither discouragement nor despair will stop me from doing something and doing it now. I am strong-minded. I can make myself do something I would rather not do, in order to get a result that I do want. I will do something. And I will do it now.

My life, which was once a question mark, is now a statement. Stormy seas do not scare e, for I am the calm in the storm. My past is behind me and my future bright because I now know the secret of the present. I will do something & I will do it now!

right now, I will do something for my family. Right now, I will do something for my friends. Right now, I will do something for those who do not even know my name. For my family, for my friends, and for the strangers of the world are valuable in my Creator's sight. I will let them know that I recognize that fact by my actions. I now know that my smile, my words, and my attitude are actions. They are all under my control. I am prepared to run my race. I am ready to hit the mark. I will now do my part in restoring humanity to the pathway toward successful civilization.

I will do something and I will do it now!

The Final Summit

The Final Summit By Andy Andrews

 

In this book David Ponder is brought to the final summit by the Archangel Gabriel.  The final summit being in Heaven.    David is chose because mankind needs help and he needs to figure out the solution.  He is chose along with other "travelers" that include Winston Churchill, Joan of Arc, & Anne Frank. 

I did struggle getting into this book and found out after reading it that Andy Andrews wrote The Travelers Gift - which if the first book in this set - so I think if I had read that I might have enjoyed the beginning of this book a bit more.  Once I got into the book I felt as excited as David & the Travelers were every time that they came up with an answer because it seemed they were right - you'd think "yes" that has to be the solution!!!!  I did get a bit bored with some of the history in the book as I just personally am not a big fan of history information like that.  I was getting a bit bored again towards the end but overall the end was worth the read!!!!  I am glad I read the book overall!