From My Dad —-
New Quote to Ponder
“…nothing compares with Texas at sunset.”
I agree, President Bush …. I agree.
And it will be the simple beauty of Texas sunsets, twinkling stars in the big Texas sky, and a soft, gentle spring breeze against my face that remind me God is the real administration in charge and that no matter what happens in the “halls of power,” He cares for His own.
Thankful
Earlier today I spoke with our accountant regarding our 2007 income tax return. We’d filed an extension (with the filing date being October 15), but after the storm, the IRS gave a blanket extension to our area until January 5, 2009. She told me that we were going to owe $1,694. Plus the $495 we pay her to do the return. (I know that sounds like a lot, but I am NOT a numbers person and the few times that I have tried to do our return, I’ve practically gotten an ulcer over worrying about screwing it up.)
Then she asked me about the interest on my business line of credit. Seems I can deduct some of that. So when I got home, I went through the statements and discovered quite a bit on them that would qualify for this deduction. I ALSO discovered some expenses that I’d overlooked … inventory payments of substantial size that were not included in the little spreadsheet that I sent her a few weeks ago. I emailed her all the information and after a couple of phone calls to clarify a couple of things, not only do we not owe anything, but we are getting a
REFUND!
Yes! It’s already spent, of course …. I’ll be applying it to some of our debt, but it’s a little over $1,400. Isn’t that exciting?
And the stimulus check that a lot of people got once they filed their tax return? Well, we would have had to have filed our tax return by October 15 to get a check, but since that didn’t happen, it will be applied to any tax we owe in 2008. So I’ll be anxious to see how that affects everything once we get our 2008 return done here in the next few weeks.
Have a great evening, y’all!
Yet another reason that Texas should secede ….
Here We Go Again ….
This past summer, our theater group held a play writing competition in honor of Mr. Mike Parrinello. Mr. Parrinello was an amazing man, a real renaissance man with a seemingly limitless supply of information on a seemingly endless variety of topics. He was dear to our group, helping us with costume and set design … sewing many of the Civil War era costumes used in our first season production of “Little Women,” as well as costumes used in our second season production of “Anne of Green Gables.” He would be tickled with the outcome of our contest. Lindsey Backen won with her delightful little story about a group of “little old people” who escape from the nursing home they live in. Called “The Great Escape,” rehearsals begin on Monday, January 12 with performance dates set for February 20, 21, and 22.
I didn’t intend to audition, but the first night there was a very small turnout and so AJ and I both read. The second night, there was a much better turnout, but we read again at the request of the director and assistant director, and …..
WE WERE CAST AS:
GLADYS
(A ditzy but lovable nurse who’s sole care in life is taking care of her “Little Old People” and making pudding.)
and
MITCH
( The UPS man who is sweet on Gladys.)
What is it about the theatre that just gets into your bones???? I had a small part in last summer’s show and was a nervous wreck, but after auditioning for The Great Escape, I couldn’t help finding myself wishing I’d get a part. Isn’t that just so funny? And AJ always says, “I just don’t have time ….” but then he always ends up either being in the show, building sets, or both and has a blast doing it. I’m so glad that we’ve found this nifty little hobby that we enjoy as a family. Even though Jami will not have a role in this production, she likes helping out with the backstage stuff and hanging out at the theatre during rehearsals — so it’s all good.
I’ll be posting on how things go over the next few weeks. It will be interesting since we are doing this in roughly five weeks, as opposed to two months in the summer. But it’s a short play, only about 45 minutes, so I think it will be just fine, even though production time is somewhat compressed.
Have a wonderful evening and I’ll be back! (I just realized this is my first post for 2009 — it’s been pretty crazy, busy here, so please forgive the stretches between entries!)
Getting Ready to Welcome 2009 ….
We’re having a small group of friends over for a very casual, very laid back new year’s celebration. I’ve got laundry going, I’m about to bake spice cookies …. at 2:00 p.m. I put the Sweet and Sour Meatballs in the crockpot, at 4:30 I put the Slim Dunk Dip (sour cream, spinach, dried leek soup, red bell pepper) in the other crockpot … set up the extra tables for games. I’m expecting 13 people, including ourselves. Everything is in pretty good shape – I just need to run the vacuum and spotcheck for things that need to be put away.
We weren’t home enough during Christmas for things to get messy, just a little dusty, so that’s good!
I’m thinking we’ll play Balderdash (a word game), maybe Pictionary, possibly dominoes. We’ll see!
Pictures to follow, for sure!
Happy New Year’s and be safe, everyone!
Love,
Laura
My husband loves me so much …
you know, sometimes I think “oh, it would be so nice if he were a little more romantic,” or I didn’t have to hit him with a 2×4 to get my point across ….
And then he does something like this:
Maybe I”M the one who needs to be hit upside the head with a 2×4 ….
He is a sweet man (but don’t let him know I told you) and I am truly blessed, even without the camera …..
I hope that you all have very Merry Christmas and that you are able to see your REAL blessings through all the bows and wrapping paper.
Love to all …..
Wishing you all a
VERY Merry Christmas!
Well, if I had any wonder why I’m sick …
this should explain it:
10-Day Forecast |
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High / Low (°F) |
Precip. % | |
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| Tonight Dec 20 |
 |
Showers Late | 54° | 30 % | |
| Sun Dec 21 |
 |
Showers | 54°/39° | 40 % | |
| Mon Dec 22 |
 |
Cloudy | 46°/44° | 10 % | |
| Tue Dec 23 |
|
Showers | 71°/63° | 40 % | |
| Wed Dec 24 |
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Showers | 73°/58° | 40 % | |
| Thu Dec 25 |
 |
Partly Cloudy | 75°/63° | 10 % | |
| Fri Dec 26 |
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Few Showers | 77°/57° | 30 % | |
| Sat Dec 27 |
|
Few Showers | 71°/47° | 30 % | |
| Sun Dec 28 |
|
Showers | 68°/47° | 60 % | |
| Mon Dec 29 |
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Showers | 66°/46° | 30 % | |
Temperatures are ALL OVER THE PLACE …. we’re freezing one second and it feels like the beginning of summer the next. We had snow last (?) week, and it’s going to be 77 degrees the day after Christmas. It was in the low EIGHTIES yesterday. I have a sore throat and a bit of a headache and I am certain that it is weather-related. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, but ……. I need some consistency here! 
When You Feel the Prompting to Pray, Obey!
I meant to post this a few days ago, when it happened, but I got busy and … well, here it is — better late than never.
AJ’s motorcycle needed some work and the only Honda shop near us is about 50 miles away in LaMarque, Texas. So I followed him over there to drop it off before Thanksgiving. They knew what the problem was, and said they’d have it ready when we got back into town the next week.
So I took him over to pick it up the other day — the bike is just fine, problem solved, and my boy was tickled pink to get “Wanda the Honda” back. We grabbed some dinner at Kelley’s Country Diner and then headed back home going up FM 2004. Not too far into our drive, it started raining.
Of all the luck.
I was following at a safe distance behind my guy, keeping an eye on him. He’s a very safe motorcyclist, having ridden bikes since he was a teenager, and he also elected to take a motorcycle safety course when he bought his bike a few years ago. So I wasn’t worried about HIM. But I felt an urging to pray because the roads were getting slick from the rain and so I did. I asked God to watch over him and protect him for the remainder of our drive.
FM 2004 is a practically unpopulated road between Texas City/LaMarque and Lake Jackson. Just about the only thing between those two points are the chemical plants at Chocolate Bayou. Suffice it to say, people tend to speed since there’s nothing around for miles and it’s rare to see a law enforcement officer (at least I’ve never seen one). Because of the rain, we were both going a little slower than we normally do. A vehicle behind me decided to pass, but because of another oncoming vehicle, he ended up between me and AJ.
A few minutes later, I just about had a heart attack — I suddenly saw the vehicle in front of me swerve to the right side of the road, and I saw AJ in front of him also move to the right side of the road. Right then I saw an oncoming vehicle swerve back into his proper lane.
Some crazy moron was coming toward us IN OUR LANE.
Fortunately, AJ is a very good motorcylist — he was able to maneuver his bike out of the path of danger without sliding on the slick pavement or losing control.
But I also give HUGE CREDIT to the Lord — I am sure that the urging I felt to pray for him shortly before that was for a very specific reason.
Years ago, I was driving home from work. I was behind a pickup truck carrying a sofa in the bed of the truck. Nothing strange about that — people do it all the time, don’t they?
I got that similar urging – not to pray – but to move into the next lane, and so I did.
Not 15 seconds after changing lanes, the sofa came flying out of the bed of the truck and would have landed squarely in my window shield if I had not changed lanes.
So whenever you feel that urging to pray, to act, LISTEN … and OBEY.
A Scribbler & A Shutterbug 