Now That's More Like It

You Are 16% California

You are a bogus Californian. Go back to the East Coast.

How California Are You?

But East Coast?  How about Minnesota? or Montana?

Another Dumb Quiz

I was sitting here last night just poking around on my computer, too lazy to go to bed, and I did this quiz, Where Does Your Inner Californian Belong? (whatever that means). I was curious, because I am from California originally -- Orange County, to be exact. I grew up there, moved away from there, and was saved from there when I met the Lord Jesus Christ!  Believe me, it is a good place to be FROM.  Every time I go home to my parents' house (my childhood home), I am aghast, dismayed, disgusted at how image-oriented and totally VAIN the whole area is. I often pray that God will make my kids forget the things they see and hear there, that would draw their hearts away from him. OC is maybe the biggest Vanity Fair on the face of the earth, second to Beverly Hills which, for image's sake, has no funeral homes, landfills, or other "negatives".  Well, now that I think about it, maybe it is third.  I just saw an article about NYC, where the Golden People are spending, on average, $30 for a quart of bottled WATER, one with just the right designer label. One hot-selling brand is $55/qt!!!

So how did my quiz turn out?  Where does my "inner Californian" belong?

Orange County

You're rich, pretty, and living a charmed life. (Or you seriously wish you were.) From Disneyland to Laguna Beach, you're all about living the California dream life. Just make sure to marry rich - so you don't have to work for it!

Where Does Your Inner Californian Belong?

  No. First of all, I am not rich, unless I have some treasures stored up in heaven.  I am not pretty, as pretty goes.  And I do live a blessed life, but not a charmed one. Disneyland? Not anymore.  I can't support that industry with a clean conscience. And no, I am not all about living the California dream life.  I have eternal life to look forward to! So does this mean that in my inner person, I am really wishing I was back there again?  No, I can truthfully say it does not.  It is one of the last places on earth I would want to live.  Who writes these dumb quizzes, anyway?  (And why do I waste my time on them??  My fault, lol!) I have to admit, though, I do love the ocean.  But God made that...

(I know some of you readers live in So Cal, and even OC.  Just ignore my ranting, if you will.)

Another Great Morning at the Lake

(Notice Dad in his "Lifeguard Dad on Duty" shirt, from Familyman Ministries.)

Grocery Bills Again

Thank you, Jane and JoAnn, for helping me out with my grocery question (see post below).  I guess I feel a teeny bit better, not about the amount of money the belly god is getting from us, but that I am doing better than two of my friends.   I would still like to hear from others of you.  Does anyone out there spend less than $100 per person, per month on groceries?  If so, I would like to know how you do it (besides growing your own produce, because we can't do that here).

Okay, Help Me Out Here

I went to Stuffmart yesterday for my groceries, probably for the first time in a couple of weeks.  Whoa, have prices ever gone up!  They were going up all along, I know, but all of a sudden it had a big impact on my grocery budget. I understand prices go up, but why does the ethanol thing mean milk goes up 40%??  Yes, I know, cows eat corn.  But 40%??

Lately I have really trying to be a more prudent wife, watching the grocery bill closely.  Last month we spent $720 for FOOD!!!  That has got to be a sin.  I can't stand it that the "belly god" gets that much ("whose god is their belly")! That is $120 per person. Is that a lot?  I think it is a lot. We spent an additional $50 going out to eat, which I think is above our monthly average -- we don't eat out very often.

So here is what I want to do.  I want to hear from other bloggers who are in similar circumstances, and I want to know what you spend for groceries, on average, per person.  We live west of the Rockies, where things are more expensive anyway.  We don't have Aldi. I usually buy the Stuffmart brand, if there is a choice.  I go to Smiths (Kroger) and Safeway for their loss-leaders (if it is stuff I would have bought anyway), and especially for produce (Stuffmart's is horrid) and meat (again, horrid at Stuffmart; usually the bottom side of the package is lined with an extra pound of fat, not meat).  I don't often use coupons, because the generic is usually cheaper than the brand-name sale price, even with a coupon.  My grocery bill INCLUDES all household cleaning supplies, paper goods, shampoo, etc., and also included diapers, when we used them. We do not drink pop/soda, smoke cigs, or feed a Starbucks addiction.

This all wouldn't bother me quite as much if I didn't know that Crystal Paine, the queen of good deals, spends about $35 a week for groceries! (She now has two(?) in diapers, and her budget has probably gone up a few dollars.) By the way, if you do have Aldi, and you can do the deals at CVS/Walgreens, and you collect coupons, Crystal's book, Secrets to Supermarket Savings, is awesome. (The problem here is that I am not an awesome shopper!)

So, out with it.  Tell me what you are spending.  Am I going to feel better or worse??  I am ready to starve the belly god to death. He costs too much.

Yes, I Am Alive -- Both Now And Forevermore

No, I have not died from heat stroke, nor from house fire, though both of those were certainly a possibility this week! And no, this is not my house -- see all the green stuff growing around it?  Couldn't possibly be my house.  The photo is just for effect.  We live in a double-wide, also known as a tinder box or a tornado magnet. I almost lit the ceiling on fire last night, due to one of those honey-do jobs that was put off, delayed, post-poned, procrastinated, etc for a whole year. It was a wonderful exercise for my meek and quiet spirit, and I passed the test, partly due to the fact that we had company.  I wish I could say that I know I would NOT have had words with my husband, had it not been for our visitor. I know, I am supposed to be a good example to my children and all of you ladies, but, well, it scared me.  So I do admit, the words were there, I just swallowed hard and digested them, but that makes for victory, right? The ballast on our over head kitchen light has been going out for a long while.  Last night it went up in a great smoke, soon to be flames, but for the quick thinking of my husband and our guest. For a year I have been concerned that we would inadvertently leave the house with that light on, and we would come home to a disaster.  The Lord was good to have us home when it happened!!!

Anyway, I haven't been around, as you know, because we had our missions conference and a trip to California, both of which were a great time.  Now I am trying to catch up, order school stuff, put the house back together, love my children who were neglected for a week or so, and etcetera. Life just does not wait for us slow pokes!  In our near future are a ladies' meeting, a big work day at church, and a trip to Kansas, PLUS, if we don't start school soon we are going to be WAAAAYYYY behind for the year.  Do you ever just want to go back to bed and wait for everything to blow by?

"Short" wrote a great post right here the other day...  I was thinking lately how ironic is it that truly saved people will doubt their salvation when they have been away from church for a time, but lost people who are deluded about God's work in their life (and THINK they are saved because they said a prayer, or had an experience) will feel perfectly comfortable with their eternity if they NEVER (or rarely) go to church, ie, "I can worship God just as well in my fishing boat as you can at church." Salvation consists of "REPENTANCE toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" Acts 20:21. That means there is a change.  No one is saved who says they trusted Christ, and then goes on living the same way.  I just heard someone say that repentance is not repentance for sin, but for unbelief.  Apparently this is the teaching of a huge mega-church in the Chicago area. WRONG. Revelation 9:20, 21 says, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."  Sounds to me like someone was supposed to repent of their sins!  No wonder a church can get 70,000 professions of faith in a year.  They are false professions.  How tragic.  No wonder we are a "Christian" nation and we can't figure out who the Christians are.   No wonder Islam sees "Christian" America as the great Satan. If your pastor is not preaching against sins, find a different church.

Missions Conference

This is the week of our annual (?) missions conference, with the hottest preaching in the country!  We are a small church, so we don't have a big crowd, but we sure are enjoying the two missionary couples who are with us.  One of them is from the Czech Republic and have been there over 10 years.  The other is a couple who are going to the Philippines this fall.  They have been such great sports about our hot weather here (of course, if you are looking for financial support, you have to be on your best behavior -- no complaining! ) See below, evidence of the heat, and people with smiles on their faces.  The hot dude on the right is my DH. (All AZ men are hot in the summertime, but you're the hottest, Honey.)

Below are two of our church musicians getting ready for the service last night.  Amy, with the flute, just started playing in church last Sunday, and she picked up the flute just a few weeks ago.  That kid is amazing.  I think she could play anything she puts her hands on.

Hmm. Looks like I need to crop that one.  Later.  I am off to the kitchen, where I have been spending an unusual amount of time this week, in preparation (this time) for our annual church picnic in the mountains.  It is likely to be at least 20 degrees cooler there, I hope!  One year we had a big fire up there, another year there was a rattlesnake camped out by the ladies' room, and another year it poured and hailed and the road washed out completely... wonder what excitement we are going to have this year?! I am soooo looking forward to breathing in cool piney air, and relaxing with our family in the Lord.

Kid for Sale -- 50 Cents

No, not really.  She's too cute to give up.  But honestly, I am SO. WEARY. of toilet training! Just when you think you have it licked, they go and show you who's in control (or not in control, depending how you look at it).  We were doing so well.  No "accidents" (quotes, because sometimes I think it was NOT an accident) in many months.  Then we go to my moms and this child has THREE of them in less than 24 hours!  Two #1's, in which she just stood there, like she had no idea she was spilling warm liquid down her legs, and a #2, which, I thank the Lord, I was not present to witness.  Don't anybody tell me "this too shall pass". I don't believe it will. I fear that somday we are going to have to confess to a suitor that she has a control problem.  Not the usual kind you hear about with married couples. Sigh....