Living History...

This would make the commute more enjoyable....

Scruffy's Big Day

It's been a year since Scruffy had a haircut. It finally got to the point where I couldn't brush out his legs and tail, so he had to go in. The local place starts at $55 and charges more if they wiggle. Whatever. So I took him into Bellingham. It took an hour to get there because of a wreck and road construction. When I went to take him out of the car, I found a huge pile of vomit right by the door of his crate. The car ride was just too much. Naturally, I forgot to take off his leash which was buried in the vomit. Naturally, he didn't want to walk in the vomit to come out of the crate. Sigh.

So while I got to clean up the vomit, Scruffy was treated to a bath and a hair cut. I then went shopping to take up the rest of the time while waiting for Scruffy. I think I was in the third store before I noticed the vomit on my coat. It showed up quite nicely on my black jacket. Sigh.

Eventually I decided to go to Petsmart to see how Scruffy was doing. The little rat was up on the table standing as nicely as you please. And he let her brush and groom his legs like he thought it was fun! If I touch his legs he goes all submissive. If I tough his tail, he gets snippy. I need one of those grooming tables.

So here are the befores and afters.

I like the chorus of this song today...

Iowa Bed Shaker Pictures

Why Lie?

So you have to wonder, why do so many people tell lies when the truth works just as well? When we lived in London, we had a teenage girl under our supervision that lied like a dog. Even when the truth would work better for her, she would lie. Fortunately for us, I soon figured out an ironclad means of knowing if she was telling the truth or uttering a lie. It was so simple. She would twirl her hair with her fingers each time she lied. It drove her nuts that I could tell when she was lying but wouldn't tell her how I knew! LOL

I expect a teenager to tell lies. What really troubles me is when people in authority tell lies. I just don't get it. Why not let your "Yes" mean yes and your "No" mean no? I find lying especially horrendous when done within the church. It obviously is not a Godly thing to do. One day we will all stand before God. God will say one of two things: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done." Or, "Why did you persecute me?"

Snow, Snow, Go AWAY!!!!

We had more snow last night and this morning. I am officially sick of winter. Ok, the white stuff is very pretty when it first falls. Beautiful, even. But really, enough is enough! We have had twice the normal amount of snowfall. We have had more snow than Denver. Spring starts on Friday. When will it end????

All I have to say is thank goodness for global warming. Can you imagine how much more snow and frigid temperatures we would have had if it weren't for global warming? Why, we might have been worse than Alaska instead of Denver!

Where to???

This week Mike got a call from the D.S. He was told to call another D.S. if he wanted a new appointment. The D.S. is from the other side of the mountains. I told Mike weeks ago if he stayed, they'd send him to a three point charge in Northern Idaho. He thought it would be a one point charge in Eastern Washington. Guess who won? It is a three point charge in Idaho. The largest church has 30 people. The second church is 20 minutes to the south, and the third is an hour and a half north.

The area is beautiful. BUT the nearest, Starbucks, Costco, Target, Walmart, K-Mart, Michael's etc. is like a couple hours away. If it comes to it, I can do it! I can do it! LOL

Life

I looked at the local paper today. A mother driving here two young daughters slid on an icy bridge and spun into the path of a pickup pulling a load. The truck hit the passenger door of the mother's van. One of her little girls was killed. The other girl and mother were not hurt at all. It makes you wonder why. Why was the girl taken while everyone else walked away?

The Inauguration

I'm being a good citizen and watching the inauguration. There are a lot of people are there.

It strikes me how supportive conservatives are of Obama. They are full of well wishes and truly seem to want him to succeed overall as president. As Glenn Beck aptly put it, we all need to support him when we can, but oppose him when we must. The Bushes wish him well, as do countless others. I have yet to hear one person voice a negative thought. How different than during the last two inaugurations. I think a lot of it has to do with the grace Bush and McCain have shown after Obama won. Neither Gore or Kerry lost their elections with grace or dignity, nor would their followers and fellow democrats support the Bush administration. Let’s hope the “O” keys are left on the keyboards. :^)

And just to be really catty, I hate Michele Obama’s dress and I think her embellished diamante necklace is gaudy.

AAARRRGGG!!!

So, here we are approaching the end of January. Do you know what that means? No, not Joshua's 15th birthday. It means tax time is fast approaching. It means that we should all have those lovely W-2s in our hands by January 31.

If you know me at all, you know how much I HATE doing taxes. So as I was surfing the Internet today in search of that ever elusive tax program that is made specifically for the oddities of ministerial taxes, I ran across a little jewel. On the church's national website there is a document stating how churches should fill out the W-2s. If they would actually share this document with the churches, it would be extremely easy for me to do our taxes. I would not have to shell out big bucks to pay someone else to do our taxes.

The lady who prepares the taxes here gave me a copy of the document sent to her (and presumably all her counterparts in the conference). Not only does it omit the way to make it easy for me to do the taxes, it also discourages them from doing it the way the IRS recommends which is an alternative easy way. AAARRRGGG