http://www.yetanotherdot.com/asp/80s.html

This is an 80s lyrics quiz, which I did very well on.  Then I took the 90s lyrics quiz and did horrible.  Guess I don't know any of the Britney lyrics--that is ok with me!

Have fun.

New Year's Resolutions--I love 'em.  I love lists in general; I look forward to reading the "Best Of" lists at the end of the year by movie and music critics.

So, I'm listing mine.  I expect all of you to keep me accountable!

In no particular order...

1.  See more movies.

2.  Run more.  Last year, I resolved to run a mile in 6 minutes.  I think I'm too old to accomplish that--maybe a mile in 8 1/2 minutes?? 

3.  Spend more time with kids.  This includes being more diligent about my preparation for the Sunday School class I help teach and helping out my friends who are blessed with children.  Anyone need a babysitter?

4.  Give more money to charitable causes.  I'm thinking maybe to a reputable organization for AIDS relief in Africa?  Or the Innocence Mission (I just read The Innocent Man by John Grisham) Any ideas?

5.  Pray more.

6.  Pay off more debt than last year.

7.  Read more books. 

 Place an X by all the things you've done, or remove
> the X from the ones
> you have not, and send it to all of your friends
> (including me).

>
> Gone on a blind date- X
> Skipped school - X
> Seen someone die -
> Been to Florida - x
> Been to Mexico - X
> Been on a plane -X
> Been on a helicopter-
> Been lost on the opposite side of the country-X
>
> Been to Hawaii -
> Swam in the ocean - X
> Felt like dying -x
> Cried yourself to sleep x
> Played cops and robbers when you were little-
> Recently colored with crayons- X
> Sang karaoke-
> Paid for a meal with only coins -
> Did something you told yourself you wouldn't - X-
> Made prank phone calls - X
> Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your
> nose- X
> Caught a snowflake on your tongue - X
> Danced in the rain -X
> Written a letter to Santa Claus -
> Been kissed under the mistletoe
> Watched the sun rise with someone you care about -
> Blown bubbles - X
> Made a bonfire on the beach –
> Crashed a party -
> Gone roller-skating - X
> Gone Ice-skating - X
> Gone skinny dipping -

> 1. Nickname? - Lana or Lanabob

> 2. Nickname 2 - LB
> 3. What is your favorite soft drink? Diet Coke

> 4. Any Tattoos? Not yet
> 5. Piercing? yes
> 6. How much do you love your job? I love it some but I'd still rather be home sometimes
> 7. Birth Place-Fort Worth, TX
> 8. Favorite vacation spot?  on a cruise ship

> 9. Ever been to Africa? No
> 10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes.  Candy? Yes.
> 11. Ever been on T. V.? I don't think so
> 12. Ever steal any traffic signs? No
> 13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, several
> 14. Was it your fault? Yes, several!
> 15. 2 Doors or 4 Doors? 2 Doors
> 16. Salad dressing? Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Ginger Sesame

> 17. Favorite pie? Mocha Pecan Pie
> 18. Favorite number? 7 or 2

> 19. Favorite movie or movies? The Departed, When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail
> 20. Favorite holiday? Christmas
> 21. Favorite dessert? Chocolate Cake

> 22. Favorite food? Italian

> 23. Favorite day of the week? Sunday

> 24. Favorite brand of Body soap? Aveda Mint
> 25. Favorite TV show? Heroes, Lost, Pushing Daisies, The Office
> 27. Favorite smell? Coffee
> 28. What do you do to relax? Read

> 29. Do you have a message to your friends reading this? You guys are all great!  Well, most of you...
> 30. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Teaching pre-schoolers or taking care of 5 kids while doing my husband's laundry

> 31. What do you do when you are bored?  Answer e-mail surveys, update Twitter

"Like a coming of age I am learning how to say/all the failures I'm dragging behind/finding freedom to speak, freedom to release/tonight I want to make peace with you..."  from "Share in the Blame" by Sandra McCracken

I've been struggling with forgiveness this week.  I need it.  I messed up.  I asked forgiveness for it.  I got no response. 

It left me feeling sad and wanting that forgiveness more intensely as time went by.  I don't know the other person's perspective, but I sure can't read minds.  I can't force anyone to do anything.   All this got me thinking about forgiveness and about how much God has forgiven me.

How wonderful He is to not hold out His forgiveness from me.  He takes me back always.  And my offense towards Him is so much graver than anything I have done to any person.  I only hope that the next time (and there will be many) that I fail, I will seek out His forgiveness this urgently.  It makes it that much sweeter to come back.

These thoughts and realizations seem to make the situation with the person who isn't forgiving ok to me.  A sweet friend of mine remarked that this truth should also make it easier for me to forgive myself --which maybe is what I've been struggling with, too.

I hope I never get over or forget the magnitude of God and that forgiveness.

I am having a bit of a "blue" day.  Everyone has them.  I know.  I will even admit, that I, more than most, tend to have more "blue" days.

Even today.  Even on a day off work.  Even on a sunny day.

That's why I am most thankful today that I have friends I can always call on and talk to.  Like my community group leader today.  Like my best friend on Friday.  I can never thank you enough. 

I hope I can be there for you as much as you have been for me in the past.

So, now I'm going to get a Frappachino.  I may even get whipped cream on top. Because I deserve it.  And then I'll hope when I wake up tomorrow it will be less "blue."

My friends Misty and Stephen did this on their blog, so I decided I wanted to play.

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users.   I have bolded what I've read.  Does this mean I read a lot or have too much time on my hands?  Probably both!

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New world
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

I have two new friends.  They are short because they are 3.  As in, 3 years old. 

I have recently started teaching in the 3 year-old Sunday School class at my church.  This week was my second week; it is fascinating and fun.  We get to play with play dough and jump around and sing songs.

My two new friends are Alli and Cooper.  Alli likes it that both our names start with and "A" and "L" and she wears bows in her hair.  When I told her I would like to wear a bow in my hair next week, she said only the kids get to wear bows, not the teachers.  I told her my dog had a red bow in her hair and that threw her for a loop! 

Cooper likes playdough and music time.  He felt that I should sit on the floor with him during music time and then he sat in my lap during the "My God is So BIG" song.  He speaks softly and has blond hair and blue eyes.

All the kids, like these two, are so entertaining.  I have come to believe that kids are the closest to angels that we get here on earth (unless you think angels really are on earth and that's another blog).  They are so innocent and pure.  Their smiles are so open.

I know I'm gonna learn a lot from them.  Maybe I could even handle a 3 year-old of my own someday.

Top Five Reasons to be Glad Today (In No Particular Order)

5.  It's almost time to go home for the weekend.

4.  I get a home-cooked meal tonight to enjoy with 3 of my favorite people.

3.  On Sunday, I will meet some new people I will spend time with all year.  They are all 3 years old.

2.   I love correspondence from friends who think I'm great, even if those friends live far away.

 1.  Tomorrow, I get to cook for a good friend--I love cooking for people!

"I urge all beginning bloggers to wait a half hour after they've finished writing something to then decide whether or not they really want to hit that 'post' button."    Dean Barnett, quoted on "Between Two Worlds"  (theologica.blogspot.com/)

Hmm...

Something was said to me recently that got me thinking.

A friend of mine was talking about me meeting someone else and the friend said, "You're gonna have to relax b/c this person is really laid back" or something like that.  That's a paraphrase. 

My first thought was, "That's good, laid back is good."  But later on, I thought, "Why is this friend asking me to change?  They don't like me the way I am?" or "I am so irritating that this very laid back person would not like me."

Now, I'm the first to admit I worry too much and I've tried to work on that.  But it's very unsettling for someone else to point out a quality that they don't like and that they don't think other people do either.

I don't think I should have to apologize for the way I am.  If there's one think I learned from my most recent relationship, it's that you shouldn't have to change who you are for someone to like you.  Your friends should give you confidence and love you for who you are.

And if you are my friend reading this, I promise to try to relax, but I'll always be me!  And I want you to be you, that's why I love you!