Sixteen things you need to know:

I just wrote this to our sophomore-year, college-student, daughter, who's spending a semester in Rome (yes, THAT Rome):

Sixteen things you need to know:

1. Woody came back from Dr. Terry's just as rambunctious as ever, but with a lampshade on his head. Party's at his house!

2. Allie came back from Dr. Terry's not speaking to me - not sure why, as Dad did all the transporting. Time for tuna?

3. Sadie likes me again, but she likes Allie's food better.

4. It's been raining all afternoon, and we're under a tornado watch. Where's Toto?

5. It rained last night a little, but I couldn't hear it in my room. Sad!

6. I made blackberry ice cream; I just THOUGHT that the mint chocolate chip was the best ever.

7. Timothy started looking for the rest of the strawberry ice cream the day you left - 12 hours after you finished it off. Nice timing!

8. Brittney's not been sleeping at night - it was probably her thyroid meds, which were just reduced today.

9. Brittney tricked Richard into eating mushrooms the other day, while avoiding them herself.

10. I tricked both of them into eating nuts in the chicken-breast-stuffing I made last night - they still don't know! And I'm not telling them!

11. Dad & I love you, OH! So much! (shades of Madeline Kahn)

12. I've got 4 1/2 months of work left.... unless I skip out for VBS a little early.

13. Daniel loves you, too.

14. Don't forget that crying works, when you need to get your way - especially if there's a police officer involved.

15. Don't forget to say "Hi" to the Pope for me.

16. You've been waiting for this trip ALL YOUR LIFE! Savor it!

I'm on CNN!!!

Really.  No lie.  I submitted a story to CNN about the "best car I've ever had," and they chose to put mine in a special report (it was my 2001 Yukon XL, which I flipped in 2008).  I'm #7 of 9 if you go here, and I'm in excellent company - two Mustangs, a Porsche, and a Pantera, among others!  So go check it out.  Thank you for your cooperation, and for allowing me to toot my own horn.

One Sentence Saturdays

 I am more happy in my marriage than I ever dreamed possible, even when "once upon a time"ing as a kid!

Ready, set, go!  (don't forget to link back to Robin) {you can also leave a comment here & share some love with me!}Thanks to Robin at Pensieve, for this neat idea! 

Dayspring Cards!

(updated:  I've had one taker of my card offer.  Wouldn't more of you love getting a card in the mail?)

Lately, it seems that I only write when I've gotten a major award from Dayspring. Well, in some ways that's true, mainly because I've been letting "life" happen while I savor it, rather than blog about it. So shoot me (not really). Yes, I've missed the opportunity to blog about BOTH weddings we've had in the past year, Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND New Year's Eve/Day. But here I've got some beauty to share with you - Dayspring gifted me with some gorgeous cards, JUST because I was among the first 200 to respond. How could I say no? I couldn't, is all.

These cards came with an organizer, in hopes that I will ORGANIZE my cards, and with it, my life. We'll see about the life part, but the cards & organizer rock! I got a set of birthday cards, and a set of all-occasion inspirational cards. I'd love to link them to you, but I couldn't find the same cards on their website, alas!

Here's the deal: I love to send cards. I just need people to send them to. These are uber-cute ones; not too sappy, and "encouraging." The cool thing is, I head up a ministry at my church that gives encouragement baskets to bereaved members at Christmastime. I LOVE to encourage people! The Bible verse we use is the same one Dayspring used on these cards: "encourage one another and build each other up." (1Thessalonians 5:11) LOVE this! SO, I'll make a deal with you: give me your address, and I'll send you a card - on your birthday, or just because! If you like getting cards as much as I like sending them, we'll all be happy!

You can leave me a comment here; email me; or message me on Facebook - I'm Elaine R. Pool there. OR, if you know of someone who could use a lift, let me know, & I'll send them a card. Let's have fun and share God's love with others!!!

(Oops!  I almost forgot to add the FTC "Lawyers' Chorus)
Dayspring provided me with the cards and organizer free of charge, in exchange for giving an opinion myveryownself.  No money changed hands; these are my opinions, solicited, but uninfluenced!

(in)courage and DaySpring strike again!

Update:  OK, so, it's Tuesday, after 6:00, and we have a winner!  The same winner for both prizes.  Because, see, she is the ONLY commenter that I had for this giveaway.  Not rocket science, say I.  SO, "Michelle" is our winner of the $20 Dayspring code, AND the winner of the Holley Gerth book.  I'm emailing her as we speak, & will get the prizes to her forthwith.  YAY!!!

Hi, everyone, it's me, back from the wars!  No, not really, it just seems like it, what with school starting, one wedding down, and another in a couple of weeks!  But we interrupt this so-called life for a much-needed, and well-received, review of another DaySpring product.  See, here's how it works:  as a faithful follower of (in)courage, occasionally I get "gifted" with a product, with the stipulation that I write a review of it.  It's a win-win for everyone, right?  Well, several days ago, Mr. FedEx pulled up to the house, eluded the slobber of our "guard dog" and delivered THIS to me!

Now, this is not my table.  MY breakfast has two laptops on it.  And no apples.  But, in the middle, keeping the laptops warm, is this gorgeous runner.  And it makes the table look SO homey!  Here's another picture to make you want it:


The ends of the runner say this:

And it's completely reversible!  The back is all one fabric, striped horizontally, like the narrow border on the front side.

Here are some details: it's 72"L x 14"W; it's 100% cotton; and you want to hand wash it. Oh, and it's all in shades of wheat, dark wheat, dark cream - Fall colors, you know!  It's on sale right now for $17.49, plus postage & handling, of course. 


So why do I love this so much?  If you knew me at all, you'd know that Fall is my all-time, most favorite season of the year.  Living in northwest Louisiana, we do get seasons, but our summers are brutal, as you might imagine.  Come late September, the humidity drops, the evening sounds change (crickets, rather than cicadas), and the sky deepens to a cerulean blue that makes me stop and say "ahhhh."


So I start decorating for Fall on Labor Day weekend.  Leaves, Fall colors, fruits, you name it.  This table runner sums up everything that is good about Fall:  giving thanks.  Thankfulness for the cooler weather, for the colors of the trees, for the energy that we all get.  Then there's the lead-in for Turkey Day!!!  We're all about giving thanks here.  The runner is an excellent reminder.


Here's the fun part:  A GIVEAWAY!!!!  I will be giving away 2 different prizes this time.  The first one is a $20 coupon code to DaySpring. which you can use on whatever your little heart desires.  YOU must pay postage/shipping/delivery charges (sorry).  The second prize is a book!  Due to unforseen circumstances, and a "situation" with the USPS, I am in possession of a extra copy of Holley Gerth's latest book/devotional, God's Heart for You.  Let me tell you, peeps, this book is a WINNER.  I'm going through it right now, and after the first day, I ordered & sent copies to both of my daughters.  It's that good.  So, I am going to give away my extra copy to one lucky reader.  I'll ship it to you - no charge. 


Here's how to win:  leave me a comment, telling me which gift you'd like.  That's one entry.  If you are currently following me, leave me another comment saying so, or if you begin NOW to follow me, leave me that comment.  But play nice:  don't follow, then drop me - it'll hurt my little feelings, and is just plain rude.  Should you choose to tweet this review, leave me another comment.  Or you can post the link on Facebook, and leave me that comment.  Let's count, shall we?  That's up to 4 entries - not bad odds.  I'll random.org a couple of comments, and notify you ASAP.  You  must then respond within 48 hours, or I'll have to hurt your feelings by drawing another name.  We don't want to do that.  Make sure you leave me your email in your comments, so I can find you!

As today is Tuesday, I'll run the giveaway contest through next Tuesday, Nov. 15.  The cutoff time will be 6:00 p.m., Central Standard Time.  No entries after that, please!  I'll draw the names & notify by email right after that.
That's it - easy, right?  So, check out what DaySpring has got going this month, leave some comments, and you just may win!


(Government/Lawyer's Chorus:  DaySpring provided me with this wonderful table runner for free!  I get to write a review, using opinions that I come up with, myveryownself.  So, no money exchanged hands, and my opinions are just that - mine)

Never Forget

Ten years ago today, I was driving to work, having dropped off several of my kids at school.  All of you have the same kind of story.... something on the news about a plane crashing into a building.  By the time I walked into my office building, which is literally across the river from Barksdale Air Force Base, someone had located a small TV, and we watched as the second plane hit.  The news kept getting worse and worse, until I finally heard the "talking heads" postulate that the Pennsylvania plane was "aiming" at the Capitol in D.C.  That's when I started panicking, and wanted to grab my kids from school, run home, and hide from the world.  I didn't, of course.  That would be silly - but human!  We all calmed down, dealt with the feelings of loss and anger, and watched as President Bush dealt with the situation. 

BTW, I stood in my office parking lot, and watched Bush's Air Force One 747 take off from Barksdale, after he spoke to the nation from the base.  I have friends who lost dear friends in the Pentagon crash.  My sister was on a plane that was grounded when the attacks started.  It took her two days to get home to Virginia, from Chicago, I think.  I didn't lose a loved one, but it still hurts me.  A lot.

Here's what we need to do for the next 10 or 100 years:  wear your good clothes/shoes. Wear that perfume you were saving for special occasions.   Eat dessert first sometimes.  Make and eat cookies a lot more often (we have "Cookie Day" every Sunday afternoon).  Show love to your family as often as possible.  Pray to God.  And, NEVER FORGET!!!!

 

And then there's the rest of the story....

Did I forget to mention yesterday the FUN adventures we had all summer? Probably not, so let me catch you up....

The fun and games began one day, when the house seemed hotter that it usually does. Granted, we have very high ceilings, so it's never 70 degrees in the house. But even factoring that in the equation, it was warm. Going outside & checking the A/C units revealed that: of the three outside units that we have, only one of them was running. One's permanently out of commission right now, but the 3rd one should have been running. So we call our friendly neighborhood home warranty people to get some help.

Long story short: the condenser/compressor (don't ask me) was shot. It took a week for them to arrive at that conclusion, get an new one, and install it. One week. One hundred degree days. Hotter than hell INside! But, eventually, the new unit was installed on a Friday morning, the angels wept, the mama did the happy dance, and all was well.

Three hours later: I walk into the house, expecting much coolness, and the A/C had stopped running. I go upstairs to the air handler, put the fan belt back on (are you impressed yet?), and turned it back on. Belt goes flying through the air (NOT literally) and the A/C stops again. I know when I'm licked. I call mi esposo, who comes home and runs level three diagnostics on the air handler (yes, I'm a Trekkie).

NEXT long story short: a major component part, which makes all the air move throughout the house, has broken - almost in half. So, my wonderful, handy, BRILLIANT husband takes the entire handler apart, removes the broken part, and takes it to a sheet metal shop for repair and rebuilding. Five days later (the weekend intervened), he brings it back home, better than new, re-installs it, puts the entire air handler back together, and turns it on.

I can not emphasize to you just how GLORIOUS the feeling was to have cool air running through the vents once again. Our dogs plopped themselves back down on the floor registers and SMILED at me.

So, to recap, one week for the outside stuff to get repaired, then another full week for the inside stuff to get rebuilt. Hot. Miserable. Stifling. It was so bad that our youngest, HRH, took herself to her brother's house to sleep at night. I don't blame her. But I felt a certain responsibility to our pets (and husband) and stayed the course.

Why, you might ask, didn't the inside parts fail, and get repaired, at the same time as the outside ones? We have no clue. God obviously meant for it to happen this way, and so it did.

Let me just mention in passing that during this time, we had scheduled our trip to Mexico, sans kids, and were leaving in about 2 weeks. The stress level was quite high, and getting higher every moment.

Next up, our fun and games with the water! Stay tuned!