Thursday's Ten: the random edition

i just realized that i have a LOT of stuff i haven't shared here lately, so (sorry) i'm lumping it into this post :)



1. i get to see bill clinton tonight! he's coming to campaign for the dem nominee for governor of tennessee...and while i'm not really into the whole "rally" idea, i couldn't pass up the opportunity to see a former president for free! i'm actually leaving the house in a couple of hours, having lunch with the boyfriend, and then hanging out downtown for the afternoon. *really* looking forward to it!

2. the whole burning of the Koran thing makes me sad and disgusted. until this morning i had not had even ONE person on my "friends" list on facebook even remotely supporting the idea -- at least publicly. and on my friends list are a LOT of conservatives --both in politics and faith, a bunch that have propagated the idea that our President is of the Islamic faith, and quite a few who are scared of anything but lily-white Christiandom. this morning, that changed. one "friend" i know vaguely from high school said something to the effect of "if he's praying and hears that from God, who are we to say it's wrong?"

on the one hand, i understand the reasoning.
on the other, i think we have to look at the fruit.
the last couple of weeks i've been learning more about the prophetic and how to operate in that gift. and i know this is "out there" for some of you, so bear with me, ok?
the thing about the prophetic is that the message should always be shared in love
if you discern that someone is struggling with depression
you don't want to say "oh, you're depressed and feel hopeless!"
you want to ask what to DO with that knowledge
and speak words of peace, hope and LIFE over them
because God wants to reveal His love to people

i can't help but think that this is similar.
and how on earth is burning someone's Holy Book
showing them God's love and Father Heart?

(i always lose followers when i write stuff like that, so goodbye 3 or so of you. :-)

3. we had an AWESOME time in st louis! i will post pictures here eventually...
although my iphone lost all the ones i took on friday and saturday. i was quite sad about that one...

4. 30 rock is my new favorite thing. in fact, this morning it's trumping all my ideas of getting ready to go see Mr Former President. that should tell you how much i'm loving that show!

5. this weekend is retreat with our youth group kids. since i missed camp this year i'm looking forward to finally meeting our new 7th graders!

6. twitter is becoming more and more addictive. oy.
honestly, i think it's because NONE of my former students or youth group kids are there. or not that i've found. and i'm happy to not have to wonder how people will take what i say there. it's nice :)

7. next weekend i get to take anthony to a place i spent quite a bit of time in as a child. holiday world is not very far from my parents house, and we are (hopefully) meeting one of my best friends from high school (angie) and her husband there for the day.
i'm excited about it...and really hopeful that it's all i remember it to be, lol.

8. and the NEXT weekend i'm going to arkansas (blech) with my friend natasha to see jason mraz! yes, i am fully aware that i live in music city, usa...and that he is here fairly often...but road trips are awesome and especially with good friends.

and for those of you keeping track at home, YES, this means that not one weekend in september am i home. C.R.A.Z.Y. here's to staying home in october! except that i probably won't be staying home the *entire* month...but more on that later

9. hmmm -- this is my favorite day of the year! 9/9 :) my favorite number is 9.
(when i was doing data entry earlier this year i got really excited when someone had entered the country on 9/9/09. i'm a dork...)

10. sometimes iced coffee makes my day. especially when i make it myself so it's way cheap. ahhh...in my new mug from the arch that is the *perfect* shape and size? sometimes it's the simple things...

Thursday's Ten: this week

stuff i've done this week

1 - joined twitter.
2 - changed my twitter name 3 times in the 3 days i've been on. still agonizing over whether to be "lorasays", "lorasaystweet" or "nannymcb"
(get it? because of nanny mcphee...and my last name starts with b...and my former students called me nannymcb when i left. ok, if i have to explain it, it's probably not a great thing.)
{PLEASE tell me if you have an opinion...}
(also, please feel free to follow me. i'll figure out how to tell you how to do that one of these days)
3. got completely covered in spit-up from a 6 month old...needless to say we BOTH got a wardrobe change
4. celebrated both anthony's (late since he was sick last weekend) birthday and his awesome aunt's birthday with their family
5. made my precious finn cry as if he were heartbroken...because i removed cat hair from his mouth
6. joined a fitness challenge
7. went to the first class in an 8 week series on the prophetic -- WAY cool
8. actually received 2 pretty clear words for different people...and received two for myself that were spot on
9. had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season...ahhhhhh
10. registered for my free ticket to see bill clinton next week!

sometimes you just have to let it out...

Dear...

i have to take just a moment and get these out

Dear Crazy Neighbor Lady

(you who complain about dog poo being near your house when you happen to live right next to the common area where they are supposed to poo...and you who gave me an inquisition about having a car parked in MY other spot, yet have your friends park in MY space instead of your own all the time...)

I can handle a lot, but walking out of my front door and nearly stepping on the rake that was on my sidewalk, right next to my door, rake side UP? Not cool. Thank goodness I saw it, otherwise I would have surely punctured a foot. Please clean up after your adventures in gardening. I took the liberty of moving said rake to your yard (the entire foot). I'm fairly certain that's why you glared at me when I returned from the store. I'm equally certain that I don't care. My feet are intact, no thanks to you.

Sincerely,
your sane(r) neighbor


Dear American Idol,

I really do only watch for poops and giggles lately (and more often it's light on the giggles)
but comparing Adam Lambert to Elvis Presley is a stretch even for you. I honestly thought Miley Cyrus as a mentor was the worst you were going to do this season. How wrong I was!
It's over, AI
I have no more love for you.

Sincerely,
the girl who only watches for the judges comments anyway



Dear Facebook Friend who shall remain nameless

Please do a little fact checking before bringing up that tired argument and invalid link to "Obama admitting he's a Muslim". Really? First of all...religion *really* shouldn't matter in politics. Second...he professes to be a Christian just as George W. Bush does. If we believe one, we should believe the other.
(now I actually do know quite a few things about Islam. having a father who is a Muslim makes him culturally a Muslim, and one in the eyes of that particular faith. but guess what? he gets to make a choice, and unless there's been a huge revelation that I'm unaware of, he and his family are good 'ol Protestants under that Christian umbrella.)

Sincerely,
your
"I get the feeling that admitting that our current President is of the same faith as our former President...and you...scares you because you happen to not agree with him on several points and *gasp, shock* we certainly can't disagree as Christians! I mean, all Protestant denominations agree on EVERYTHING, and there is certainly no divide between Catholics and Protestants ANYWHERE in the world"
friend

Ahhhh, I feel better. Anyone you need to write an open letter to?


(ps: I'll be sure to fill you in on the more serious stuff going on in my life as soon as I know more. I'm playing the waiting game right now which is a whole other 'open letter' of it's own :)

Can of Worms: Explode!

I know they say never to talk about religion or politics over dinner.

So no snacking as you read this, ok? And certainly don't dig into a big meal. This is gonna go south pretty quickly if you do, because I'm talking about BOTH.

I often avoid standing on soapboxes on this blog, especially political ones. Because I'm very aware that there are so many sides to every issue...and selfishly because I'm afraid I'll lose followers.

But dangit, it's MY blog and I can soapbox if I want to. I will still try to not offend anyone. :)

I'm sure if you've read closely you realize that I lean more toward the liberal side politically. In most parts of the country I'm fairly certain I'd be considered more middle of the road, slightly leaning left...but here in this red, red state I am WAY out there in most people's eyes. Like, so far left of the line I can't even SEE the line anymore. The line is a dot to me.
(bonus points for you if you get the reference!)

It's ok. I've always marched to my own beat, and I've gotten used to being the different one. (someday I'll tell you about my childhood...)

And please don't read this to mean that I'm ALWAYS liberal. That I ALWAYS vote for one party over another. I don't. I don't believe in straight ticket voting. I believe in researching the candidates and selecting the one that I truly think will do the best job, regardless if they line up on my little check box chart of things I look for in a candidate. This means I also don't choose one issue and vote based on it. A variety of issues and views are considered. Thankfully, I like politics enough to do the research...I know a lot of you are yawning right now...

Also, I think it's important to note that my close friends and loved ones are all over the political spectrum. I prefer it that way--when we discuss politics (which we do) I get a much more well-rounded discussion, and am able to truly think about what I believe and hold to be truths...and they are too. We learn, grow, and change our minds once in awhile.

Anyway...a couple of things that are bothering me.

Remember all those email groups and other wonderful (and I truly mean it) avenues that were all over the place when President Bush was in office? You know, the people who committed to pray daily, weekly, whatever...together or alone...and followed through.

I was never a part of them, and it had nothing to do with my political leanings...I just choose to pray for our nation and leaders in my own way, on my own time.

However, I never see groups like that now.
Have they disbanded now that the Presidency has changed hands?
Do they still meet and pray as fervently for our current President?
And if not, why?

I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question...

I wrote all of the above before google searching it.
Thankfully, there seems to still be an active presidential prayer site.
And thank goodness for Max Lucado.
However, not all may have the best intentions in their prayers...
and this article was frightening.

All of that aside...the real reason for this blog rant is this article from Fox News. If you don't want to read the whole thing (it's rather...odd, actually. Kind of a conglomeration of a conversation between senators. i think. i'm not familiar with the guy who wrote it, so this may be his normal article style...but it's odd to me.) the basic story is this: in a joking manner--I think--, a Senator has publicly stated that Al Gore has a free place to stay in DC now...courtesy of global warming!

Ha.
Ha.
Ha.

And while I've heard people joke like that quite a bit, and it's sorta funny...it's also misguided.

I'm tired of people who refuse to do environmentally responsible things because it's "liberal". It's not liberal. It's responsible. I truly, TRULY believe that we as Christians have a calling to take care of our planet. And recycling, doing other green things...those are all a part of it. I don't care if you're a Libertarian, Republican, Democrat, Independent, or Polkafish. It's just what you DO.

And I'm also tired of people who refuse to believe in global warming because a Democrat who was in an administration that a lot of conservatives would like to forget ever happened is at the forefront of the awareness campaign.

Please do me a favor, blogland. If you're going to choose to believe that global warming doesn't exist, or isn't a bad thing, or isn't as severe as "they" are telling us (whoever they are)...at least research it.

I'm going to be completely honest here. I haven't researched it enough to come up with my own thoughts on how severe I really think it is. *I* need to do my research too. I'm not blindly following anything because Al Gore tells me to. I actually think he'd be the first to tell us to research it on our own anyway! But please don't blindly ignore things because you don't agree with the person on a political level either.

Here's a well-written article, in which the author freely admits her biases, from a "eh, I don't know if it's really an issue" perspective.
PBS article explaining global warning in bare-bones form (because if you're like me you get a little overwhelmed with facts and figures)

Here's the thing though, regarding the senator who invited Mr. Gore to the igloo his family fashioned "for him". IF we are to believe that global warming exists then we have to accept that certain aspects of it will lead to the crazy snowfalls we've seen in most areas of the country this winter. The term "global warming" leads people to believe that we should have hot summers and mild winters. I used to think that too...but the simple fact is that global warming doesn't really mean that at all. It means the temperature and humidity rise. And what do we need for snowfall? Temperatures under freezing (which easily happen in most of the areas of the country affected) and...um...humidity. Moisture already in the air. Which IF we believe in global warming means...we've got plenty of the humidity.

(we certainly have enough humidity to spare here in TN. year round. global warming or not.)

So, Mr Senator-who-I-will-not-name-you'll-just-have-to-read-the-article:

If you're going to flippantly say things like this? At least check the premise of the thing you're attacking. It just might make you look a bit foolish to those who know anything about the issue at all.

That is all.

Oh, but one other thing? Just to make you smile. Since I've put it all out there anyway: